City on a Hill Press » Men’s Soccer

This Week in Sports

City on a Hill Press — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 09:42:47 +0000

Photo by Nick Paris.

Recent results:

Men’s soccer
Oct. 10: UCSC vs. Occidental College (away) 1-0 (win)

Women’s soccer
Oct. 10: UCSC vs. Cal Lutheran (away) 2-0 (loss)

Upcoming events:

Swimming/diving
Oct. 16: UCSC vs. Alumni (home) at 12 p.m.

Women’s cross country
Oct. 16: Bronco Invite in Cupertino (away) at 9 a.m.

Women’s volleyball
Oct. 15: UCSC vs. Pomona-Pitzer (away) at 12:30 p.m.
Oct. 15: UCSC vs. University of Redlands (away) at 5 p.m.

CrossFit: Revolutionizing the Gym

kzhang — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 08:13:21 +0000

Photos by Devika Agarwal and Isaac Miller.

On the northern outskirts of town just past the 7-Eleven, old shipping containers lay behind barbed wire in parking lots of deserted shipping warehouses. The Mission Street extension hits a dead end at an unkempt field of concrete, dying trees and weeds. Hiding behind a larger warehouse stands CrossFit, the second-to-last building, a small garage with its doors rolled all the way up. Just before 5 p.m., CrossFit trainee Dave Cianciulli pulls into the driveway for a Tuesday night workout session. A man in a black hooded sweatshirt waves as the trainee drives up and pulls off his hood, rolls back his sleeves and walks into the warehouse, observing the nearly empty gym.

Patrick Barber, a trainer at CrossFit Santa Cruz, is only one of many people working at CrossFit locations now all over the globe.

“I just got back from spending two months in New Zealand,” Barber said. “I helped my girlfriend set up a few things for CrossFit there.”

CrossFit, now an international conglomeration of fitness centers, focuses their programs on high intensity strength training and conditioning. In 2004, CrossFit gyms totaled only four, but since their humble start in Santa Cruz, they have now grown to 1,700 locations worldwide. It offers a high caliber workout that is even used to train police academy recruits, tactical and special operation teams, and hundreds of professional athletes everywhere. CrossFit offers clients a level of intensity and personalization of workouts they can’t find at Gold’s Gym or 24 Hour Fitness.

“We’re different because we don’t say, ‘I want to work on just getting my arms strengthened’ or ‘I just want to tighten my core’,” Barber said. “Instead we want to swim the fastest, run the longest, weight lift the most — we want to do everything.”

Every day a Workout of the Day, or ‘WOD,’ is posted on CrossFit’s website. During each session, the small garage of CrossFit Santa Cruz houses at most 15 people, a shocking contrast to the 50 running on treadmills at 24 Hour Fitness. Barber explained that each member completes the workout with the aid of a trainer, altering the exercises to cater to each person’s abilities.

“Our goal is to maximize work capacity over broad time,” Barber said. “We do as much in every way possible. We push every boundary and constantly expand people’s borders.”

Athletes are always looking for better alternatives to the standard gym, and many have found CrossFit to fill the void.

“The advantage of CrossFit workouts as opposed to standard gym workouts is that CrossFit is constantly varied, consists of extremely functional movements, and is executed at high intensity,” said Selene Teitelbaum, a trainer from CrossFit West Santa Cruz. “[CrossFit] prepares you for anything and everything by constantly changing the stimulus in the workout.”

Teitelbaum is also the women’s head volleyball coach for UC Santa Cruz and a certified CrossFit instructor. She integrates her CrossFit training with her team’s practices.

“CrossFit is the best regime I have found, not only for myself, but for my athletes,” Teitelbaum said. “It is suitable for all sports, especially those like volleyball and basketball which require speed, strength, agility, endurance and power. CrossFit provides improvement in all of these areas.”

Now with Teitelbaum spreading the word of CrossFit on campus, many UCSC teams are using the service to truly pioneer a new way to train. CrossFit’s use of weight-bearing workouts is new to many teams, but also may bring a higher pay-off when the team regroups during the season for competition. CrossFit approaches fitness in a unique way, giving UCSC teams a leg up over others.

“I haven’t heard of a single NCAA running program in the nation incorporating CrossFit into their training plan,” said Adam Boothe, the UCSC women’s cross-country coach, “so we are really flying on our own here.”

Many athletes have picked up the habit of working out with CrossFit, giving them more than their average, typical training — UCSC’s men’s soccer and women’s volleyball teams along with Boothe’s team have all integrated parts of CrossFit’s techniques into their own workouts.

“CrossFit is also highly competitive, so athletes naturally gravitate towards that,” Teitelbaum said. “It makes the workouts fun, challenging and very satisfying to complete when they are competitive. It also motivates them to improve and is easily measurable to mark your fitness gains.”

