Morley Wins Major Award, Five More Matadors Named to All-Big West Team

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. --- CSUN senior captain and center back Trevor Morley was named Big West Defensive Player of the Year as voted upon by the league's coaches, the Big West Conference office announced Tuesday. Morley also earned First Team All-Big West for the third-straight year while fellow senior David Turcios also earned First Team All-Big West honors. Seniors Adam Hobbs and Carlos Gonzalez earned a spot on the Second Team All-Big West, junior defender Patrick Hickman recieved Honorable Mention honors and Andrew Rizeq was named to the Big West All-Freshman Team.

Morley is the fourth Matador to earn the conference's top defensive award and is the first CSUN winner since Joe Franco in 2012. Originally from San Diego, Morley has started all 18 matches this season and has a career-high four goals and one assist on the year. All four goals have come from the penalty spot and are the first four of his career. Morley is the first Matador since Sean Franklin (2005-07) to earn First Team All-Big West honors for three-straight seasons.

A stalwart on defense, Morley has helped CSUN produce a 6-0-2 record in its last eight road matches. During that stretch, he scored goals at Santa Clara, at Saint Mary's and at Cal State Fullerton. He also had a goal on his Senior Night, helping lift CSUN to a 2-1 victory over UC Riverside.

"Trevor is the utmost scholar-athlete. He may be the best all-around student-athlete that I have ever coached at CSUN," Matador head coach Terry Davila said. "This is a tremendous honor for our program, for Trevor and for his family. We are really excited for him and he is very worthy of the award."

Turcios was the second Matador named to the First Team All-Big West, having produced a career-high four goals in his senior campaign. He recorded a second-half brace in the Matadors' 2-1 victory at Sacramento State and added goals at Saint Mary's and Cal State Fullerton. He added an assist in the victory over the Gaels and has 19 career helpers to go with seven goals and 33 points.

"David is an electric midfielder who really turned it on midway through the season," Davila added. " He does a great job keeping the team linked through the midifeld and forward line. He is a complete player and can show up anywhere on the field."

Hobbs has had a stellar season in net for CSUN as a senior to earn Second Team All-Big West honors. He leads the Big West Conference in saves (81) and save percentage (.810) and ranks sixth among all Division I goalkeepers with the 81 saves. He has won Big West Defensive Player of the Week three times this season and posted a career-high 10 saves in consecutive games against UC Santa Barbara and UC Davis. Hobbs has played all but roughly 13 minutes this season and has played the sixth-most minutes in goal among all Division I goalkeepers.

"Hobbs earned three Big West Defensive Players of the Week and very easily could have won the top goalkeeping award," Davila said. "There were a lot of great goalkeepers in the Big West this year and that is evident by the final scores of the conference games."

Gonzalez has also had a strong senior campaign en route to his Second Team All-Big West award. He has scored a career-high five goals this season, including his first career hat trick with three goals in a victory at Saint Mary's. He also scored in CSUN victories at San Diego and UC Riverside and is tied for second in the Big West with three game-winning goals. He picked up his first assist of the season in the Matadors' 2-1 victory at Cal State Fullerton.

"Carlos is a hard worker who has persevered through a lot of things," Davila said. "He does a great job incorporating his teammates and is a wonderful teammate to them. I am very happy for him."

Hickman earned Honorable Mention All-Big West honors for the second-straight year. He has not missed a minute of action this season and has helped anchor a CSUN defense that has produced five shutouts during the 2015 campaign. As a team, CSUN has a 1.01 goals-against average for the season, which is the third-best in the Big West Conference.

"Patrick is a mainstay on our defensive line and I wouldn't trade him for any center backs in the league. He is an outstanding player and we are happy to have him in our program," Davila said of the junior.

Rizeq was the final Matador to be honored, earning a spot on the Big West Conference All-Freshman Team. He has appeared in 15 matches and made nine starts while recording an assist in the Matadors' win at Saint Mary's.

"Andrew is in the mold of Trevor Morley in that he is a tremendous scholar-athlete," Davila concluded. "He is very easy to coach and is very helpful to our team. He has a bright future ahead of him at CSUN."

CSUN hosts a Big West Tournament match against UC Davis on Saturday, November 7 at 7 p.m. at Matador Soccer Field.

Morley Wins Major Award, Five More Matadors Named to All-Big West Team

Related News

Players Mentioned

Carlos Gonzalez

Patrick Hickman

Adam Hobbs

Trevor Morley

Andrew Rizeq

David Turcios

Related Videos