VANCOUVER – Following a remarkable campaign in which the UBC Thunderbirds tied their own conference record for most wins in a season, the blue and gold have cleaned up the annual Canada West awards.
Tying the single season points record, fourth-year forward
Katalin Tolnai has been named 2023 Canada West Women's Soccer Player of the Year.
First-year defender
Sarah Rollins has earned both the conference Rookie of the Year and Defender of the Year honours while head coach
Jesse Symons has been honoured with his first Canada West Coach of the Year award.
In a most memorable year,
Katalin Tolnai tied her former teammate,
Danielle Steer's record of 22 points in a single season having scored 14 goals with eight assists. Those 22 points were seven more than any other Canada West player in 2023.
Scoring a hat trick and adding four assists against Winnipeg, Tolnai set a new program record and tied the all-time Canada West mark with seven points in a single game. It was the first of three hat tricks the Toronto native would manage over the course of the year.
Twice this season Tolnai was named Canada West and U SPORTS Women's Soccer Player of the Week.
Tolnai was a driving force behind the Thunderbirds' outstanding regular season and her goal in Saturday's quarter-final game against the Regina Cougars helped propel UBC into the Canada West semifinal game for an eighth straight season.
Joining her teammate and fellow defender,
Sophia Ferreira, as a Canada West Rookie of the Year,
Sarah Rollins played and started in 13 of UBC's 14 regular season games in 2023.
The Toronto product only once played less than a full 90 minutes, that being an 84 minute road match in Kelowna in which she scored her first career goal for the Thunderbirds on what proved to be the game winner.
Rollins finished the year with a pair of goals – both of them game winners – and an assist. But her stellar work on her own half of the pitch drew accolades week in and week out, noted as one of the conference's top defenders early in her rookie season. Along with her fellow defenders, Rollins helped UBC to a conference leading defence conceding just five goals in 14 regular season games.
Guiding the Thunderbirds to a 13-1 regular season record,
Jesse Symons' squad tied the all-time single season Canada west wins record, matching UBC's 2022 campaign.
Currently in his eighth season with the T-Birds, Symons has amassed an impressive 68-13-15 regular season record and enters this week's Canada West Final Four with a 17-5 conference playoff record.
Symons has guided the Thunderbirds to two Canada West Championships (2016 and 2022) and won the 2019 U SPORTS National Championship.
The T-Birds have the chance to win back-to-back conference titles for the first time since 2016 as they host the Canada West Final Four starting with a semifinal matchup against the Saskatchewan Huskies Thursday at 4:00 p.m. at Thunderbird Stadium.
Tickets are available online now!
