By: Evan O'Kelly, Associate Commissioner for Communications

PORTLAND, Ore. – After leading Western Oregon to its second straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference men’s soccer regular-season title, junior midfielder Yahir Ocampo Navarro headlined the 2025 all-conference team as the GNAC Player of the Year.
 

2025 GNAC Men's Soccer Special Award Winners
Player of the Year	Yahir Ocampo Navarro, Western Oregon
Co-Defensive Player of the Year	Kian Proctor, Simon Fraser
Co-Defensive Player of the Year	Harper Neubeck, Western Oregon
Newcomer of the Year	Derek Johnson, Northwest Nazarene
Freshman of the Year	Victor Cabanas, Seattle Pacific
Coach of the Year	Kevin Sakuda, Seattle Pacific

 

First-Team All-Conference
Name	School	Position	Height	Year	Hometown (Previous School)
Rafael Lucio*	Seattle Pacific	Forward	5-7	JR	Las Vegas, NV (Eldorado/Columbia Basin)
Koji Poon*%#	Simon Fraser	Forward	5-9	JR	Vancouver, BC (University Hill)
Orlando Erazo*%	Seattle Pacific	Forward	5-10	SR	Mattawa, WA (Wahluke)
Yahir Ocampo Navarro*$!	Western Oregon	Midfielder	5-5	JR	Aloha, OR (Aloha)
Derek Johnson*	Northwest Nazarene	Midfielder	5-8	SO	Gig Harbor, WA (Gig Harbor/Bellevue Coll.)
Connor Tollan $^	Seattle Pacific	Midfielder	5-11	SR	Tacoma, WA (Silas)
Joar Tidblom* @	Western Washington	Defender	6-2	SR	Norrkoping, Sweden (Hagagymnasiet)
Kian Proctor*	Simon Fraser	Defender	6-3	JR	Delta, BC (Seaquam/Univ. Fraser Valley)
Harper Neubeck* ^@	Western Oregon	Defender	5-9	SR	Eugene, OR (Churchill/Chico State)
Caleb Kiner* $	Western Oregon	Defender	5-11	SR	Dallas, OR (Dallas/Gonzaga)
Brian Lanier	Seattle Pacific	Goalkeeper	6-5	SR	Newberg, OR (Newberg/Gonzaga/Univ. of the Pacific)
*Unanimous Selection $ - First Team in 2024 ! – First Team in 2023 + - First Team in 2022 % - Second Team in 2023 # - Second Team in 2024 @ - Honorable Mention in 2024 ^ - Honorable Mention in 2023 > Honorable Mention in 2022

 

Second-Team All-Conference
Name	School	Position	Height	Year	Hometown (Previous School)
Kundalini Dominique	Simon Fraser	Forward	6-0	SO	Montreal, Que. (Ahuntsic)
Michael Divano	Western Oregon	Forward	5-10	SO	Bremerton, WA (Klahowya/UNLV)
Albin Jonsson +!@	Western Washington	Forward	6-0	SR	Skelleftea, Sweden (Baldergymnasiet)
Rylan McPherson	Northwest Nazarene	Forward	5-10	FR	Meridian, ID (Rocky Mountain)
Jackson Goode	Seattle Pacific	Midfielder	6-1	SR	Boise, ID (Boise)
Abeselom Zemenfes	Western Oregon	Midfielder	6-0	FR	Mekelle, Ethiopia (Ballard FC)
Michael Hennessy !#	Simon Fraser	Midfielder	5-10	JR	Vancouver, BC (University Hill)
Victor Cabanas	Seattle Pacific	Defender	5-11	FR	Federal Way, WA (Thomas Jefferson/San Jose State)
Sebastiano Silvetti !$	Western Washington	Defender	6-5	SR	Bergamo, Italy (Paolina Secco Suardo)
Eli White	Western Oregon	Defender	6-0	FR	Portland, OR (McDaniel)
Austin Valdez	Western Oregon	Goalkeeper	5-10	JR	Seattle, WA (ASU Prep/Utah Valley)
Charlie Dyer	Western Washington	Goalkeeper	6-0	JR	Seattle, WA (West Seattle/San Jose State)
*Unanimous Selection $ - First Team in 2024 ! – First Team in 2023 + - First Team in 2022 % - Second Team in 2023 # - Second Team in 2024 @ - Honorable Mention in 2024 ^ - Honorable Mention in 2023 > Honorable Mention in 2022

