The awards keep coming for Tristan Borges.
Having already claimed the Golden Boot, the Forge FC midfielder was named the CPL’s Best Canadian U-21 Player of the Year during an awards ceremony in Toronto on Tuesday
Borges, a 21-year-old native of Toronto, beat out Pacific FC forward Terran Campbell and York9 FC fullback Diyaeddine Abzi for the honour.
RELATED READING: More on the 2019 CPL Awards
The award takes into account the nominees’ performances for the full 2019 CPL season (Spring and Fall) as well as both legs of Finals 2019. The winner was selected by a judging panel comprised of media writers and reporters from across Canada.
CPL rules mandate that a minimum of three domestic players on each team must be under the age of 21 and that those players must combine to play a minimum of 1,000 minutes per season.
Forge easily met the threshold with its U-21 players combining for 4,910 minutes in 2019 – Borges led the way with 1,974 minutes.
Borges, who turned 21 on Aug. 26, emerged as one the top stars of the CPL’s inaugural season, scoring a league-high 13 goals including the game winner in Leg 1 of Finals 2019. He also tallied five assists, finishing among the league leaders in that category.
Borges was a workhorse for Forge this season, accumulating 2,459 minutes of action across all competitions, and playing with a level of maturity that bellied his age and inexperience.
Forge wasn’t hurting for veteran leadership, and yet it was Borges who emerged as an important team leader, playing a pivotal role in the Hamilton club’s two-legged win over Cavalry in Finals 2019.
Other awards handed out on Tuesday were Player of the Year (Borges), Coach of the Year (Tommy Wheeldon Jr. of Cavalry FC), and the Golden Glove (Cavalry’s Marco Carducci) which goes to the league’s top goalkeeper.
Each award is a unique piece of Inuit art soapstone carved by artists from Kinngait (Cape Dorset), Nunavut.