Southwest All-Region thoughts

A few years ago I wrote about Northwest and Southwest All-Region stuff on my ill-fated attempt at a blog. Well, even though I’m no longer an active blogger, I still think similarly about the All -Region teams. I still believe the All-Region team is about the Series more than anything else. A player on the All-Region team should be leading their team to success in the Series, not just a baller on a bad team.

Like the NBA All-Star selections, I think that selecting All-Region players is sort of a numbers game. Yes, the Southwest Region had depth in terms of national ranking, but in reality, there were only four teams contending to go to the College Championships come Regionals. As such, lets get into it.

How I think the numbers break down for the first team:

• 3 players from Santa Cruz –  The Slugs are undefeated against SW competition this year, and they pulled off one hell of a comeback to win the final game. I think there are at least four All-Region caliber players on the team, but I can’t see them getting four first team spots.
• 2 players from Stanford – Bloodthirsty qualified for Nationals, and a big part of that was the performance of a few players at Regionals. I think those guys deserve recognition.
• 2 players from San Diego State – I think that SDSU is the second best team in the SW Region, and I think they showed their quality in the Series. They also played a great game in the final.

My pics for first team All-Region in the SW:

1. Cassidy Rasmusen, UCSC – The leader of the regional champion Slugs.
2. Russell Wynne, UCSC – The best defender in the region.
3. Travis Ladd, UCSC – Had a very good year, and an amazing stat line in the final with 1 D, 3 assists, 4 goals, and 0 turns.
4. Jordan Jeffery, Stanford – Played huge for Stanford all weekend. Very nice throws and caught a ton of important goals.
5. Jacob Speidel, Stanford – The most dangerous cutter for Stanford, and the hardest player to stop on their team.
6. Timothy Gilligan, SDSU – Great all around player. Lots of teams tried to make him go down field because of how effective his break throws are, which is kind of funny because he’s better as a cutter.
7. Dominic Leggio – The rock of the SDSU team, does anything they ask of him and plays great D.

FOTY: Eli Kerns, UC Davis – The number two player on a team playing meaningful games on Sunday at regionals.

COTY: Dr. Daryl Nounnan, UCSC – Coached the Slugs to their best finish since 2008.

How I think the numbers break down for the second team:

• All of UCSC, Stanford, and SDSU get a spot on the second team. Those three teams were the class of the regional tournament.
• Cal earns three spots on the second team for their strong play during the Series. They only had two losses in the past two tournaments, they lost to SDSU in the regional semifinal, and were 1-1 with Stanford during the Series.
• The final spot on the team goes to UC Davis. They weren’t as deep as UCLA, and how much they leaned on their top player shows how much he deserves All-Region recognition.

My pics for second team All-Region in the SW:

1. Devon Anderson, UCSC – There is a strong argument to be made for putting Devon on the 1st team based on how well he played at Sectionals and during the season. If he’s not on the 1st team, he has to be on the 2nd team.
2. Jackson Stearns, SDSU – Had both the most goals and the most assists for SDSU on the season. Also, his hucks are nice.
3. Ryan Thompson, Stanford – Lots of touches, very few turns, very good D. Ryan played very well when Stanford needed him to, and I think he’s earned an All-Region spot.
4. Sam Kanner, Cal – In addition to playing some of the best D in the region, Kanner also anchored Cal’s D-line offense during the Series. He also was their main man going upwind at Sectionals.
5. Andrew Hagen, Cal – Second best defender in the region.
6. Gary Dixon, Cal – Very smart handler with a variety of break mark throws. Also a smart defender.
7. Taylor Lahey, Davis – Has been the man for Davis for years now, deserves recognition as an All-Region player.

FOTY: Luc Dilllow, SDSU – Played meaningful O points for a very good SDSU team.

COTY: Stanford Staff – I know, you can’t give this award to the whole coaching staff. If you want me to pick just one coach for the 2nd team, I have to go with Will ‘The Thrill’ Griffin from SDSU. If you don’t know The Thrill, you better ask somebody.

Other noteable players:

• Josh Nickerson, UCSD – A great player, unfortunately he was hurt, and not playing for a good team.
• Marcos Perez, CSULB – Would be up there if the Stalkers had finished better this year.
• Jake Juszak, Cal Poly-SLO – Being the biggest bro in the region has to get you somewhere, right?
• Markham Shofner and Tommy Li, Claremont – These guys are very good players, and Claremont has had a good season. They’re going to D-III Nationals, which was their goal. It’s my opinion that D-III should have an All-American team instead of having the D-III athletes recognized with the D-I athletes. D-I and D-III have separate Series, and the athletes should be recognized separately.

Also in the notable category: A bunch of dudes from UCSC, a bunch of dudes from SDSU, a bunch of dudes from Stanford, and a bunch of dudes from Cal. Honestly, so many players from these 4 teams would be making a huge impact if they were on any of the teams that finished outside the top four.

Note: Pictures and links forthcoming.