BC Soccer announces annual award winners

The British Columbia Soccer Association announced their annual award winners at their 2007 Awards Banquet today. Joe Scigliano and Sophie Schmidt were announced the 2007 senior players of the year while Sahil Sandhu and Monica Lam-Feist were named the 2007 youth players of the year.



Scigliano won a silver medal with the Columbus Clan at the 2007 BMO National Championships Senior Men’s Challenge Cup in Halifax, NS (the Hyundai Cup). Scigliano is a former member of Canada’s youth (U-20) team. Eleven years ago, he helped Canada win the 1996 CONCACAF U-20 Tournament in México, leading Canada to qualify for the FIFA World Youth Championship for the first time in 10 years.



Schmidt played for both the women’s senior team as well as the University of Portland college team in 2007. She took part in her first FIFA Women’s World Cup at China 2007, playing every minute of Canada’s three games. She also scored her first World Cup goal in a 4:0 win over Ghana on 15 September. At just 19 years of age, Schmidt is an important part of Canada’s midfield as they prepare for the 2008 Olympic Qualification Tournament. Canada’s senior women’s team, whose title sponsor is Winners, currently ranks 9th in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings.



Sandhu, who took part in Canada’s U-16 camps in 2007, represented British Columbia at the 2007 BMO National Championships U-16 Boys All-Star Selects in July. He then finished fourth with Whalley Celtics at the 2007 BMO National Championships U-16 Boys Club Championship in Sherwood Park, AB (adidas Cup) in October.



Lam-Feist, who took part in Canada’s U-17 camps in 2007, finished first with Canadian development team at the 2007 International Soccer Festival in Alabama.



Award winners in the coach categories were Carmine d’Onofrio (male senior), the Maralomas A team coaches (female senior), Bill Redpath (male youth) and Iain Flannangan (female youth). Award winners amongst officials were Mauricio Navarro (male senior), Candace Brown (female senior), Kevin Parsons (male youth) and Alaina Spencer (female youth).



Other award presentations were the Presidents Award (Richmond Youth Soccer / Richmond Girls Soccer), A.C. Sanford Award (Thomas Reakes), Administrator of the Year Award (Martin Foden), Life Membership (Bob Allen, Ken MacKenzie, Roy Branco) and Award of Merit (Richard Howes, Jack Stephens, Daren Sears, Kristy Ames, Divine Fisher, Joe Yukawa, Ron Thompson, William Johnstone and Douglas Newstead).