CapU’s Keith Jackson named National Player of the Year
In his fifth and final season with the Capilano University Blues, Keith Jackson has been named the 2018 CCAA Men’s Soccer Player of the Year.
He received the award Tuesday night (November 6) at the CCAA Awards Banquet in Charlottetown, PEI, where the Blues are competing in the Men’s Soccer National Championship.
The North Vancouver resident was previously named PacWest Player of the Year for the second season in a row and Tournament MVP of the PacWest Soccer Championships, late October when CapU won gold and earned a place at the nationals. Tuesday’s CCAA All-Canadian honours came to Jackson for the third season in a row.
“Completing five seasons with the Blues, at a level that Keith has built his reputation upon, is quite an accomplishment,” said Wade Kolmel, CCAA Men’s Soccer Convenor. “A well-rounded, competitive student athlete such as Keith represents Capilano University and all of us in the CCAA quite remarkably. Congratulations to everyone involved in the development of Keith Jackson the soccer player and Keith Jackson the student-athlete.”
The fifth-year forward led the PacWest in scoring for the third-straight season, tallying 13 goals in 12 games. Two of those goals were game-winners, and he had three multi-goal games – including a four-goal effort against Douglas College on September 23. Jackson finished his regular season career with 44 goals, the second highest in conference history.
“That directness is very frightening for any defender he matches up against because of his physical size and his desire to constantly drive things towards the goal,” head coach Alex Elliott told the North Shore News. “It’s a simple, direct approach that when repeated enough times is going to be effective. It’s really nice to see, especially in today’s modern game where things can get overcomplicated. He really does find a way to simplify things. He’s such an amazing student athlete, and you say ‘student’ first because he’s an all-Canadian from an academic standpoint as well.”
A student in the Bachelor of Communication Studies program at CapU, Jackson has been a two-time CCAA Academic All-Canadian and two-time CCAA National Scholar. He also earned a PacWest Academic Excellence Award in 2017-18, and is a part of the CapU Blues peer mentor program where he helps younger teammates adjust to university academic life and provide guidance on how to become a successful student athlete.
Jackson becomes the eighth Capilano Blues student athlete to be named national Player of the Year and the second men’s soccer player, joining Corey Birza who was acclaimed in 2007. He becomes the second Blue to be named the nation’s top player this year, following Simon Friesen who was named 2017-18 CCAA Men’s Volleyball Player of the Year in March. Jackson is also the first winner from the PacWest conference since Justin Wallace of Thompson Rivers University won in 2013.
Jackson will now do his part to lead the Blues to his ultimate goal: a national championship. The Blues start play in the nationals on Wednesday, November 7 against Sheridan College at 1:30 p.m. PST.
Submitted by: CJ Pentland