Roxburgh conference's top coach
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Updated: November 10, 2009 11:57 AM
After a record-setting season, the man at the top of the Trinity Western Spartans women’s soccer program was recognized for his efforts.
Graham Roxburgh was named the Canada West coach of the year on Thursday night. He guided the Spartans, the defending Canadian Interuniversity Sport national champions, to a conference-best 11-2-1 mark.
“It is a nice accolade, a nice honour,” he said, admitting he was a little surprised to win.
“When you win the league, you probably have a shot to win. But there are a lot of good teams, good coaches.”
The eleven wins and 34 points were both program-highs and the Canada West regular season title was a first for the team.
He did it all with one of his youngest teams, as the Spartans averaged just over two years of experience at the CIS level.
The award was just one of two major honours for the Spartans as for the second consecutive year, the team produced the Canada West rookie of the year.
Alicia Tesan made an immediate impact with the squad. The forward scored seven times in a dozen league games and also set up three other goals.
Roxburgh, in his 11th season with the program, has built the Spartans into a perennial contender. The team has won two national championships (2004 and 2008) and three Canada West championships (2004, 2006 and 2009).
Striker Nikki Wright and midfielder Melissa Mobilio were both named Canada West first-team all-stars.
Tesan, Natalie Boyd (midfielder), and Jilian Dietrich (fullback) were selected to the second-team.
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