THIBAULT CANDIA, UC SANTA BARBARA – OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Junior • F • Nantes, France • Temple
Thibault Candia helped UC Santa Barbara finish the regular season with an unblemished home record and earned his first career Offensive Player of the Week award.
• The junior forward notched two assists in UCSB’s 2-0 victory over Central Coast rival Cal Poly on Saturday in front of a season-high crowd of 7,318 at Harder Stadium.
• Candia set up both Gaucho goals in what typically has been a defensive staredown contest at Harder – four consecutive draws and five straight scoreless halves.
• However, Candia helped break the 0-0 halftime deadlock with a nifty pass from the top right corner of the box to Sahid Conteh in the 51st minute. Conteh received the pass and fired near post to put the Gauchos up 1-0.
• UCSB waited another 10 minutes before striking a second time. Candia threaded a backward pass to a streaking Kaya Fabbretti, who scored to the lower right corner for the two goal lead.
• It was Candia’s second multi-assist game of the year – and the 11th this year in the Big West.
• Candia picked up his fifth and sixth assists of the season, putting him into a tie for the Big West lead with Adam Mickelson of UC Davis and Alvaro Quezada of UC Irvine.
• UCSB improved to 9-0-0 at home, its best home record since the 2002 team finished 10-0-0.
Others nominated: Christian Pinzon (Cal State Fullerton); Daniel Trejo (CSUN); Dominic Scotti (Sacramento State); Connor Tipton (UC Davis)
HENRIK REGITNIG, CSUN – DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Senior • GK • Invermere, B.C. • UMKC
For the second straight season, CSUN goalkeeper Henrik Regitnig is a three-time recipient of Defensive Player of the Week honors.
• Regitnig becomes just the fourth player in Big West history to claim at least six weekly awards over the course of a career. He joins all-time leader Andrew Fontein (UC Irvine, 7), along with former CSUN standout Willie Sims (6) and Nick DePuy (UC Santa Barbara, 6).
• Regitnig posted his fifth shutout of the season in a 2-0 win over Big West regular season champion UC Irvine. He made four saves against the No. 21-ranked Anteaters.
• It was his ninth career clean sheet, moving him to seventh all-time in the Matador record book. His four saves gave him 131 for his career, the 11th most in school history. It also marked his 19th career win.
Others nominated: Paul-Andre Guerin (Cal State Fullerton); Josh Dull (Sacramento State); Nabi Kibunguchy (UC Davis); Dusan Keca (UC Riverside); Ben Roach (UC Santa Barbara)