 

Honorable Mention All-Conference
Name	School	Position	Height	Year	Hometown (Previous School)
Baraka Dayi	Northwest Nazarene	Forward	5-11	FR	Nampa, ID (Boise)
Ousman Garba	Northwest Nazarene	Midfielder	5-11	JR	Yaounde, Cameroon (Citizens)
Caleb Putney #	Northwest Nazarene	Defender	5-10	SO	Vancouver, WA (Union)
Derek Remen	Northwest Nazarene	Midfielder	6-0	FR	Bellevue, WA (Issaquah)
Illyes El Yansli	Northwest Nazarene	Defender	5-9	SO	Arry, France (Lycee Louis de Cormontaigne Mets/Mobile)
Soren Hanson	Saint Martin’s	Forward	5-9	JR	Yakima, WA (East Valley/Walla Walla)
Jonathan Wright	Saint Martin’s	Defender	6-3	SO	Yakima, WA (West Valley)
Diego Pena-Salgado #^	Seattle Pacific	Midfielder	5-8	JR	Marysville, WA (Marysville Pilchuck)
Kasey Toevs	Seattle Pacific	Defender	6-2	FR	Quincy, WA (Quincy)
Derek Ebel	Simon Fraser	Defender	6-5	FR	Coquitlam, BC (Dr. Charles Best)
Alex Grignon >	Western Oregon	Forward	6-4	SR	Bend, OR (Summit)
Reiley Buri Brown	Western Washington	Defender	6-0	SO	Bellingham, WA (Sehome)
Diego Lopez	Western Washington	Defender	5-9	SR	Yakima, WA (East Valley/Columbia Basin Coll.)
Jose Perez	Western Washington	Forward	5-9	FR	Tieton, WA (Federal Way)
Edgar Serrano @^	Western Washington	Midfielder	5-9	JR	Mount Vernon, WA (Mount Vernon/Northern Illinois)
*Unanimous Selection $ - First Team in 2024 ! – First Team in 2023 + - First Team in 2022 % - Second Team in 2023 # - Second Team in 2024 @ - Honorable Mention in 2024 ^ - Honorable Mention in 2023 > Honorable Mention in 2022

Ocampo Navarro and the Wolves went 10-4-4 overall including a mark of 6-2-2 in league play, tying with Seattle Pacific at 20 points to share the league title. The driving force behind the Wolves’ success, Ocampo Navarro notched a team-leading five assists to go along with five goals for 15 total points. A third-year starter for the Wolves, Ocampo Navarro started all 18 matches this fall and played the full 90 minutes in eight of them.
 
WOU teammate Harper Neubeck also took home a major award, earning co-GNAC Defensive Player of the Year honors. A fifth-year senior on the WOU back line, Neubeck was among the league’s most reliable players starting all 18 matches and logging a career-high 1,560 minutes played. Neubeck’s season has included 13 total-90 performances as he helped WOU tie for the best opponents scoring average in the conference at 0.94 goals per game. He also contributed offensively with a pair of goals and a pair of assists. None was bigger than his 90th-minute game-winner against Western Washington on Nov. 8, which proved to be the goal that clinched WOU a share of the conference title and the No. 1 seed into the GNAC Men’s Soccer Championships.
 
Ocampo Navarro became the first player in WOU history to earn the top men’s soccer award, while Neubeck joined 2024 GNAC Defensive Player of the Year Andre Schlaefli as the second in program history to claim that honor. Both players were unanimous first-team all-conference selections. Neubeck has made 60 starts and played 63 games since the fall of 2022, while Ocampo Navarro has 16 career goals and 16 career assists in 54 games played since the fall of 2023. WOU’s men’s soccer team was founded in 2022 and is in its fourth season of competition.
 
