HERRIMAN, Utah (May 18, 2021) – The Scenic West Athletic Conference has quickly built considerable prowess in the NJCAA's men's soccer ranks.
 
In a normal year, the Scenic West's teams are earning regional success and contending for national honors, thanks to programs like No. 2 Salt Lake Community College. SLCC swept the individual honors in Tuesday's All-Region 18 Men's Soccer honors, thanks to earning the league's top seed. SLCC's Samuel Owusu was named the Region 18 'Player-of-the-Year', while Bruins goalkeeper Jose Arellano was named 'Goalkeeper-of-the-Year'.
 
A native of Aurora, Colorado, Owusu scored seven goals for SLCC during a 10-0-1 season, finishing with 26 shots and 13 shots-on-goal. He also posted a shooting percentage of .269. Arellano played 823 minutes at goal for the Bruins, allowing just five goals in that time while posting ten saves. He also posted four shutouts on the year. 
 
The All-Region 18 First-Team includes: Levonte Johnson, Ryen Jiba, Omar Gomez and Paul Richnow (Salt Lake); Zachary Lifferth, Andrew Long and Sean Lane-Turnbull (Snow); Alfredo Diaz and Eli Zaragosa (Southern Nevada); and Erick Ceja-Gonzalez and Allen Somera (Truckee Meadows).

Johnson posted a team-high eight goals for Salt Lake in the regular-season, while Jiba posted two game-winning goals during the year. Gomez started every match for SLCC, with Richnow leading SLCC to allowing just five goals on the season. 
 
Snow's Zachary Dean led the All-Region 18 Second-Team as a goalkeeper. Other All-Region 18 Second-Team honorees included: Jonathan Castro, Azriel Johnson and Blaine Chambers (Salt Lake); Deontae Ben and Kanta Sakata (Snow); Mihreteab Tesfamariam and Carlos Sanchez (Southern Nevada); Luis Chavez and Wilmer Hernandez-Parra (Truckee Meadows); Parker Huff (USU Eastern); and Turner West (Colorado Northwestern). The All-Region 18 Honorable Mention players were: Taimu Okiyoshi (Salt Lake); Diogo Lobato (Snow); Gael Angel-Parra (Southern Nevada); Ryan Rutherford (Truckee Meadows); Rishav Thakur (USU Eastern); and Leo Loya (Colorado Northwestern).
 
The Region 18 championships are scheduled to conclude on Wednesday at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, with the title game scheduled for 1:30 p.m.