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2007-2008 Varsity Soccer Season Preview 8/20
As the 2007 – 2008 school year
begins, the boys varsity soccer coaching staff is looking forward to
another great year.
The team returns 11 players, 7 of them
starters, and will see an influx of great new talent from a successful
JV team.
Last
year’s team accomplished something that no Valley Christian Soccer team
had ever done, tying CCS power Bellarmine 2-2 on January 18th.
This accomplishment,
along with a win at Mitty (1st
time in 3 years), and a strong tie with perennial power, Gunn High
School, were only some of the success last year’s team enjoyed.
The team morale and unity was as good as
it’s ever been, and the trend looks to continue to improve this season.
“I’m really excited about this
year.
We have some outstanding young men who are leaders
in the school, leading our team.
Our focus has been putting a class act on
the field, and that will continue.
We’re blessed with some great kids, and I’m
really looking forward to it!”
Coach
John Basanese said.
The Warriors will return some key members of last
year’s squad.
Goalkeeper
– The team returns one of the CCS’ top
goalies, Austin Mansker.
Austin was selected by
the Mercury News as the 2nd
Team All-CCS goalie, along with being given ‘Freshman of the Year’
honors in CCS.
Perhaps most impressive
was Austin’s being named to the 1st
team All-WCAL team as a freshman, something that has not been done in
many years.
As a sophomore the coaching staff is looking
for great things from Austin.
“There’s not much I can say
about Austin that hasn’t been said a hundred times.
He’s the real deal, and he’s already proved
that.
His challenge is going to be never getting
satisfied.
We plan to push him to reach his potential,
which is pretty scary at this point.
He’s a great kid, we have a lot of belief in
him on and off the field, and we’re expecting another great year,”
Basanese said.
Defense – The
Warriors were affected by graduating players most in the defense.
Losing Nathan
Goldsmith, Tyler Williamson,
John Field, and
David Yun was quite a hit.
However, the defense returns two players who
have seen significant time on the Varsity level,
Tyler Seaman, and
Blake Cardoza.
Tyler has played as a sweeper since his
sophomore year, and Blake has filled in for multiple positions.
This pair will be helped out by an crop of
talented JV defenders who will make their varsity debuts.
Immediate impact is expected from Jacob
Ruiz, and Robert Norman.
Coach
Donny Fugate
commented on the Warriors’ back line.
“Tyler is a leader, and he’s going to sweep for
us.
He’s got big game experience, and that’s going to
be very important.
We’ll be young ‘experience-wise’ in the
back.
Blake looks to step into a role that he’s ready
for, marking up.
He’s a kid with great size, and he’ll do
well for us back there.
The JV guys are going to need to come in and
play starting roles from the onset, but we think that they’re ready for
that.”
Midfield- Easily
the deepest position in the Warriors’ lineup this year, the team is
stacked at Midfield.
Returning starters include
John Walitsch,
Kevin Tarangioli, Jake Joseph,
Nick Reyes, and
Christian de Leon.
The team will also receive a strong lift
from the JV team last year including, Britt Nelson, Joshua Rothenberg,
and James Gizzi.
Basanese stressed the importance of being deep in the
middle.
“It gets said a lot, but this league is
treacherous!
We will need everyone on this team to step
up for us to contend, and I think we can.
In the midfield we have several proven
players, as well as some unproven.
We’ll see how it all plays out…there is a
lot of competition for the starting roles there, and that’s a good
thing.”
Forwards – Since
Jimmy Coggan and Ronnie Jenkins (’04), the Warriors have not had a
forward score more than 5 goals in a season.
This might be the year that changes.
Several top players will share time up top
this year including last year’s freshman sensation,
Alex de Leon.
Alex stunned opposing WCAL players and
coaches with his ability to succeed on the varsity level as a freshman.
The surface has barely been scratched there.
A demanding club season has this sophomore
ready to resume his chase of the single season goal record (17 Jimmy
Coggan ’03-04).
Alex will be surrounded by a host
of impressive forwards including,
George Fahmy,
Joseph Rosa-Diniz
and last year’s JV leading scorer, Trevor Plug.
The coaching staff is looking forward to a shift in
the goal scoring responsibilities.
“I’m a forward myself, so I have high standards.
At the end of each game, if we haven’t
produced goals, I’m going to look at the forwards.
Their job is to put the ball in the net,
pure and simple… I believe that we have the guys up top that will do
that for us this year.
Midfielders scoring goals will only take you
so far, we need to have our forwards win the games for us,” Basanese
said.
Schedule – The
Warriors will participate in the Homestead Christmas Cup (opponents not
yet known), and host two other non-league games.
One of the non league matches will be
against Fresno’s Sunnyside High School who will travel to play VC.
Negotiations are ongoing for the final
fixture, and should be announced soon.
After non-league, the WCAL season begins, and it
promises to be as tough as ever.
The WCAL is regarded by most as the state of
California’s toughest soccer league to compete in.
The Warriors have one league championship
(03-04) and are looking to get back to that form.
“Top to bottom, we’re a better program than we
were then, hands down.
However, the league
gets better every year as well, and for us to get our 2nd
league title, it’s going to take hard work,” Coach Basanese said.
Team building- In
addition to the ‘on the field’ aspects of the team, the program will
continue to place emphasis on developing young men.
The program is well known for it’s
non-soccer related activities such as weekly team dinners, team bonding
sleep overs, guest speakers (including pro soccer players), morning
practices, attending church together.
This year will be more of the same.
“Each year, us coaches sit down to discuss areas
where we can improve…even if it’s going well.
I’m crazy like that.
We think there is tons of room to improve
this program on the field and off, and we’re taking it to the next level
this year.
I can hardly wait for tryouts!” Basanese
concluded.
Stay tuned for increased information coming from
the website as the season approaches.
If you have questions,
please feel free to email coach Basanese at
john@vcsoccer.com
Warriors. Family. Everything
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