Courtesy of UC Santa Barbara Media Relations
Today thirty NCAA men’s soccer student-athletes that excel both on and off the field were selected as candidates for the 2010 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award in the soccer division, among those candidates are UCSB seniors Michael Boxall and Sam Hayden.
To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as a NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. Lowe's, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, will announce the Senior CLASS Award winners during the 2010 NCAA College Cup championships in early December.
Each of the 30 candidate classes will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one male candidate and one female candidate who best exemplify excellence in the four C’s of community, classroom, character and competition.
UCSB was the only men's program to have two players named as candidates for the award and Boxall and Hayden are the only Big West players that have been selected. Only five total players from west coast schools made the list.
Boxall, a defender for the Gauchos, is entering his fourth season at UCSB. He is a two-time All-Big West honoree and earned First Team distinction last season after a breakout year.
The 2008 Olympian for his native New Zealand has also been active in the local soccer community, volunteering at the UCSB Soccer Summer Camps and participating in the Little Gauchos program, in which UCSB players fill in as guest coaches for local soccer teams. He is majoring in business economics at UCSB and was named to the Dean’s List following the spring 2009 quarter.
Hayden, the Gauchos’ starting goalkeeper, is entering his second year at UCSB after transferring from Yavapai College. He was named the 2009 Big West Goalkeeper of the Year, First Team All-Big West, Second Team All-Far West Region and the LA Soccer News Men’s Player of the Year after recording a school and conference record 16 shutouts last season.
Hayden has also volunteered his time to give back to the local soccer community, helping organize the Santa Barbara Soccer Camps and the Santa Barbara Fiesta Tournament. He has also helped build homes in both Mexico and Tennessee in affiliation with his hometown church in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He is a geography major at UCSB.
The Gauchos open the 2010 season this Saturday when they host Westmont in an exhibition match on the newly resurfaced Meredith Field at Harder Stadium at 7 p.m.