Abbotsford/Vancouver – Tammer Byrne of the University of the Fraser Valley men’s soccer team capped his sparkling five-year Cascades career by earning U SPORTS first team All-Canadian honours.
The centre back from Abbotsford accepted the accolade at the U SPORTS national awards banquet on Wednesday evening in Vancouver.
The All-Canadian nod further cements the fact that Byrne is the most decorated player in the Canada West/U SPORTS era (since 2006) for the Cascades men’s soccer program. He’s the only UFV men’s player to be voted to three Canada West all-star teams (second team in 2015, first team in 2016 and 2018), and he’s just the second player to be named an All-Canadian. Spencer Schmidt was a first-teamer back in 2007.
Byrne, a kinesiology student, was also instrumental in a great deal of team success. The Cascades made the playoffs in four of his five campaigns, highlighted by a pair of trips to the Canada West Final Four, winning conference bronze in 2015 and finishing fourth this year.
This past season, Byrne’s second as team captain, he helped the Cascades dramatically reduce their regular-season goals-against from 31 in 2017 to just 18. UFV’s 1.2 goals against per game was the third-best mark in Canada West.
Byrne’s accomplishments add to a tremendous family legacy with UFV men’s soccer. He’s the third Byrne brother to suit up for the program, having been preceded by elder siblings Koby and Kree.
“It’s a testament to his body of work over five years,” Cascades head coach Tom Lowndes said, reflecting on Byrne’s All-Canadian accolade. “I don’t think I’ve met another kid who deserves to get an award like this in his final year as much as Tammer. It’s great for the program to have a player recognized at that level, but more importantly, I’m really happy for him. He’s been an amazing player to coach, and on the field and in the classroom, he truly embodies everything we want a UFV Cascades student-athlete to be.”
