Sandman Player of the Month: Yassin rewrote program record book in scintillating September stretch
Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Recording a memorable stretch of play where he rewrote the MacEwan Griffins men's soccer record book, veteran forward Rakan Yassin has been named the Sandman Signature Downtown Edmonton Player of the Month for September.
The honour is bestowed upon the Griffins' overall athlete of the month and comes with a free night's stay at the Sandman Signature Downtown Edmonton.
Yassin had four goals and seven points in seven September games, broke four program records, matched six others and extended another one he held coming into the season.
To say he was on fire in September is an understatement.
"He's been very dangerous as of late," said Griffins men's soccer head coach Adam Loga. "When he got his first goal of the season, I think I mentioned just knowing his tendencies and having him (with the program) so long, his goals come in bunches. He's done that again so far this season, much like he did in 2021. His confidence is high.
"I don't think he feels the net is ever too small right now. We're OK with him driving the play and pushing the play. That's what Ricky does when he's confident. When he's confident, he's the best version of himself."
Loga is referencing the 2021 season when Yassin led the Griffins to their first-ever Canada West playoff berth and won MacEwan's Male Athlete of the Year honour.
During September, Yassin also became the first player in Griffins men's soccer history to be named as a Canada West men's soccer player of the week.
GOAL��
— MacEwan Griffins Men's Soccer (@GriffinsMSOC) September 29, 2024
Ali Yildiz opens the scoring for the @MacEwanGriffins vs @UofLPronghorns in the 21st minute off a great cross from Ricky Yassin!
With the assist, Ricky Yassin is now the @MacEwanU career @CanadaWest points leader with 19. Congrats!#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/64ju0f4oxb
He's been even better so far in 2024 – his final university season – with this list of accomplishments in September:
• Became the program's career Canada West points leader with 20, passing Lahai Mansaray (2015-17) who had 18.
• Became the program's career Canada West goals leader with 13, passing Everett Orgnero (2018-19) who had 11.
• Entered the season as the program's career shots leader with 96, but is now up to 134.
• Became the program's career Canada West shots on goal leader with 60 (passing Everett Orgnero's 45)
• Became the program's career Canada West successful penalty kicks leader with 4 (passing Stefan Gajic's 3)
• Matched the record for career GWG with 3, tying Lahai Mansaray and Stefan Gajic (2018-22)
• Matched record for most goals in a Canada West regular season game (2 at Thompson Rivers on Sept. 13, joining 12 others with that stat)
• Matched the record for most shots in a Canada West game (8 against Lethbridge on Sept. 29, tying Zibusiso Moyo, who had 8 in a game against Lethbridge in 2017)
• Matched the record for most shots on goal in a CW game (4 at Thompson Rivers on Sept. 13, joining 10 others who've done that)
• Matched the record for most GWG in a season (1, one of 24 who've done that)
• Matched the record for most PKs in a season (2/2, fourth guy to do that, including one other time himself in 2021)
"He just stayed the course," said Loga. "I think he had a great summer this year staying home. Usually, he's gone over to Jordan and trained in professional environments there. But he stayed the summer with us and played League 1. He got some good reps there and just built on this game.
"He continued to perfect his craft and he's come out firing here in September."
Yassin could have more records in his future this season as he enters the final stretch of games one point away from the program single CW season standard (8) and one assist away (4). He's also only one assist shy of the career mark (8) and needs just 11 shots to break the record for the most by a Griffin in a Canada West season (48).
