It was a bittersweet day for the Warrior men's soccer team on Thursday. Despiste a hard-fought loss in the OUA semifinals to the TMU Bold one night prior, Waterloo received some outstanding recognitions by the OUA with two student-athletes being named OUA west major award winners; James Arango (Mississauga/) as the rookie of the year and Justin Joseph (Mississauga/) as the community service award winner. On top of that, six different Warriors were named OUA west first-team and second-team all-stars.

James Arango (Mississauga/) was simply a star for the Warriors from the get-go, scoring two goals in the opening weekend in a pair of wins over Laurier and continued to play a big part in Waterloo's potent offence all season long. Arango finished with eight goals and six assists. His 13 points was the second most among all OUA players this season.

Positively representing his team and university beyond the field, Justin Joseph (Mississauga/) has been tabbed as the 2022 OUA community service award recipient in the West Division.

A conscientious student who has represented the University of Waterloo in many ways, Joseph has set a terrific example as to what it means to be a student-athlete. In successfully balancing both parts of that role, the second-year honour mechatronics engineering student from Mississauga, Ont. has taken part in numerous academic competitions and has maintained a position on the President's Academic Honour Roll at the university as well.

Not only was the sophomore centreback the team's first recruit for the 2021 season, but by making his mark both on and off the pitch since that time, has become the first Warriors play to earn the conference recognition as well.

Earning first-team all-star awards was Luka Frankovich (Oakville/), Matheus Mello (Toronto/), and Kevin Espiro (Mississauga/) while Perry Zorbas (Oakville/), Nikolas Antolcic (Kitchener/) and Sebastian Guerrieri (Oakville/) were all named second-team all-stars.

Frankovich was a steady force once again on the backend for the Warriors while chipping in offensively with three goals and six assists while Mello followed up his strong rookie campaign with another solid season scoring one goal and one assist. Espiro was also a key part of Waterloo's offence this season putting away six goals and adding two assists.

Zorbas had a memorable season with several key plays on the defensive side of the ball while scoring twice and adding five assists. Guerrieri did Guerrieri things, scoring 12 goals this season, once again leading the Warrior attack. Last but not least was the steady foot of Antolcic who played a key role in Waterloo's midfield. Antolcic had a couple clutch points in the playoffs that led to Waterloo's spectuclar run including an upset win over the No. 1 York Lions.