The honours continued to roll in for Simon Fraser University soccer player Jovan Blagojevic.
This season’s Great Northwest conference player of the year received a makeover, earning the NCAA Division II West Region player of the year honour in varsity soccer this week.
Blagojevic scored 18 goals in 18 games this season to lead the Clan men to the NCAA national championships for a third consecutive year.
The senior Clan forward led the conference and the West region with a total of 38 points, earning first team all-star status in both groups.
“Jovan is thoroughly deserving of this award and he had an absolutely amazing season,” said SFU head soccer coach Alan Koch.
“Our team would not have made the NCAA national tournament this year if it had not been for him putting the team on his back in numerous big matches.”
Blagojevic also scored a conference-leading seven game-winning goals to help the Clan to an 11-5-2 overall record. His game-winning goals in a 1-0 win over Northwest Nazarene and a 2-0 victory over Western Washington late in the season were both crucial to SFU qualifying for the post season.
This season, Blagojevic also garnered two Great Northwest offensive player of the week honours.
As of last week, Blagojevic ranked seventh in the NCAA Division II in total goals, sixth in game-winning goals and fifth in goals per game. He also finishes his varsity career 10th on the Clan’s all-time single-season scoring list.
“Jovan has grown as a player and as a person every year here with us at SFU and if he can duplicate his form of this last year on a consistent basis he should be able to make the transition to the professional game in the near future,” Koch added.
Although Blagojevic’s season is over, he is still in the running for a first All-American honour, which will be released on Dec. 3.
