The University of British Columbia Athletics

VANCOUVER - First-year UBC forward Jasmin Dhanda has been named the Canada West Rookie of the Year. She received the honour tonight at the Canada West women's soccer Final Four banquet in Victoria. Dhanda and five other Thunderbirds were all named to the league's two all-star teams.

On a UBC roster filled with veteran players, Dhanda broke into the lineup and scored five times in just nine regular season games to tie two-time Canada West Most Valuable Player Janine Frazao for the team lead in goals.
 
Dhanda then scored both goals in UBC's 2-1 quarter-final playoff game against Calgary. She started seven matches for the Thunderbirds, who went 8-1-3 in head coach Andrea Neil's first season, and also led the team in shots. The Surrey, B.C. native joined the T-Birds program as a highly touted recruit from the Vancouver Whitecaps FC system.
 
In July, Dhanda and fellow T-Birds Aman Shergill and Jasmine Mander helped the Whitecaps win the Under-19 competition at the Gothia World Youth Cup in Sweden.
 
"Everybody is proud of her," said Neil. "Certainly, for any student-athlete, it is a transition from high school to university and Jasmin actually joined our program a little bit later as she was still transitioning from an injury and from the Whitecaps program, so once she found rhythm as a soccer player mid-way through the season, we saw how much of an impact she presented for the team; very dynamic, a natural goal-scorer."
 
T-Birds goalkeeper Alyssa Williamson was named to the First All-Star team along with defender Taryn Lim. Another UBC rookie, Aman Shergill, was named to the Second All-Star team, as well as Dhanda, defender Jordan Kitagawa and midfielder Christina Donnelly. The latter two are fifth-year seniors.

The other Canada West awards winners tonight include Julia Ignacio of Alberta, who was named both the Most Valuable Player and the winner of the Student-Athlete award. Victoria's Tracy David won Coach of the Year recognition while the Winnipeg Wesmen took home the Fair Play Award.
 
Following is a list of 2013 Canada West women's soccer Awards & All-Stars:
 
AWARDS
 
Most Valuable Player: Julia Ignacio, Alberta
 
Rookie of the Year: Jasmin Dhanda, UBC
 
Student-Athlete Award: Julia Ignacio, Alberta
 
Coach of the Year: Tracy David, Victoria
 
Fair Play Award: Winnipeg
 
ALL-STARS (alphabetical by position)
 
                                    First Team                             Second Team
Goalkeeper                  Alyssa Williamson, UBC       Kelti Biggs, Alberta
 
Fullbacks                     Jennifer Castillo, TWU           Christina Donnelly, UBC
                                    Brigitte Greig, Victoria            Jordan Kitagawa, UBC
                                    Shalla Kadima, Alberta           Victoria Saccomani, Alberta
                                    Vanessa Kovacs, TWU           Aman Shergill, UBC
                                    Taryn Lim, UBC                    Colleen Webber, TWU
 
Attacking Players       Natalie Boyd, TWU               Meagan Cormier, Regina
                                    Krista Gommeringer, TWU    Jasmin Dhanda, UBC
                                    Julia Ignacio, Alberta              Nikki Furukawa, Calgary
                                    Tessa Miller, Calgary             Emma Greig, Victoria
                                    Jaclyn Sawicki, Victoria          Jenelle Zapski, Saskatchewan
 
2013 All-Stars with previous selections…
 
Kelti Biggs: 2010 CW Rookie of the Year & CW 2^nd
 
Natalie Boyd: 2012 CIS Tournament All-Star, 2012 CW 1^st, 2011 CW 1^st & CIS 2^nd, 2010 CW 1^st & CIS 2^nd, 2009 CW 2^nd
 
Jennifer Castillo: 2012 CIS Tournament MVP & All-Star, 2012 CW 1^st, 2011 CW 1^st, 2011 CW 1^st
 
Meagan Cormier: 2012 CW 2^nd All-Star
 
Krista Gommeringer: 2012 CW Rookie of the Year, 2012 CW & CIS 1^st
 
Brigitte Greig: 2012 CW 1^st
 
Emma Greig: 2012 CW 2^nd
 
Shalla Kadima: 2012 CW 2^nd, 2011 CW 1^st, 2010 CW 1^st & CIS 2^nd
 
Vanessa Kovacs: 2012 CIS Tournament All-Star
 
Victoria Saccomani: 2012 CW 2^nd
 
Jaclyn Sawicki: 2012 CIS Tournament All-Star, 2012 CW 1^st, 2011 CW 1^st& CIS 2^nd
 
Colleen Webber: 2012 CW 1^st, 2011 CW & CIS 1^st, 2009 CIS Tournament All-Star
 
Alyssa Williamson: 2011 CW Rookie of the Year, 2011, CW 2^nd
 
This weekend the University of Victoria Vikes host the Canada West Final Four on Friday and Saturday. It's UBC vs. Alberta in one semifinal and Trinity Western at Victoria in the other. Both winners on Friday will also qualify for the national tournament.
 
Each game this weekend will have live video and stats broadcast on http://canadawest.tv.
 
Major award winners now become finalists for Canadian Interuniversity Sport national awards, to be handed out at the end of the season. The 2013 CIS women's soccer national championship will be hosted November 7-10 by the University of Toronto.
 
About Canada West Universities Athletic Association
Canada West is consistently the most decorated of the four conferences in Canadian Interuniversity Sport, winning 100 CIS national over the last 10 seasons. Comprised of 17 schools from the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, Canada West produces numerous major award winners and Academic All-Canadian student-athletes each year, with many going on to athletic success around the globe in pro leagues or events such as the Olympics, Paralympics or Universiade Games. canadawest.org / canadawest.tv / @cwuaa on Twitter
 
A proud member of Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS).