What a year! Another championship win as the number one seed Brandon University (BU) Bobcats completed the 2022 Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference (MCAC) men’s futsal season with the conference trophy and banner. Fourth year midfielder Diego Rodriguez earned MCAC Male Athlete of the Week honours for the week ending Mar. 13, 2022.
The Brandon, MB native added to his impressive resume from this MCAC season as he started the weekend with four goals in a 9-4 win over Providence University College (PUC) Pilots and then two more tallies in a 7-4 win versus Université de Saint-Boniface (USB) Les Rouges on Saturday, March 12 in the third and final leg of the regular season to determine the playoff seeding positions.
Rodriguez saved the best for last as he added another four goals against PUC in semi final and was named BU’s Player of Match. Then in the championship final, he scored another goal in a 11-5 victory over defending champion Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) Blazers on Sunday, March 13.
For his efforts, Rodriguez was named Championship MVP (he was also championship MVP for men’s soccer this year). He spoke after the win, “I am so happy for the guys as we worked hard and happy to bring back another banner to Brandon. We learned a lot from the loss earlier this year (to CMU) and changed our tactics for this match.”
This was the second time, the BU Bachelor of Physical Education Studies student-athlete was named as Athlete of the Week for this season. He was also selected in week eight for men’s soccer season. Brandon completed the double this year as the program won both MCAC championship in men’s soccer and futsal in 2021-22.
BU finished 2022 with a 3-0-1 regular season record and 2-0 mark in the playoffs. They have now won conference futsal titles in 2019 and 2022.
MCAC Athlete of the Week winners for 2021-22 season
Week 1 (ending Sept. 12, 2021)
WSOC: Kira Ireson – BU
MSOC: Franck Oumar N’Dia – USB
Week 2 (ending Sept. 19, 2021)
WSOC: Morgan Pierce – CMU
MSOC: Jai Virk – PUC
Week 3 (ending Sept. 26, 2021)
WSOC: Katie Moniot – USB
MSOC: Matheus Dos Anjos Aquino – CMU
Week 4 (ending Oct. 3, 2021)
WSOC: Sara Boissonneault – USB
MSOC: Garreth Rayner – PUC
Week 5 (ending Oct. 10, 2021)
WSOC: Paige Heide – PUC
MSOC: Jafet Sandoval – ACC
Week 6 (ending Oct. 17, 2021)
WSOC: Cassie Nazeravich – USB
MSOC: Ryder Anthony – BU
Week 7 (ending Oct. 24, 2021)
WSOC: Makayla Myer – PUC
MSOC: Joel Dueck – PUC
Week 8 (ending Oct. 31, 2021)
WSOC: Mylène Chabot – USB
MSOC: Diego Rodriguez – BU
Week 9 (ending Nov. 7, 2021)
WVB: Alex Buhler – PUC
MVB: Noah Barcellona – ACC
Week 10 (ending Nov. 14, 2021)
WVB: Halle Meisner – CMU
MBB: Nathan Ens – PUC
Week 11 (ending Nov. 21, 2021)
WVB: Brielle Grenier – USB
MVB: Tyler Klassen – PUC
Week 12 (ending Nov. 28, 2021)
WBB: Shirliz Apiyo – CMU
MVB: Austin Anderson – PUC
Week 13 (ending Dec. 5, 2021)
WBB: Julia Schatkowsky – CMU
MVB: Carter Beattie – ACC
Week 14 (ending Jan. 30, 2022)
WVB: Maddie Fehr – PUC
MVB: Nick Friesen – PUC
Week 15 (ending Feb. 6, 2022)
WFUT: Tiegan Kroeker – CMU
MBB: Joshua Armstrong – PUC
Week 16 (ending Feb. 13, 2022)
WVB: Valeria Gonzalez – USB
MVB: Timothy Juvonen – CMU
Week 17 (ending Feb. 20, 2022)
WVB: Sam Lemoine – USB
MBB: Seth McKenzie – CMU
Week 18 (ending Feb. 27, 2022)
WVB: Jenna Campbell – USB
MBB: TJ Paguirigan – USB
Week 19 (ending Mar. 6, 2022)
WVB: Sam Lemoine – USB
MVB: Timothy Juvonen – CMU
Week 20 (ending Mar. 13, 2022)
WFUT: Sara Boissonneault – USB
MFUT: Diego Rodriguez – BU
Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference 