UNBC athletic awards winners (l-r) Francesco Bartolillo, Vasiliki Louka, Sidney Roy and Franco Kouagnia. Photo courtesy UNBC

Prince George, B.C. – The UNBC Timberwolves presented their year-end awards  Friday night at the Hart Crown Banquet Hall.

Franco Kouagnia and Sidney Roy were selected as this year’s male and female athlete of the year.  Both awards are geared towards recognizing a student-athlete who was gone above and beyond to succeed in their sport, and typically receives Canada West or CIS recognition for their performance.

Women’s soccer player Sidney Roy, named rookie of the year in 2013, set a new women’s soccer and university record for goals in a season when she scored her second of the game against Thompson Rivers University in October. Her six goal performance ranked her sixth in Canada West for goals in a season.  She is also the all-time goal scorer for the Timberwolves with 13 goals in just three seasons.

Male athlete of the year was awarded to UNBC’s first-ever Canada West basketball all-star. Franco Kouagnia was named a Canada West Second Team All-Star after he helped lead the Timberwolves to a 12-8 regular season record, good for second place in the Explorer division (fifth place in Canada West), and UNBC’s first playoff appearance since joining Canada West in 2012.

This year’s female rookie of the year was awarded to women’s basketball player Vasiliki Louka.  The 6’1 forward averaged 11.4 points per game and ranked fifth in Canada West with 8.4 rebounds per game.

Francesco Bartolillo was named male rookie of the year after his stand-out performance for the Timberwolves men’s soccer team. Bartolillo came to UNBC as a player that had excelled in the Alberta Provincial Team Program and as part of the Prairies National Training Centre for the Canadian Soccer Association.

In addition to the awards given out the Timberwolves also recognized assistant coach for the men’s soccer program Sonny Pawar. Pawar has been a part of the men’s soccer program since it’s debut in the college league.  For his nine years of dedication to help build and grow the Timberwolves men’s soccer program Pawar was presented with a jersey signed by alumni of the program and current players.