The Trinity Western Spartans women’s soccer program took home three of the five major awards at the Canada West awards banquet.
Jessica King was named league MVP, Seina Kashima won the rookie of the year award and Graham Roxburgh was named coach of the year.
The banquet was held Oct. 30 at Trinity Western University.
The Spartans are hosting the Canada West Final Four championships at TWU’s Rogers Field on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 with the top two teams advancing to the CIS national championships.
Along with the trophies, the Spartans — who were a Canada West-best 10-1-1 during the season — placed six players on the conference’s first all-star team and one on the second team.
King, a fifth-year midfield/striker from England, led the Spartans with a dozen goals and was tops in the country with seven game-winning goals.
She scored in all but three of the 11 games she played and had a .387 shooting percentage over the course of the regular season. 
“Jess’s season is a culmination of a wonderful career and a wonderful story,” Roxburgh said.
“She’s a player who had to bide her time in getting playing time. Then her work rate just continued to increase and her fitness got better and better and her dedication to being a complete athlete got better. This award is a culmination of her talent, which is special, and her hard work and dedication to become the best that she can be. We wouldn’t be where we are without her goals and some of her game-winning moments. She has been a wonderful servant to our program.”
Kashima, a rookie out of Burnaby, started 10 of the 11 games she played and her playmaking ability was on full display throughout the season as she was tied for second in the conference with six assists. She also scored four goals, which was third on the team.
She previously played with the Vancouver Whitecaps FC program.
“Seina is an electric offensive talent,” Roxburgh said.
“She’s a wonderful kid who is only going to become more and more impactful for our team and this shows why she is one of the best attacking players in the country.
“She’s grown in her comfort this season as a new player and in the second half of the season, she has been an incredible spark and provided so much offence and a consistent threat to the other team.”
And Roxburgh picked up the coach of the year award for the third time at the helm of the Spartans.
“Graham has set the standard for coaching excellence at TWU in a number of areas under our Complete Champion Approach,” said TWU director of athletics Murray Hall.
“He has built an excellent expert-based staff around him, recruited top student-athletes who fit the high performance and high character culture that he demands.
“It’s a great honour for Graham to be selected by his peers for this prestigious award.”
King and Kashima were both named first team all-stars and they were joined on that list by Krista Gommeringer (offence) while Jennifer Castillo and Vanessa Kovacs were all-stars for the defence.
Also among the defenders, Kristen Santema was named a second team all-star for TWU.
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Brayden Gant was named a second team all-star as Canada West handed out the awards and all-stars for men’s soccer. The awards reception was hosted by the Saskatchewan Huskies in Saskatoon on Oct. 30.
The fourth-year midfielder started all 11 games he played. He has been an all-star all four seasons.
