Above: Jeff Coggan with date Holly Brown at Winter
Formal
A family tradition, Coggan leads WCAL Scorers
The West Catholic Athletic league is widely
considered one of the top Men's soccer leagues in the State of
California. Every season 4-5 teams from the league (out of 8) qualify
for the CCS playoffs, and often times finish near the top. On a regular
basis, the San Jose Mercury News
top 15 rankings include up to 4 WCAL teams. This league also churns out
some of the Nation's top recruits each year, and this year has two
players who have played or play on the national level. The league
produced Joe Cannon (St. Francis) who is now the top goalie in the
United State's top division.
In addition to being a dominating league, a
new tradition is forming...
For the second straight year, a soccer
player from Valley Christian has led the league in scoring. Even more
impressive than that is the fact that both players share a last name,
Coggan. In the
'03-'04 season, Jimmy Coggan led
the league with 11 goals and 6 assists in league. Jimmy was
unanimously voted the league's Offensive MVP for his efforts and now
ply's his trade at Seattle Pacific University, where he had a successful
true freshman season.
This season, Jimmy's brother
Jeff Coggan emerged as the league's
leading scorer. Jeff has consistently scored big goals and finished his
season with 7 goals and 3 assists in just 12 games. Perhaps more
impressive is the fact that he has done this from the midfield position,
and as a Junior.
"Jeff is a great player, no question about it. He has better vision than
anyone I've seen at this level. We've always known that Jeff had
this kind of talent, and he's likely going to leave this school as the
most prolific boys soccer player in VC history;" Coach
John Basanese said.
Jeff is currently only 9 goals behind the school record (29 held by
Jimmy Coggan and Ronald Jenkins) since joining the WCAL in 2002. He is 6
assists behind his brother (Jimmy had 27) for the school record in
assists. Here are the career stats.
"The thing that people don't realize is
that he's a marked man. Every time we take the field, the other team is
targeting Coggan because they know what he can do. He's had to endure double
teaming ever since his freshman year. He's a special player."
Added Basanese. Jeff
has caught the eye of several college scouts with his play on the club
level with the Ruckus. His top choices include Creighton, St. Mary's,
CAL, and Stanford. His 4.0 cumulative GPA will also help him with his
school choice. In
addition to college coaches, Jeff has also impressed several other
bystanders including: Richard Mulrooney, Joe Cannon, and Dylan Hernandez
of the San Jose Mercury News.
"We could literally go and tell every
opposing player that Jeff is going to put a move on them...every time,
and he'd still beat them. It's uncanny." concluded Basanese.
What excites the coaching staff the most is
that Jeff is a junior. With a special player comes special results, and
the Valley Christian Boys soccer team is counting on that from Jeff
Coggan. |
