London, ON - Mustangs Head Coach Jeff Pacheco has been recognized both provincially and now nationally as OUA & U SPORTS Field Hockey Coach of the Year.
Pacheco sparked a spirited season from the purple and white, who went from just two wins in 12 games played in 2019 to a stellar 5-2-1 record this time around. Their only losses on the year came at the hands of the 2019 champions Guelph Gryphons, who edged them out by just a single point in the divisional standings.
"To be named by my fellow coaches means a ton, they know the commitment it takes to find wins in this league." said Pacheco "This accolade is associated with the level of play the team produced game after game, it means we found a level of expectation that we want to continue with year over year."
There is no doubt that this season presented a whole new level of difficulty for coaches as they needed to reacquaint their rosters from a year away from competition.
"He is a special coach because puts so much of his own time and effort into the team to make us all feel supported as students and as athletes, and to inspire us to be the best players we can be." said Mustangs Mid Elyse Malleck "Jeff is incredibly encouraging in our academics as well as in athletics. He understands the busy schedule we all have as student athletes, and always ensures we know that being a western student comes first."
This is the second time that Pachecho has been named Coach of the Year, his other win coming in 2012.
"Through ups and downs he has never left the teams side. Without Jeff's commitment to Western field hockey it's hard to say if we would even have a team to play on." said Rachel Tidball "Jeff coaches with an amazing blend of humour and sternness. Any athlete can agree that a coach makes or breaks your experience, and Jeff makes the experience on the western field hockey team a positive one."
"I would like to think that creating the right environment for our student athletes to excel is most important, the demands with academics and athletics can be challenging to the average student, lucky for me the athletes coming in year over year have so much balance already and it's important to find that athletic vs academic balance in season." said Pacheco "Gone are the days where you yell and scream at individuals, you must lead with tact, and have an open dialog about on and off-field expectations which leads to transparency."
The Mustangs season ended with a 3-1 loss to the Guelph Gryphons in the OUA semi-final but Pacheco hopes it serves as a step for the team moving forward.
"Each year the goal is to play in the playoffs(which we did), we knew that being dormant for a season meant we had to start fast, the series vs Waterloo propelled us through the reformatted season, leadership and timely goals certainly helped us find a rhythm down the stretch." said Pacheco "When I reflect on what this season meant, I would say I am most proud to hear from the team is that we are one team with one culture where your opinion matters, it took time for me to understand the value of this as a coach, but I have tried to learn as years went on where I was making mistakes and this year I encouraged team perspective which showed in team unity."
In addition to the Coach of the Year award, The Mustangs had a pair of All-Stars named from their team including Payten Lang & Madison Fisher.