Sharing co-Defensive Player of the Year with Neubeck was Simon Fraser junior Kian Proctor. Equally effective in the Red Leafs’ lineup, Proctor started all 18 matches and put together 11 performances playing the full 90 minutes this season. The 6-foot-3 defender also had three goals to his name to go along with a pair of assists for eight total points offensively. With Proctor in the back line, SFU tied for the second-most shutouts in the conference this fall with four. He was a unanimous first-team selection, picking up his first-career all-conference accolades. Proctor became the sixth player in program history to earn the league’s top defender award, joining Niko Papakyriakopoulos (2023), Michael North (2018), Magnus Kristense (2016 & 2017), Alex Rowley (2013) and Max Baessato (2010).
   
One of the league’s most dangerous attackers was voted the GNAC Newcomer of the Year, with Derek Johnson of Northwest Nazarene earning that accolade with an impressive debut. Joining the Nighthawks this fall as a transfer from Bellevue College, Johnson immediately slotted into the starting lineup and racked up seven goals and seven assists for 21 points. At the end of the regular season the unanimous first-team pick ranked fourth in scoring, third in total points and tying for the league lead in total assists. Johnson’s productive campaign was highlighted by a brace in a 2-2 draw against Western Washington on Oct. 9, as well as three separate matches in which he had both a goal and an assist. Johnson started all 18 of NNU’s games this fall, and led the GNAC with 54 shots (3.0 per game) and 24 shots on target (1.33 per game). He is the seventh NNU player to garner GNAC Newcomer of the Year recognition, joining Nestor Serrano (2022), Lorenzo Valentini (2019), Julio Castillo (2014), Fredy Razo (2013), Alfredo Ontiveros (2012) and Renatto Brito (2009).
 
GNAC co-champion Seattle Pacific also took home a pair of major awards, with Victor Cabanas being named GNAC Freshman of the Year and Kevin Sakuda being voted by his peers as GNAC Coach of the Year. The Falcons went 11-3-4 overall and finished identical to WOU in the standings at 6-2-2 in league play for 20 points. SPU’s strong season earned it the No. 2 seed into the GNAC Championships. Cabanas is the sixth player in SPU history but first since 2010 to garner the league’s top freshman award, joining Blaine Carver (2010), Jon Pearman (2009), Josh Burnside (2006), Andy Willis (2003) and James Ward (2001). Sakuda earned his second coach of the year award after claiming it in 2021, and became the third SPU head coach to win it multiple times, joining Mark Collings (2010, 2014, 2015) and Cliff McCrath (2005, 2006).
 
A product of Thomas Jefferson High School in Federal Way, Wash., Cabanas was an integral part of the Falcons’ lineup in his first season of college soccer. He made 16 starts and played the full 90 minutes in 14 of them, totaling 1,425 minutes on the season. A 5-foot-11 defender, Cabanas contributed to a back line that allowed more than one goal in a match just twice this season and only once when he was on the pitch. His efforts helped the Falcons match the Wolves for the lowest goals-against average in the conference at 0.94 per game. In addition to being voted the league’s top first-year player, Cabanas garnered second-team all-conference honors.
 
Sakuda piloted the team to its first league title since 2021 and its fifth overall crown since joining the league as a founding member in 2001. The Falcons’ sturdy season featured an unbeaten streak of nine matches from Sept. 6-Oct. 11, with the team rising as high as No. 12 in the United Soccer Coaches national rankings. Now in his fifth season leading SPU, Sakuda’s tenure has been a successful one at 43-28-20 overall and 26-17-13 in conference play.
 
The 2025 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Soccer Championships kick off on Thursday morning at Terry Fox Field on the campus of Simon Fraser University. Complete ticketing, schedule and live coverage information can be found online here.