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Pac-12 Conference

The Conference
of Champions

1 player to know from each Pac-12 men’s soccer team in 2023

by RJ Chavez
Aug 16, 2023
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The 2023 Pac-12 men’s soccer season is almost upon us and there’s no better time than now to get the ball rolling again.

Here’s a look at one student-athlete from each men’s soccer program to look forward to on the pitch in the upcoming season.

Sam Fowler, Washington - Goalkeeper

Fowler has a chance to become the Pac-12’s all-time leader in both career shutouts and GAA (Goals Against Average) to cap off his Husky career. He enters his senior campaign third on the Conference's clean sheets list (25, three behind Spencer Richey's Pac-12 record 30) and fourth in GAA (0.73, within range of Andrew Thomas' record 0.67), marks easily attainable considering the Huskies return the bulk of their back line in Khai Brisco, Nate Jones, Chris Meyers and Gabe Threadgold.

In his junior year - a season limited to 14 matches due to injury - he finished with a 0.80 GAA and maintained four clean sheets on his way to earning First Team honors on the 2022 United Soccer Coaches All-Far West Region team.

The standout goalkeeper now heads into his senior season aiming to help Washington defend its Pac-12 title and a second College Cup trip in three seasons. 

Shane de Flores, Stanford - Midfielder

As a redshirt freshman in 2022, de Flores led the Cardinal in points (20) to go along with a team-high eight goals and goal assists. He scored three game-winning goals and ranked third in the Pac-12 in both total goals and points. 

His first goal came against UC Davis in the third outing of the season and that would only be the beginning of an outstanding start to his collegiate career. A few weeks later he would notch his first career brace in the Big Game matchup against Cal, as he also totaled a career-high four points in the rivalry match. 

The accolades accumulated for the midfielder out of Danville, Calif., earning a Pac-12 Player of the Week honor and a spot on the All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention list in 2022. 

Javier Armas, Oregon State - Midfielder

Despite missing the end of 2022 due to injury, Armas started in the first 11 games of the season and earned All-Pac-12 Second Team honors.

His two goals of the season came in a victory at No. 11 Denver, which included his game-winner that led to his Pac-12 Player of the Week honor.

Armas has put together a total of six goals and six assists throughout his career. The senior midfielder will help an OSU squad that’s under the leadership of first-year head coach Greg Dalby. 

In five years at Penn State, most recently as associate head coach, Dalby appeared in three NCAA tournaments and helped the Nittany Lions win the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles in 2021.

Tommy Silva, UCLA - Defender

Silva garnered his second consecutive selection to the Pac-12 All-Conference Second Team after a remarkable junior season last year with the Bruins. He started in all 20 matches and led the team in assists with eight, which ranked fourth in the Pac-12 and 28th nationally. His lone goal of the season came against San Diego State and UCLA had a perfect record of 8-0-0 in games in which Silva recorded a point.

The senior is listed at No. 48 in TopDrawerSoccer's preseason Men's Top 100 Players to Watch List ahead of the upcoming season.

Austin Brummett, San Diego State - Forward

Brummett comes off a freshman season in which he tallied two goals and two assists. He appeared in 16 games, including 13 starts for the Aztecs attack unit.  

The New Hampshire native has scored at the national team level, USL Championship level and will return back to SDSU for a chance to pile on more goals at the collegiate level.

With his sophomore season approaching, the standout forward looks to help SDSU build on last season’s 5-9-4 overall finish and a mark of 1-6-3 in conference.

Nonso Adimabua, California - Forward

Adimabua is back for his second season in Berkeley as the Golden Bears' leading returning scorer; Cal, however, saw nearly 70 percent of its goals production (11-of-16) depart with the loss of Fahmi Ibrahim and Shoei Honda.

The junior from Asaba, Nigeria produced two goals and an assist and ranked among the league leaders with 31 total shots.

For the Bears to be successful, he'll need to provide a consistent and efficient scoring prowess akin to his time under now second-year Cal head coach Leonard Griffin at San Francisco, where Adimabua totaled eight goals and six assists in a pair of All-WCC level seasons.

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