Honors
2009 Tri-Captain
2009 College Soccer News Preseason All-American (Third Team)
2008 M.A.C. Hermann Trophy Watch List
2008 NSCAA/adidas all-Far West Region (Second Team)
2008 All-Pac-10 (Second Team)
Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Week (Oct. 14, 2009)
College Soccer News Team of the Week (Oct. 13, 2009)
2008 Courtyard Marriott San Diego Central all-tournament team
2008 SDSU/USD all-tournament team
2007 NSCAA/adidas all-Far West Region (Third Team)
2007 All-Pac-10 (Second Team)
Top Drawer Soccer National Player of the Week (Sept. 17, 2007)
Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Week (Sept. 17, 2007)
2007 College Soccer News Preseason All-American (Third Team)
2006 U.S. U-20 National Team Call-Up
2006 NSCAA/adidas all-Far West Region (Second Team)
2006 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year
2006 All-Pac-10 (Second Team)
2006 College Soccer News All-Freshman
2006 Top Drawer Soccer All-Rookie Team (First Team)
NSCAA/adidas National Player of the Week (Nov. 1, 2006)
2006 The Soccer Post/Aztec Classic all-tournament team
Soccer America Team of the Week (Oct. 31, 2006)
Pac-10 Player of the Week (Oct. 31, 2006) College Soccer News Team of the Week (Oct. 30, 2006)
2008: Named to the Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy Watch List, given out annually to the nation[apos]s top collegiate player ... Earned NSCAA/adidas all-Far West honors for the third consecutive season after being selected to the second team ... Also garnered second-team all-Pac-10 accolades for the third straight year ... Saw action in 18 games with 17 starts to his credit ... Only Raymundo Reza started more (18) ... Logged a team-best 1,646 minutes ... Had a career-high four assists for four points ... The four assists were tied with Reza for second on the squad ... Attempted 17 shots with five on net ... Named to the College Soccer News (Oct. 13) and Top Drawer Soccer (Oct. 14) Team of the Week after helping the Aztecs go 1-0-1 at Stanford and California ... The accolades came after he was selected to the Courtyard Marriott San Diego Central all-tournament team and SDSU/USD all-tournament team earlier in the season ... Assists came against Air Force (Sept. 14), Oregon State (Oct. 17), Washington (Oct. 19) and at Washington (Oct. 26) ... Had a season-high three shots apiece against Air Force, UC Davis (Sept. 21) and Oregon State.
2007: Earned third-team NSCAA/adidas all-Far West honors ... Named to the all-Pac-10 second team for the second consecutive season ... Started all 18 games he appeared in, one of only four Aztecs with 18 or more starts ... Had two goals and two assists for the season ... The two goals were fourth on the squad, while his six points tied Jamel Wallace for third ... Had 16 shots, including 11 on goal ... The .688 shot-on-goal percentage only trailed Omar Persad[apos]s perfect mark of 1.000 ... Named the Top Drawer Soccer National Player of the Week on Sept. 17 after anchoring SDSU[apos]s defense in a shutout over Cal State Bakersfield ... Also named to the website[apos]s national team of the week ... Scored a goal and added three shots (two on net) in SDSU[apos]s 2-2, double-overtime tie at nationally ranked Creighton to open the season ... Scored the game-winner and had a career-high five shots attempts, including three on net, in the Aztecs[apos] 2-0 shutout against Fairleigh Dickinson (Sept. 9) ... Combined with Raymundo Reza for the game-winning assist on Kraig Chiles[apos] goal in SDSU[apos]s 2-1, double-overtime triumph against Drake in Las Vegas on Sept. 22 ... Added another game-winning assist, along with Evan Toft, on Khadim Diouf[apos]s goal in a 2-0 San Diego State victory over Stanford on Oct. 14 ... Had two shots on goal versus Washington (Nov. 18) ... SDSU was 3-0-1 when he recorded a point.
2006: Had one of the best freshman seasons in the nation ... Was a U.S. U-20 National Team Camp call-up in October ... Named to the first-team Top Drawer Soccer All-Rookie Team ... Also earned College Soccer News all-freshman honors ... Was selected to the NSCAA/adidas all-Far West second team ... Named the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year and also garnered all-Pac-10 second team accolades ... Started all 18 games he appeared in ... Scored six goals, tied with Kraig Chiles for most on the team ... His 12 points were the third-highest on the squad ... Scored all six goals on headers ... Had a goal on three shots (two on goal) in the Aztecs[apos] season-opening 3-2 win over Albany on Aug. 25 ... Named to The Soccer Post/Aztec Classic all-tournament team for his efforts ... Tallied another goal in SDSU[apos]s 4-2 win versus UNLV on Sept. 9 ... Had great success against Pac-10 regular season champion California, as he scored the game-winning goal in the Aztecs[apos] 2-0 win in Berkeley on Sept. 24 and added another tally in SDSU[apos]s 3-1 victory over the Bears in San Diego on Oct. 27 ... Followed that up with the lone goal in the Aztecs[apos] 1-0 home win over Stanford (Oct. 29) and the game-tying tally at UCLA (Nov. 11) in the 1-1 double-overtime tie ... Was honored for his performance against California and Stanford, as the Aztecs swept the Bay Area teams at home in late October ... Was named the NSCAA/adidas National Player of the Week, the first time an SDSU player has received the award ... Also earned Soccer America Team of the Week, College Soccer News Team of the Week and Pac-10 Player of the Week accolades ... Played every minute in 16 of his 18 games he appeared in, including his first 15 contests ... SDSU was 5-0-1 when he scored a goal.
High School: Was the second-leading scorer in the state of Colorado as a senior with 27 goals ... Was an all-conference selection for the three years and all-state performer for two years ... Named to the Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post all-Colorado teams ... Played along with fellow Aztec recruit Evan Toft on the Colorado Rush club team.
Personal: Nicholas Alexander Cardenas was born Nov. 21, 1987, in Denver, Colo. ... Son of Stephanie Kuhn and Arch Cardenas ... Enjoys art and snowboarding ... Lists English soccer player Steven Gerrard as his favorite athlete ... Chose San Diego State over the likes of New Mexico, Portland, North Carolina State, San Diego and Cincinnati ... Undecided on a major.