Men's soccer poll favors Portland, Santa Clara, San Diego

By Aaron Juarez

For something to be a crapshoot, it must be extremely hard to predict. In that case, attempting to anticipate the order of finish of men's soccer in the West Coast Conference is indeed a crapshoot, as seen in the WCC preseason poll.

Portland narrowly topped the poll with 29 points, just ahead of Santa Clara and San Diego, each at 28 points. If this poll is any indication, the WCC is loaded with competition.

One of the top WCC teams in the 2003 season, Santa Clara has surged out of the gates, racking up an 8-2-3 record and a No. 13 ranking in the nation. Victories over a nationally-ranked Tulsa, a top 10 team in Southern Methodist and hard-fought ties with annual NCAA Tournament teams Stanford and Creighton, have given the Broncos confidence heading into WCC play.

"It's good to be in the situation we're in right now," commented junior goalkeeper Steve Cronin. "We've built a lot of confidence in our team, and when it comes time to step up, we know we can."

With 19 returning players this season, Santa Clara hopes to avoid a midseason slump.

"It's an important thing for us to continue to improve our performance," said Head Coach Cameron Rast. "It's also important that we continue to stay disciplined both on and off the field. We must continue to work on our game as a whole, not as an individual, but to know our roles within the team and know what we can contribute as individuals to help the team be as successful as possible."

Led by two U.S. under-20 national team members, juniors Ryan Cochrane and Cronin, the Broncos will use their experienced midfield and defense, led by senior captains Audren Cashman and Matt Upton, to control the pace and ignite scoring opportunities for goal-scorers like junior forward/midfielder Will Weatherly and sophomore forward Kelechi Igwe.

"The things we are going to focus on are getting a good start, especially in our opener against San Francisco," added Rast. "We have to do what we do well, which is make it difficult for teams to get shots and quality chances on goal and be very opportunistic when we create our chances."

While defending conference champion Portland brings a 6-5-0 record into conference play, Santa Clara does not want to count them out.

"Portland has played a lot of tough teams," said Cochrane. "I don't think their record is reflective of the team they have."

Portland's non-conference schedule consisted of nationally-ranked teams and 2002 College Cup participants. Losses to Creighton and defending national champion UCLA have done nothing to dampen their resolve. They bounced back Sunday, capturing a 3-2 overtime victory over Gonzaga in the conference opener.

The Pilots are also dangerous because of this past month's motivational factors. The sudden passing of Head Coach Clive Charles on Aug. 26 shook the program and the university. As the most successful soccer coach in Portland's history, Charles was the mastermind behind the success of Portland's program.

Other than favorites Portland and Santa Clara, San Diego and Loyola Marymount are also capable of stealing the conference title. As two of the three WCC teams to appear in the 2002 NCAA Tournament, the Toreros and the Lions are viable threats.

San Diego, picked tied for second in the preseason poll, has appeared in the NCAA Tournament each of the past six seasons. Led by Head Coach Seamus McFadden, in his 25th year at the helm, and scorers freshman forward Ryan Guy and junior midfielder Kevin Wilson, the Torero attack will be on display in conference play.

The Toreros boast five returning seniors in their starting lineup, including the 2002 WCC Defender of the Year, senior midfielder Scott Burcar. Filling in the senior leadership with Burcar will be defenders Kellen Hiroto and Stephen Adams, combining with midfielders Eric Wunderle and Matt McCausland.

The Loyola Marymount Lions have broken into the nation's top 25, staking claim to the No. 24 spot after shocking seventh-ranked UC-Santa Barbara 1-0 on Sunday. Two of LMU's three losses were to teams that were ranked in the top 10 at the time, Creighton and UCLA. Nonetheless, the goal-scoring ability of senior midfielder Kevin Novak, who has eight goals thus far, will be one of the keys to the success of the Lions in conference play.

Cruising into the throes of conference play, the potential for at least half of the WCC's squads to advance into the postseason is realistic. As for the conference title, the crapshoot will shortly come into full swing.