PORTLAND, Ore. – Junior midfielder Conrad Cheng was named Great Northwest Athletic Conference Newcomer of the Year, headlining a group of seven SFU student-athletes selected to the 2021 GNAC Men's Soccer All-Conference Teams.

Cheng is joined on GNAC All-Conference First Team by two teammates: Midfielder Mark Talisuna and defender Simone Masi. All three were unanimous selections. Named Second Team All-Conference was midfielder Ali Zohar. Goalkeeper Aidan Bain and defenders Bjorn Borren and Tyler Dhillon were honourable mention.

The Newcomer of the Year award was given to midfielder Cheng. He joined SFU with junior eligibility after previously playing with the University of New Hampshire and with Skeid in Norway's Second Division. He scored three goals and was second on SFU with 22 shots.

Talisuna is making his second appearance as an All-Conference selection having been Second Team in 2019. Talisuna started all 10 games he played, was third with 21 shots goal and dazzled fans with his footwork. Simon, making his first appearance on the conference team, started all 16 games and helped SFU achieve a 1.23 goals against average and .737 save percentage alongside teammates Borren and Dhillion and goalkeeper Bain, who played all 16 games and also had seven shutouts.

Midfielder Ali Zohar scored once and had three points in 16 games played.

SFU finished the 2021 season second in the GNAC with a 9-7 record. SFU opened the season with nine straight road games before playing in the new SFU Stadium at Terry Fox Field which opened this year. The team went 5-0 in the new SFU Stadium.

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2021 GNAC MEN'S SOCCER ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM Player of the Year: Alex Mejia, Seattle Pacific Defensive Player of the Year: Lars Helleren, Seattle Pacific Coach of the Year: Kevin Sakuda, Seattle Pacific Freshman of the Year: Lukas Juodkunaitis, Northwest Nazarene Newcomer of the Year: Conrad Cheng, Simon Fraser
FIRST TEAM
Name	School	Pos.	Ht.	Yr.	Hometown (Previous School)
* Alex Mejia	Seattle Pacific	F	6-2	Sr.	Seattle, Wash. (Roosevelt)
* Halil Yilmaz	Montana State Billings	F	6-0	Jr.	Wiesbaden, Germany  (Schulze Delitzsch Schule)
Alden Massey	Seattle Pacific	F	6-1	Sr.	Duvall, Wash. (Cedarcrest)
* Conrad Cheng	Simon Fraser	M	5-9	Jr.	Oslo Norway (Wang Toppidrett)
*# Mark Talisuna	Simon Fraser	M	6-1	So.	Kampala, Uganda  (Brookhouse International)
*@& Drew Farnsworth	Western Washington	M	5-9	Sr.	Aucklund, New Zealand (Westlake Boys)
*+ Lorenzo Valentini	Northwest Nazarene	D	6-7	Sr.	Saarbrücken, Germany  (Gymnasium am Rotenbühl)
* Simone Masi	Simon Fraser	D	6-2	Fr.	Burnaby, B.C, (University Hill)
*@& Nik Reierson	Seattle Pacific	D	5-11	Sr.	Duvall, Wash. (Cedarcrest)
* Lars Helleren	Seattle Pacific	GK	6-2	Sr.	Edmonds, Wash. (King's)
* Marvin Putu	Montana State Billings	M	5-11	So.	Nanterre, France (Auguste Perdonnet)
SECOND TEAM
Name	School	Pos.	Ht.	Yr.	Hometown (Previous School)
Lukas Juodkunaitis	Northwest Nazarene	F	6-1	Fr.	Vilnius, Lithuania  (Vilniaus Senvages Gimnazija)
@ Jason Fairhurst	Saint Martin's	F	6-0	Sr.	Snohomish, Wash. (Snohomish)
Alex Whiting	Western Washington	F	6-0	Sr.	University Place, Wash. (Tacoma CC)
#& Gus Diehl	Western Washington	M	5-10	Jr.	Bellingham, Wash. (Sehome)
@ Travis Swallow	Seattle Pacific	M	5-8	Sr.	Coeur d'Alene, Idaho (Lake City)
Jay Mendoza	Saint Martin's	M	5-11	Jr.	Prosser, Wash. (Columbia Basin CC)
#&^ Luca Battistotti	Montana State Billings	D	5-10	Sr.	San Rocco al Porto, Italy  (Liceo Scientifico Melchiorre Giola)
Mathias Kjølner	Montana State Billings	D	5-10	Fr.	Tønsberg, Norway (Presterød)
@ Teagan Eldridge	Western Washington	D	5-11	Jr.	Enumclaw, Wash. (Enumclaw)
# Brandon Locke	Western Washington	GK	6-3	So.	Federal Way, Wash. (Todd Beamer)
Jose Benavides	Seattle Pacific	M	6-1	Sr.	Mexico City, Mexico (Tualatin)
Ali Zohar	Simon Fraser	M	5-8	So.	Surrey, B.C. (University Hill)
HONORABLE MENTION
Name	School	Pos.	Ht.	Yr.	Hometown (Previous School)
Jeremie Briquet	Montana State Billings	M	6-2	Jr.	Cannes, France (Dodge City CC)
Paul Cuevas	Montana State Billings	M	5-11	Sr.	Yakima, Wash. (Skagit Valley CC)
Brad Lowes	Montana State Billings	M	5-11	Sr.	Hexham, England (Angelina Coll.)
Bryan Maxwell	Montana State Billings	D	6-0	Jr.	Spokane, Wash. (Lewis & Clark)
Brandon Parsio	Northwest Nazarene	D	6-1	Jr.	Lake Forest, Calif. (El Toro)
@ Sawyer Price	Northwest Nazarene	GK	6-3	So.	Olympia, Wash. (Olympia)
@& Jose Marquez	Saint Martin's	D	6-0	Sr.	Sunnyside, Wash. (Sunnyside)
Stephen Murray	Saint Martin's	D	6-0	Sr.	Bonney Lake, Wash. (Sumner)
Titus Grant	Seattle Pacific	F	5-10	Sr.	Colorado Springs, Colo. (Classical Academy)
Aidan Thrall	Seattle Pacific	D	5-9	So.	Woodland, Wash. (Woodland)
Aidan Bain	Simon Fraser	GK	6-3	Sr.	Port Coquitlam, B.C. (Terry Fox)
Bjorn Borren	Simon Fraser	D	5-8	Jr.	Penticton, B.C. (Penticton)
Tyler Dhillon	Simon Fraser	D	6-0	Jr.	Surrey, B.C. (Semiahmoo)
Gilbert De La Luz	Western Washington	F	5-11	Jr.	Tacoma, Wash. (Franklin Pierce)
* - Unanimous Selection + - First Team Selection in 2019 # - Second Team Selection In 2019 @ - Honorable Mention in 2019   & - Honorable Mention in 2018 ^ - Honorable Mention in 2017

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