Singer, Birchard, De Anda, Barton Named First-Team All-West for CMS Men's Soccer

Singer, Birchard, De Anda, Barton Named First-Team All-West for CMS Men's Soccer

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Senior Adam Singer, junior William Birchard, and sophomores Eduardo De Anda and William Barton all earned first-team All-West Region honors from the United Soccer Coaches, the organization announced today, while sophomore Samay Rahim earned a spot on the third team.

The All-West Region winners are now eligible for United Soccer Coaches All-America honors, which will be announced later this week. 

Singer has been a two-year captain and has started at center back since arriving as a freshman in 2016. He missed the 2017 season with an injury, when CMS struggled to a 4-11-1 record, but he returned the last two years to quarterback a defense that totaled 27 shutouts in 40 games in that span. This year, Singer was named the SCIAC Player of the Year, a rare honor for a defensive player, while guiding the Stags to the SCIAC regular season and postseason titles. He also totaled four goals on the season, including the game-winner at Occidental during the regular season in the final 10 minutes, and two goals in the closing minutes of an NCAA defeat against Centre in the Round of 16, when he nearly helped the Stags to a dramatic late comeback. 

Birchard, who was a third-team All-America selection from D3soccer.com last year as a left back, finished his junior season this season with five goals and four assists for 14 points. Birchard played most of the season at left back again, but showed his versatility by moving up to the midfield for several games. He had the game-winning goal off a free kick in the SCIAC Semifinals against Occidental, and scored twice on penalty kicks in a 2-0 win over Texas Lutheran in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. 

De Anda was named first-team All-West Region after compiling a 9-0-1 record in goal before suffering his first collegiate defeat in the Centre contest. He finished the year with a 0.70 goals against average and an .833 save percentage, while his numbers in SCIAC games were a 6-0-1 record a .917 save percentage and an 0.28 goals average, earning him first-team all-league honors. He had a shutout win over Redlands in the SCIAC Championship game, and also had a 2-0 shutout win over Texas Lutheran in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. 

Barton ended his sophomore season with seven goals and five assists for 19 points, including the game-winning goal in double overtime of a 2-1 win at Whittier which clinched the regular season championship for the Stags. Barton also assisted on the game-winning goal in the SCIAC Championship over Redlands and scored twice in a 3-1 win over La Verne. 

Rahim ended his sophomore year with a goal and two assists after starting all 22 games in the midfield. He scored his first goal in a 2-0 win over Trinity in the NCAA Second Round, and also assisted on the only goal of the game in a 1-0 regular season win over Whittier. 

CMS finished the year with a 16-4-2 record, while reaching the Round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1985. CMS also won both the regular season and the postseason SCIAC titles for the first time since the SCIAC introduced the postseason championship in 2006.