SYDNEY, N.S. – Adding to what's already been an historic season for the UBC Thunderbirds, third-year forward Sebastian Dzikowski has been named the 2023 Joe Johnson Memorial Trophy winner as U SPORTS Player of the Year.

It was a heavy blue and gold presence Wednesday night at the All-Canadian banquet in Sydney, Nova Scotia, the host city for the 2023 U SPORTS National Championship which gets underway Thursday morning.

Brennen Fuerst was also honoured on stage as the 2023 U SPORTS Rookie of the Year, the second straight Thunderbird to claim the Lou Bilek Award after Eric Lajeunesse last season.
 

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Dzikowski and Lajenuesse were also named First Team All-Canadians while goalkeeper Bennett McKay landed a spot on the Second Team. Fuerst was also named to the 2023 All-Rookie squad.

"I'm thrilled for our two lads to be recognized for the seasons they've had, and they're really well deserved," said UBC head coach Mike Mosher. "Both have been integral parts of our team from game one right through to now. We haven't had a Player of the Year for a long time and we've had a lot of good players come through our program, so it's nice to see Sebastian and our program recognized."

Setting a program record with 15 goals in the Canada West regular season, Dzikowski broke through in a big way this year, also setting a new single season conference record with 43 shots on target while helping lead the T-Birds to a remarkable 13-1-2 record.

The Calgary native scored at least once in ten of UBC's 16 regular season games, finishing with 19 points. The third-year forward also found the back of the net three times in the T-Birds' two playoff victories over Calgary and Alberta, helping punch the T-Birds' ticket to the Canada West final and the U SPORTS National Championship.



Dzikowski is the first Thunderbird to win the Joe Johnson Award since Aaron Richer in 2002. He is the fourth UBC player all-time to claim the most prestigious national men's soccer award.

Earning a starting role in UBC's season opener on a very deep team, Fuerst proved his worth as an impact player right from the start of training camp. The midfielder out of the Vancouver Whitecaps Academy program earned his first Canada West assist in his first game and scored the game winner against the defending U SPORTS champion WolfPack the following weekend, one of two goals on the season.

Fuerst dressed in 15 of UBC's 16 regular season games, starting in 14 of those as well as the conference quarter-final and semifinal, helping UBC to an eighth straight national championship appearance.
 

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The Calgary native is the second straight Thunderbird to win the Lou Bilek Award after teammate Eric Lajeunesse earned the honour in 2022 while Thomas Gardner was honoured in 2018 giving UBC three of the last five winners.

"It's terrific and I'm really thrilled for these guys but we keep saying to them, we start the season day one in pre-season and the goal is to try and win a national championship for this program every year," added Mosher. "Individual accomplishments are nice and it's nice for players to have good seasons and be recognized and obviously if they have then the team has done well."

That drive for a 14th U SPORTS title begins Thursday at 9:30 a.m. PT as the 'Birds face the AUS champion St. FX X-Men. The game will be streamed live on CBC Gem and CBC Sports' YouTube page.


2023 U SPORTS MEN'S SOCCER AWARDS & ALL-CANADIANS

Joe Johnson Memorial Trophy (player of the year): Sebastian Dzikowski, UBC

Lou Bilek Award (rookie of the year): Brennen Fuerst, UBC

Student-Athlete Community Service Award: Luke Berryman, Dalhousie

Fox40 Coach of the year: Pat Raimondo, Montréal

First Team All-Canadians
 

Pos	Name	School	Yr	Hometown	Academic Program
GK	Kevon Grant	Ontario Tech	4	Oshawa, Ont.	Criminology
D	Zé Cunha	Cape Breton	3	Cascais, Portugal	Arts Community Studies
D	Eric Lajeunesse	UBC	2	Ottawa, Ont.	Science
D	Caden Rogozinski	Mount Royal	3	Calgary, Alta.	Business
D	Kareem Sow	Montréal	5	Sherbrooke, Que.	Mechanical Engineering
MF	Gregory David	UQAM	3	Ste-Julie, Que.	Psychology
S	Kyle Cordeiro	StFX	3	Oakville, Ont.	Business
S	Sebastian Dzikowski	UBC	3	Calgary, Alta.	Applied Science
S	Omar Marzouk	Ontario Tech	5	Cairo, Egypt	Education
S	Owen Sheppard	Cape Breton	3	St. John's, N.L.	Business
S	Christian Zeppieri	York	1	Maple, Ont.	Liberal Arts & Prof. Studies

 
Second Team All-Canadians

Pos	Name	School	Yr	Hometown	Academic Program
GK	Bennett McKay	UBC	3	Delta, B.C.	Arts
D	Cole Fernandez	Guelph	3	Hamilton, Ont.	Sociology
D	Raphaël Garcia	Carleton	3	Ottawa, Ont.	Law
MF	Mahdi Abbassi	UQTR	1	Montreal, Que.	Nursing
MF	Quentin Paumier	Montréal	3	Marseille, France	Economics
MF	Logan Rieck	StFX	3	Cambridge, Ont.	Human Kinetics
S	Luke Rosettani	UNB	3	Ottawa, Ont.	Recreation & Sports Studies
S	Timothé Makanzu-Tinadio	UQAM	3	Montreal, Que.	Human Resources
S	Kevin Espiro	Waterloo	3	Mississauga, Ont.	Pharmacy
S	Marcus Velado-Tsegaye	Alberta	2	Edmonton, Alta.	Business
MF	Javier Sagaste	Victoria	4	Victoria, B.C.	Humanities

 
All-Rookie Team

Pos	Name	School	Hometown	Academic Program
GK	Matteo Blanc	Moncton	Flavin, France	Physical Education
D	Matisse Chretien	McGill	Quebec City, Que.	Physical & Health Education
D	Tarek Ghamraoui	UQTR	Brossard, Que.	Physical Education
D	Ibrahim Saadi	Western	London, Ont.	King's College
MF	Maxime Bourgeois	Sherbrooke	Granby, Que.	Free Studies
MF	Jacob Cabral	Guelph	Mississauga, Ont.	Arts
MF	Brennen Fuerst	UBC	Calgary, Alta.	Arts
MF	Augustine Opouro	Memorial	St. John's, N.L.	Unspecified
MF	Isaac VanWychen	StFX	Middle Musquodoboit, N.S.	Human Kinetics
S	Michael Maslanka	Toronto	Mississauga. Ont.	Political Science
S	Philip Masri	MacEwan	Edmonton, Alta.	Open Studies
S	Kian Proctor	UFV	Delta, B.C.	Qualifying Studies