Men's Soccer

Men's Soccer 2017 season wrap up

Posted: Dec 22, 2017

The SRJC Men's Soccer team started the 2017 season with an August trip to beautiful Lake Tahoe, CA to challenge the 2016 California State Championship runner–up: Fresno City College. This trip also served as a great opportunity to establish our team's 2017 season goals.

The contest was a great early test to see how we compared to one of the best teams in California. The game was 1-0 at half time with Santa Rosa scoring on a great free kick. We were playing a lot of defense and were very fortunate to be leading. Fresno became quite anxious and began pressing forward which produced a late goal in the 86^th minute and the game ended in a tie. Fair result. Our men's soccer players spent three days in Tahoe playing Fresno, visiting Majestic Angora Lake, and came away with many specific team goals and individual goals for the season, overall becoming a more cohesive group.

The camaraderie established that weekend among the players carried onto the field for the remainder of the 2017 season – a season which was put on hold for two weeks because of the devastating North Bay Fires, with all games and practices postponed. On October 19^th the men's soccer team traveled to the Russian River for an overnight trip to process the previous few weeks of disruption. We spent quality time together as a team and were deeply appreciative to have come through the disaster largely unharmed. The team volunteered throughout Sonoma County distributing donations, sorting clothes and as a team we distributed thousands of meals from the SRJC Culinary over four days. This experience was more rewarding and had a profound impact on the players to appreciate their opportunity to participate in collegiate sports and not take anything for granted.

We finished the season as the ninth seed in Northern California, earning us a playoff game on the road against Big Eight Champion #9 seed Folsom Community College. We played a great game scoring a late goal and were the only team in California to win on the road in the first round of playoffs, earning us a road game against number #1 seed Fresno City College, the team we had played and tied with early in the season.

We traveled to Fresno and played a spirited game. Our plan was to get to half-time close. The game plan was working, 0-0 in the 40^th minute, and Fresno was starting to get frustrated. In the 42^nd minute Fresno scored. We entered half time 1-0 down. Second half we played hard but were overwhelmed by a more talented team and our season came to an end. Fresno City College went on to win the California State Championship.

We have had a lot to be thankful for during such a difficult year. I will remember this team as one of my most resilient groups in my 20 year career. The team is graduating 5 sophomores and all 5 are looking to continue to play soccer. We are returning a strong freshmen class and excited for the 2018 season.

Men's Soccer is honored and grateful for the ongoing support of SRJC administrators, faculty and staff, as well as the enduring support of local businesses and the larger community.

Final Overall Record: 10-7-4

Big Eight Conference Record: 4-3-3

California Final Ranking: 15^th

NSCAA Scholar All-American