West Coast Conference Release

SAN MATEO, Calif. – Five Santa Clara men's soccer players garnered All-West Coast Conference honors, the conference office announced on Friday.

Emil Christensen and Javier Ruiz Duran were named first team All-WCC with Alejandro Barajas, Caden Buckley and Oladayo Thomas recognized as honorable mentions.  Buckley was also named to the All-Freshman team.

The all-conference selections were made by the eight conference head coaches.

Ruiz Duran, a senior co-captain, was named all-conference for the fourth-straight year following his first team recognition in 2019, a second team campaign in 2018 and an all-freshman season back in 2017.

The last Bronco to be named to the first team All-WCC multiple times was Carlos Delgadillo, who was named in 2015 and 2017.

This season, the forward from Barcelona, Spain led the team in assists with three and scored a pair of goals to tie for second on the squad including the game-winner at Portland (April 3).  His seven points were second most on the team.

Christensen, a junior central defender, was the anchor on the Bronco backline.  The Nr. Snede, Denmark native missed the first three games, all resulted in losses while conceding seven goals.  However upon his return, he stabilized the defense as the Broncos won four of its five matches conceding just four goals.

For Christensen, this marks the second time he was named all-conference, following a second team honor in 2019.

Barajas, a junior midfielder, earned his first conference recognition.  He scored the first goal for the team this season that kick started the Broncos offense finishing with 10 goals in the last five games.

Thomas, a first year transfer from Gettysburg College, finished the spring season on a tear scoring four goals in the final three games.  Two of his goals were game-winners coming against Gonzaga (March 28) and San Diego (April 11).  He also had an assist to top the team with nine points.

Buckley, a midfielder from Las Vegas, was named both honorable mention and to the all-freshman team.  He is the first Broncos since Luis Urias in 2015 to be recognized for both honors.  Buckley scored a pair of goals this spring including the golden goal in the 100th minute against Pacific (March 14).

Conference champion LMU collected all but one of the major awards.  Noel Caliskan was named the WCC Player of the Year while teammates Gerardo Lopez and Jacob Jackson were named WCC Defensive and Goalkeeper of the Year, respectively.  San Francisco's Nonso Adimabua was named Freshman of the Year, the only non-LMU player to garner an award.  LMU head coach Paul Krumpe, who led the Lions to the conference title was named Coach of the Year.

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