Men's Soccer Lands Ten On All-WAC Lists; Beecham and Hardin Earn Major Postseason Awards
11/3/2023 10:30:00 AM | Men's Soccer
ARLINGTON - A record 10 California Baptist University men's soccer players were honored by the Western Athletic Conference coaches with All-WAC awards. Thomas Beecham proved the preseason poll accurate by being named the Defensive Player of the Year award, while striker Drew Hardin took home Freshman of the Year honors. This list marks the most awards earned by the Lancers' in a single postseason since joining the WAC in 2018.
Beecham got off to a slow start, missing all of the Lancers' non-conference matches with an injury, but that goes to show his incredible status amongst the conference, still earning the award with his dominant defensive play in conference. Thomas anchored a backline that allowed just seven goals in conference play and 0.88 goals against per game.
West Palm Beach native Drew Hardin secured the program's first-ever Freshman of the Year award, finishing the 2023 regular season as the Lancers' third-leading scorer with three goals and three assists. Hardin led all WAC freshmen with his nine points this season.
Beecham was joined on the All-WAC First Team list by fellow senior and CBU's top-scorer in the regular season, Luis Mueller. Mueller led the team in scoring for a second straight season in 2023, netting a career-high matching eight goals this year while adding three assists. Mueller is also the active career leader in the WAC for assists (17), second in points (62), and tied for second in goals scored (22).
All-WAC Second Team had three CBU representatives in goalkeeper Nolan Premack, freshman midfielder Hardin, and senior striker Leo Mendez. Premack started the final 11 games, and every conference game, in goal for the Lancers, earning five shutouts along the way. He currently holds the Division I era record for most career shutouts with 12, also placing him second among all active WAC goalkeepers.
Mendez closed out 2023 in the top five of all three major offensive categories in the WAC. He was tied for fourth in the conference with five assists, fifth with 17 total points, and tied for fifth with six goals. All of those numbers were career bests for Mendez, who started 15 of the 16 games he played in this year.
Joining Freshman of the Year Drew Hardin on the WAC All-Freshman Team were international standouts Erik Krohnstad and Stavros Charalampous. Krohnstad, a native of Bergen, Norway, started 15 of 16 games for Head Coach Coe Michaelson, earning the captain's armband in a handful of games and scoring the game-winner against CSUN on September 10.
Charalampous earned his way into distinction with 15 appearances for CBU and eight starts. He had a three-game scoring streak to begin WAC play, assisting on goals against Grand Canyon and San Jose State while scoring his only goal of the season between those two games against UTRGV.
The Lancers will play again in Las Vegas in the second round of the WAC Tournament, slated for Wednesday, November 8 at 7:00 p.m. CBU will face the winner of Utah Tech and San Jose State, who play at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 5.
