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Men's Soccer

2012 Men's Soccer Preview: Ingredients for Success

CARSON -- Coming off an NCAA berth and 3rd place finish in the California Collegiate Athletic Association last season, the 2012 Cal State Dominguez Hills men's soccer team is looking to continue the momentum generated from reaching the national posteason and nearly pulling off an upset in the NCAA West Regional first round at host and 13th-ranked Seattle Pacific before falling in overtime.

The NCAA postseason appearance signaled a return to glory of sorts after CSUDH was the odd team out of the NCAA four-team tourney in 2010, a snub that followed 11-straight appearances for the perennial power and two-time NCAA Champion Toros.

"I hope that last year was something we can build upon," begins head coach Joe Flanagan.  "It was a young team, an inexperienced team, but winning some close games was a good learning year for us and I think that hopefully we can build upon that and obviously bring in some new recruits and really bolster the line-up."

This season, the Toros return 11 players from last season, including six starters led by juniors in midfielders Miguel Vazquez and Wyatt Stucker, and defender Jordan Hatanaka.

"We'll have more weapons this year," Flanagan continues.  "This year we are going to have some depth in the attacking spots to really score some goals and make some plays in the attacking third. So we're looking to have way more depth than we did last year and we're excited to see what we've got."


Here's a closer look at the 2012 Toros.


IN NET

Sophomore Juan Quiroz returns after seeing action in 3 games last season with a pair of starts in which he allowed just 2 goals in 26 shots faced on the road, as well as Trey Mitchell, who utilized a red-shirt season in 2011, but trained with the team all year and knows the Toro ways.

"The keeper position has been pretty deep in the past, and this year will be no different," begins Flanagan. "We feel like Juan is a very strong goalkeeper who's got great size and great instincts as a keeper.

"Trey will be his back-up, and we've got a 6-4 newcomer named Luis Mendoza who will be maybe a third keeper after leading Mt. SAC to the State Championship a few years ago and lost just once in 31 games in his career. But we feel that Juan is a top-notch goalkeeper so I think we are going to be very strong there."


THE DEFENDERS

Junior Jordan Hatanaka again will anchor the backline after earning a starting spot two years ago as a true freshman.

Hatanaka, who will again assume a co-captain title, started 19 of 20 games as one of the defense's backbones en route to helping the Toros to 5 shutouts and 9 games with a single goal allowed.  In addition to his stellar play on the field, Hatanaka was last year's recipient of JT Minami Memorial Scholarship Award.

"Jordan is just really competitive and he's just non-stop," says Flanagan.  "He's a good defender who competes every moment in practice and games and now he's learned how he can really go forward and attack. He's someone we can count on, there's no question there. He's just a good all-around player."

Senior Dimitri Aurelus, who rounds out the returning defenders, saw action in 16 games, with 5 starts in last year's debut campaign that included his first start coming in a 3-1 win at CS Bernardino (Oct 14).  The Florida native scored his lone goal of the year in 2-1 win at Humboldt State (Oct 7), with both attempts on frame.  Additionally, he served on as a member of SAAC.

Flanagan also is high on a few new faces who will see ample time on the backline.  "A redshirt, Tony Alfaro has good size and is a prototype center back, as well as redshirt David Garza who had a good spring for us. So we have definitely six or seven players in the back that are fighting for those spots, and it will be a good and competitive thing for them to do."
THE MIDFIELDERS

After battling through injuries that thinned the midfield last season, Flanagan and his staff focused on bringing in more players to complement his returners to ensure depth.

Miguel Vazquez headlines the returning midfielders after starting all but two games in 20 played as a sophomore, and earning his first career CCAA Player of the Week honor (Oct 11-16) after tallying 3 goals and an assist as CSUDH swept CS San Bernardino (Oct 14) and UC San Diego (Oct 16) on the road, with the score against the Tritons good for the game-winner.  His initial game winner of the year came in a 2-1 season-opening win against Mesa State (Sept 1) en route to finishing second on the team in goals and points, and tied for third in assists.

