Senior forward Trent Rickard of The Master's University men's soccer team has been named the 2026 GSAC Player of the Year. It is the second time in three seasons he has won the conference's top individual honor, after one of the most productive seasons in conference history.
Rickard scored 26 goals and added 6 assists for 64 points as the Mustangs went 11-4-3 overall and 10-2-1 in GSAC play. TMU clinched a share of the conference regular-season title with a 1-0 win at Soka on Oct. 29.
His 26 goals are tied for third on the GSAC's all-time single-season list. Only Fresno Pacific's Orlando Ramirez (31 in 2003) and Vanguard's Matthew Hess (29 in 2003) scored more. His 64 points are tied with Hess for second all-time, behind only Ramirez's 77 in 2003. Rickard reached those numbers despite missing the first two games of the season with an injury.
He opened his season with four goals in a 7-1 win over The College of Idaho on Sept. 1. He closed the regular season with back-to-back hat tricks against Park Gilbert and Life Pacific. In mid-October he was named the PrestoSports NAIA Men's Soccer Offensive Player of the Week after he had a hand in all six Mustang goals that week, a stretch that also moved him into TMU's top 10 all-time goal scorers.
The Valencia native and Hart High graduate first won GSAC Player of the Year as a freshman in 2024. That season he led the conference during the regular season with 15 goals and 33 points and went on to earn NAIA Third Team All-American honors. Last fall, despite missing the final six games of the regular season due to an injury, he still led the GSAC in goals (14), shots (63) and shots on goal (32), earning All-GSAC honors for a second straight year.
The Mustangs host a GSAC Championship semifinal on Thursday, Nov. 5 at 1 p.m. at Reese Field.
