Desert dominates post-season awards

The 2018 men's soccer season concluded last weekend and with the end of the season comes post-season recognition.  College of the Desert headlined a great group of players and coaches named to the All-Pacific Coast Athletic Conference Team.

College of the Desert had its best season since the turn of the century, winning the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference and advancing to the Southern California Regional Semifinals.  The Roadrunners lost just one of their final 18 matches of the regular season, and they did it with a solid mix of freshmen and sophomores.

Alejandro Pimentel was rewarded this past week with the player-of-the-year award by the coaches, while Uriel Lopez was named goalkeeper-of-the-year.  In addition, Enrique Cardenas was named the coach-of-the-year while San Bernardino Valley's Cameron Smith was named the conference defensive player-of-the-year.  

Pimentel, just a freshman, led Desert with 44 points on the season, leading the team with 19 goals while finishing third on the team with six assists.  His 19 goals ranked No. 6 in the state as he scored two goals in five separate games. 

Lopez was part of a Roadrunner defense that surrendered just 1.36 goals-against-per-game in 2018.  Desert finished with seven shutouts for the season, with Lopez starting all but three games in goal and finishing with a 1.11 goals-against-average. 

Cardenas was the mastermind behind the plan.  In just his first year as coach, Cardenas led the Roadrunners to their first conference title since 1999. 

Smith was a force on the back line for San Bernardino Valley, helping the Wolverines to a 10-3-3 finish in PCAC play.  SBVC gave up 1-or-less goals in nine of their last 11 games, including a pair of shutouts aainst Imperial Valley and Palomar.

Desert finished with two others on the All-PCAC Team as both Luis Gastelum and Armando Rivera made the lineup.  San Bernardino Valley College and Cuyamaca College both finished with four players on the all-conference squad while San Diego City College and MiraCosta College had three apiece.  Southwestern College and San Diego Mesa College had two selections to the team while Imperial Valley College and Palomar College each had one. 

ALL-PACIFIC COAST ATHLETIC CONFERENCE TEAM