Senior Ryan Evans also returns for his fourth and final year in Cardinal and Gold.  In 2011, Evans tallied 8 starts in 19 games played as a junior, with his lone goal of year coming in a 1-1 tie hosting Cal Poly Pomona (Oct 21).  Additionally, Evans notched an assist in 3-1 win at CS San Bernardino (Oct 14).

Junior Wyatt Stucker rounds out the experienced and talented midfield position.  Stucker started 11 games in 14 played as a sophomore, and notched an assist in his first two games of the year vs Mesa State (Sept 1) and Cal Baptist (Sept 3), both 2-1 wins.

A new face may be a familiar one to some in junior transfer Jio Santana, who competed against the Toros for Cal State Stanislaus for two seasons.  As a Warrior, he was named a 2nd-team All-Region and 2nd-team All-CCAA selection who tallied 8 goals and 8 assists in his two years.

"We have some good depth there and some good returners so I think it will be interesting there too," Flanagan predicts. 

"Jio is an attacking midfielder who will set up a lot of players, and will be one of the top players in the conference.  And then Long Beach City College transfer Tim Harty who'll have three years here and a freshman kid named Jose Vaca who could be a surprise.

"But you're going to see a lot of good players who are returning, you're going to see some good players who are coming in. To me, that's the way we want it, in a competitive environment where everybody competes hard for playing time and will hopefully make our attack a little more scary."


THE FORWARDS

The big question mark on this year's team will be at the forward position, which will field a bevy of newcomers on the 2012 squad after bidding farewell to last year's leading scorer in Jordan Rover.

"Jordan was our big guy last year and scored the big goals," Flanagan admits.  "That's one of the positions where we were really thin at last year, sp we have a kid named Christian Soto who we feel is going to be a good finisher.

"And then three recruits in Aaron Salazer, Heriberto Ponce, Jr. (both from Mt. SAC), and then a freshman named Sebastian Cortez who was Leuzinger High School's Player of the Year. So there are some really good attacking options there that really going to make our forward line pretty dangerous."


THE SCHEDULE

Returning to the NCAA postseason last year was old hat for Flanagan, but an honor he knows to not take for granted after not making the postseason one year earlier.
 
"We were very excited to get back to the playoffs because it was definitely a focus for us to make sure that we have the depth and the talent to make a run and hopefully deep in the conference tournament and even the NCAA," Flanagan begins.

After kicking off the season with a pair of non-conference games, CSUDH will complete the rest of its regular season with 16 league games before the CCAA Championship Tournament takes place at Toro Stadium on November 2-4, the first time in five years CSUDH has hosted the league tournament.

In 2007, CSUDH took a 1-0 win over arch-rival Sonoma State for its second-consecutive CCAA title, and eighth of nine total league titles.

This season, the arch rivals will take their talents, and rivalry, to the Home Depot Center's Main Stadium, a first for the Seawolves and head coach Marcus Ziemer, one of Flanagan's closest friends.

"It is going to be fun," Flanagan says with a smile.  "Marcus and I are obviously good friends and peers, but we're also great competitors and we always have great matches versus them.  We're both glad the schedule worked out the way it did this year and it's going to be great playing in that environment."



FINAL THOUGHTS

Flanagan believes that the talent is there.  With an experienced returning cast joined by talented newcomers, the ingredients are readily available for a winning recipe, one that will be mixed by Flanagan and his staff.

"I think we have the talent to do it, but we definitely have to mesh well," he says. "Even though we have some new faces, we have some guys from the JC level who were state champions so they've played in some big matches.

"Obviously, the CCAA is very competitive," Flanagan concludes.  "But you know, being here for a long time, I think we have the ingredients to make a run and get into the conference tournament and hopefully be represented in the conference tournament we'll host."
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