In a rush at the end of the season, Hawaii Pacific won their final four matches to grab a share of the PacWest crown and No. 1 seed in tomorrow's conference championships. 

That momentum helped carry them to four First-Team All-PacWest picks and three of the six special awards in the annual vote of the league's coaches. Breaking into the Shark winnings is the PacWest Player of the Year Kyle Denn of Biola, the Freshman of the Year Jack Merrill of Point Loma and the Newcomer of the Year Sebastian Jaral of Dominican. 

Hawaii Pacific was represented by the Defender of the Year Alexander Arguijo, the Goalkeeper of the Year Eduardo Marin and the Coach of the Year Chris Fisher. 

Chris Fisher directed the Sharks to a share of their first PacWest title in men's soccer. The Sharks finished 6-2-1 in conference play to tie Vanguard for the title, but earned the No. 1 seed in the PacWest Championships by virture of their win over the Lions this year. HPU won their final four matches to put themselves in that position, outscoring their opponents 12-2 during that run. Perhaps most impressive, Hawaii Pacific finished tenth in the conference in 2025 and they were picked to finish sixth in this year's preseason poll.

Kyle Denn of Biola scored 14 times this season for the Eagles, tenth most in NCAA Division II. He led the PacWest with that total and with his 29 points. He scored in great bunches, knocking home four goals in a match against Jessup and putting up a hat trick (three scores) against Chaminade. The four goals is tied for the second most in PacWest history. Denn is a junior that transferred this season from IU-Indianapolis.

Sebastian Jaral of Dominican was selected by the conference's coaches as the Newcomer of the Year. Jaral got red-hot at the end of the season, scoring seven times in his last eight matches to help vault the Penguins into the conference tournament. He scored twice against Biola to start that string and popped a shot into the net in five of the final six games. The transfer from West Valley College scored eight goals on the season and had 19 total points.

The Freshman of the Year is Jack Merrill of Point Loma. The rookie from Makawao, Hawaii started almost immediately upon arriving on campus and ended up leading the Sea Lions with nine goals on the season and 19 total points. He was 7-for-7 in penalty kicks. Merrill, like Jaral, was scorching hot at the end of the season. He scored in four straight matches and in six of his last seven. 

Back to the Sharks. Alexander Arguijo was voted in as Defender of the Year. The 6-foot-5 stopper in the back played a very important role in the Sharks last line of defense. HPU gave up just two goals in their last four total matches as the Sharks made a magical run to a share of the PacWest title.

Also a huge part of that defense is the Goalkeeper of the Year, Eduardo Marin. The graudate transfer from Santa Clara allowed just eight goals in eight PacWest matches, and had a 1.62 goals against average on the year. He had two shutouts and 40 saves on the year. 

All five players listed above were also named to the All-PacWest First Team. Ten of the 11 players named to the First Team were first time selections, with Kelly Takara of HPU the lone exception. 

To see the complete list, click here or on the link above.