SBCC's Roberto Santana is a local player from Santa Barbara High School
SBCC sophomore Roberto Santana achieved a rare feat on Monday when he was voted MVP of the Western State Conference by the men’s soccer coaches.
Santana, a former Santa Barbara High standout, is a 6-foot-2 central defender. Normally, the MVP goes to an offensive player.
Santana was one of a dozen Vaqueros who made the All-WSC squad. He scored two goals with one assist while patrolling a defense that allowed just 17 goals in 20 games and posted eight shutouts.
SBCC, ranked No. 3 in Southern Cal and No. 8 in the nation, captured the conference title with records of 12-1-1 and 15-1-4 overall.
John Sisterson, the coach of the SBCC men’s and women’s teams, shared the Coach of the Year award with Oxnard’s Ross Greaney. Sisterson was also the WSC women’s Coach of the Year.
Jordan Tabor, the No. 2 scorer in the WSC with nine goals and nine assists, was a first-team choice, along with forwards Rodrigo Perez and Duran Stanley, midfielder Nick Littleton and goalie Yonha Adrabi.
Perez led the team in goals with 10 and Stanley had nine.
Second-team choices included defenders Ricardo Vazquez and Juan Diaz Casallas, keeper Tony Mendoza and midfielder John-Joe Slater. Santiago Perez and Arman Salimpour were honorable mention.
The Vaqueros, who’ve won their last six games by a combined 16-2, will open the South Region playoffs on Saturday.
