The Sandburg men’s soccer team’s top two goal scorers were voted to the All-Region 4 Division II Team.
Sophomore forward Rodrigo De la Fuente was selected as first-team all-region, and coaches voted Chargers freshman forward Luis Garcia to the second team.
A second-team all-region pick last season, De la Fuente finished among the nation’s leaders in goals, assists, points, and game-winning goals after playing in 16 games during his sophomore campaign. He tied for sixth in NJCAA Division II with 21 goals, tied for 14th nationally with 11 assists and was fifth in the country with 53 points. His five game-winning goals on the year ranked seventh in the nation.
De la Fuente scored in 11 of the 16 matches in which he appeared, and he recorded a point in 12 of them. He posted four multi-goal games, including three in a row Sept. 22 against Heartland, Sept. 25 at Wisconsin-Whitewater at Rock County and Sep. 30 against Kennedy-King. In the match at UW-Whitewater at Rock County, De la Fuente tallied a school-record seven goals and added three assists.
Garcia played in 15 matches during his freshman season. He tied for 15th nationally with 16 goals and tied for 12th with 41 points. Garcia scored in eight contests and had four outings with multiple goals. He racked up five goals and six assists on Sept. 25 at UW-Whitewater at Rock County, and he posted a hat trick in the Chargers’ Oct. 10 win over Black Hawk.
The duo helped Sandburg finish with an 11-3-3 record this season, which included a No. 19 ranking in the country to end the regular season and the team’s second straight Arrowhead Conference title.
2024 ALL-REGION 4 DIVISION II MEN’S SOCCER TEAM
First Team
Player of the Year — Jim Boulaner (Prairie State)*
Emmanuel Calixto (Moraine Valley)*
Julio Davila (Rock Valley)*
Jorge Leon (Rock Valley)*
Victor Salmeron (Morton)*
Adrian Diaz (Elgin)*
Ariel Gomez (Elgin)*
Yael Dia (Moraine Valley)
Rylan Decker (Moraine Valley)
Luis Munoz (Prairie State)
Jim Boulaner (Prairie State)
Nabona Mateo (Prairie State)
Rodrigo De la Fuente (Sandburg)
Gio Melgoza (South Suburban)
David Rumpel (Oakton)
*All-America nominee
Second Team
Mark Vitaily Hul (Moraine Valley)
Niko Kunz (Moraine Valley)
Fernando Alvarez (Moraine Valley)
Jaime Dominguez (Prairie State)
Fabian Montes (Prairie State)
Angel Saenz (Prairie State)
Alyas Fritz (Rock Valley)
Victor Ibarra (Rock Valley)
Gabriel Arias (Elgin)
Christian Escobedo (Elgin)
Luis Garcia (Sandburg)
Selmane Azibi (Morton)
Nico Espinosa (South Suburban)
Nicolas Chaves (Oakton)
Carter Uhlmann (Madison)
Daniel Suvak (Bryant & Stratton)
Third Team
Geo Prado (Madison)
Joseph Ntalaka (Bryant & Stratton)
Ethan Knapp (Harper)
Oliver Delgado (Triton)
Sam Negus (DuPage)
Jabulile Mooketsi (Illinois Valley)
Hernan Medina (Waubonsee)
Herman Rendon (Richard J Daley)
Demian Basistyi (Lake County)
Joe Cartright (Black Hawk)
David Aquino (McHenry)
Theron O'Brian (Kankakee)
Andrew Davison (Kishwaukee)
Giovanni Guerrero (Milwaukee Tech)
Coach of the Year
Dimitri Tsoukalas (Elgin)
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