Grand Canyon junior forward Saeed Robinson ranked among NCAA II scoring leaders

Courtesy Joel Horn, GCU Sports Information

PHOENIX - Grand Canyon University junior forward Saeed Robinson (Portmore, Jamaica, Wolmers Boys School, Western Texas College) is tied for second in the nation in goals with 11 and tied for seventh in points with 24, according to updated men's soccer statistics released by the NCAA yesterday.

The stats are through games of Oct. 2. Mark Anderson, a senior forward at Barry University in Miami Shores, Fla., leads the nation in both goals and points with 15 and 31, respectively.

Robinson was named Pacific West Conference Men’s Soccer Player of the Week on Monday after he led the Antelopes to a 2-0-1 week in Hawai‘i by unleashing an unparalleled offensive outburst. In three games on Oahu, Robinson amassed 14 points on six goals and two assists. He scored the lone goal in a 1-1 double-overtime draw at BYU-Hawai’i on Sept. 26 and tallied both goals in a 2-0 blanking of Hawai‘i Pacific on Sept. 29.

On Oct. 1 at Hawai‘i Hilo, Robinson reeled off eight points on three goals and two assists, tallying two goals and two assists in the first 33:35 of the contest.

Robinson finished his four-game Hawai‘i trip with 16 points on seven goals and two assists.

He participated in seven of the nine goals GCU scored from the 44:43 mark of a 3-1 win over Chaminade on Sept. 24 through the 33:35 mark of the victory vs. Hawai‘i Hilo.

He leads the Pacific West Conference in goals, goals per game (1.22), points, points per game (2.67), shots (48) and shots per game (5.33), and is second in game-winning goals (3). 

Robinson, 20, was a two-time All-Region V and All-West Region Second Team selection at Western Texas College in Snyder. He was named All-Region V and National Soccer Coaches Association of America All-West Region Second Team in 2009 and 2010. He also garnered All-Area V recognition in 2009, and was named Western Texas College's Most Valuable Forward in 2009 and 2010.

Last season, he played in 19 games and had 16 goals and eight assists for 40 points. In 2009, he played in 17 games and had 13 goals and six assists for 32 points.

He was the Manning Cup Golden Boot winner in 2008 as the leading goal scorer at Wolmer's Boys School in his native Kingston, Jamaica.

Robinson is the 'Lopes starting striker this season because Kyle Ciliento (Phoenix, AZ, Pinnacle, Saint Mary’s College of California), the starter at that position the past two years, tore the ACL in his left knee in a spring exhibition game and is redshirting this season.

Last year, Ciliento led GCU to the 2010 PacWest championship, its fourth in the five-year history of men's soccer in the conference. The 'Lopes finished the season ranked No. 11 in the nation and No. 2 in the West Region in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll and No. 2 in the region in the official NCAA vote. They finished the season with a record of 15-3-2 overall, 12-1-1 in the PacWest.

Ciliento ranked No. 1 in the nation in total goals (27), goals per game (1.35) and points per game (3.0), and No. 2 in total points (60), and was named the Daktronics West Region Men's Soccer Player of the Year. He has 50 career goals, the second most in GCU history and just five fewer than the record of 55 set by Manoel Coelho in 1997-99. His 111 career points rank second behind Coelho's 131.

Ciliento's 27 goals and 60 points last season are the second most and fourth most, respectively, in an individual season in GCU history. The school individual season record for goals is 33, set by David Hague in 2006. Hague also established the school individual season record for points with 73 that year.

Ciliento led an offense that was No. 3 out of 177 ranked schools in scoring offense (2.85 goals per game), No. 7 in total goals (57) and No. 8 in won-lost-tied percentage (0.8). He repeated as PacWest Player of the Year and First-Team All-PacWest. In 2009, he also was named PacWest Freshman of the Year and was a First-Team All-American.

Last season, he led the conference in shots (89), shots per game (4.45), points, points per game, goals, goals per game and game-winning goals (9). He also tied for No. 4 in the league in assists (6) and No. 7 in assists per game (0.30). He was selected as PacWest Men's Soccer Player of the Week twice and made the PacWest Men’s Soccer Weekly Top 10 Honor Roll seven times.

He also was named to the Daktronics NCAA Division II Men's Soccer All-America First Team and to the 2010 NSCAA/Performance Subaru NCAA Men's Division II All-America First Team. He won the latter award for the second straight year.

This season, the 'Lopes (6-2-1 overall, 3-1-1 in the PacWest) lead the PacWest in shots (171), are tied for first in goals (23), and rank second in goals per game (2.56) and fourth in points (57).

It's tempting to start thinking about next year, when Robinson and Ciliento will be paired together on GCU's front line, but Head Coach Petar Draksin and his team have very high hopes for the current season as well. They intend to capture their fifth PacWest title in the past six years, make the postseason for the 11th time in the 26-year history of the men's soccer program and the fifth time since 2000, and advance to the championship game of the NCAA Division II West Regional -- as they did last year -- and beyond.

Their quest continues tomorrow, when they take on Western Washington (4-4-0, 3-2-0 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference) in a non-conference match at the GCU Soccer Field. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.