With a CrossFit trainer now working in the athletic offices of UCSC, other NCAA-sanctioned teams are picking up CrossFit as another supplemental training tool.

“CrossFit does a few things that I believe can help the cross-country team,” Boothe said. “One, it builds more overall strength than just running, allowing the runners to train at the level they need to, and not get injured. Two, it makes them more competitive, and trains them to deal with competitive pressure.”

Many coaches, like Boothe, are beginning to incorporate CrossFit into their regimen, but they agree the best time to use the program is during the off-season.

“Most of our CrossFit training occurs during the off-season to prepare for season in the fall,” Teitelbaum said. “During season, our practices and competition are physically intense enough and we don’t do CrossFit more than once a week.”

“I’d like to have the team doing CrossFit three to four days a week in the off-season, and cut back to one or two days a week during our competition phase,” Boothe said.

CrossFit’s involvement with UCSC athletics is becoming more prominent, but some safety concerns have arisen even as popularity climbs.

“I’ve been overall really happy with it, some of the concerns that I have are that some of the repetitions are dangerous, such as squats and lunges,” Runeare said. “The workouts are usually timed and sometimes when athletes go as fast as they can, they put themselves in danger because technique goes out the door. I’m weary of that portion of the exercises but we try to keep an eye out for that and we make sure that we teach them the proper instructions.”

With Americans valuing healthy living now more than ever, a massive expansion to the CrossFit name only helps those who are trying to change their lives for the better.

Working out during a 5 p.m. Tuesday night session, the lone trainee knows the truth about CrossFit better than anyone. Dave Cianciulli, who works for a manufacturing company in San Jose and lives on the Westside, takes a water break after an exhaustive warm-up. Grabbing his bottle, Cianciulli wipes the beads of sweat off his forehead with his sleeve, taking a slow swig of water.

“Seven years ago, I started working out at CrossFit under Lauren Glassman, the founder’s wife. I was [just] off the couch, heavy smoker, heavy drinker, horrible diet, couldn’t do a pull-up or more than five push-ups, and weighed 50 pounds more,” Cianciulli said. “CrossFit changes everything, changes your life pattern — even my kids come and workout.”

Cianciulli is hardly out of breath after a constant, fast-paced warm-up.

“It has a huge impact on self esteem; I was in a really sad state. What CrossFit does is it brings you to a much more sustainable state.”

Sustainable, indeed. While the CrossFit pace is hard and fast, their beginners are not always athlete types — that is much appreciated among the trainers such as Barber and Jesse Bazarnick, a UCSC graduate and alumni of the highly-ranked men’s volleyball team.

“It’s impressive to see someone like Jesse, who’s played volleyball all his life and has always worked out, come in and do well. What’s more impressive is when a 45-year-old housewife with no athletic background comes in, and you get them moving. That’s amazing,” Barber said.

The emerging movement due to a rise in the popularity of CrossFit may have also caused a divide between those who live for CrossFit and those who use CrossFit to live.

“Many CrossFit gyms, or ‘boxes’ as they call them, have become far too cultish,” Boothe said. “Many ‘boxes’ attempt to affect every aspect of your life — what you eat, what sports you play, where you workout, et cetera … Some ‘boxes’ also don’t respect that you’re doing CrossFit to help with other pursuits. Not everyone simply likes to be good at working out.”

Other issues have also emerged and are gaining attention in the community. Many are finding the price of a session at CrossFit creeping higher and higher, almost out of reach. Rates are set by each individual CrossFit gym and while figures are still around the same ballpark, it will not be long before the costs skyrocket.

“CrossFit was invented in Santa Cruz as an alternative to expensive gym memberships that never got you in great shape anyway,” Boothe continued. “The original CrossFit website has WODs you can do on your own, however now these CrossFit ‘boxes’ cost members more per month than any gym.”

For some, CrossFit is a movement sweeping the world, something that becomes a lifestyle or a religion. But the true grassroots purpose of the original CrossFit still holds meaning to many in Santa Cruz — to develop their athletic prowess for whatever reasons.

“I would recommend [CrossFit] to any person whether they be an athlete or not, to improve their physical and mental state,” Teitelbaum said. “Almost everyone can benefit from CrossFit and the beauty of it is that any workout can be scaled to match your level of fitness. So you can have a 70-year-old grandmother, a collegiate athlete and a high school student, all doing the same workout, simply scaled to their ability. It builds a sense of competition and camaraderie at the same time.”

While there are problems that need attention, the overall impression of CrossFit is a positive one.

“As a training program, I think it’s amazing,” Boothe said. “It doesn’t take much equipment, it doesn’t take much time, and it’s constantly changing, so you don’t get bored. It’s the best ‘bang for your buck’ training I have ever found. I feel it can be a valuable addition to any sports training program.”

Fall Quarter Sports Review

Julia Reis — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:34:08 +0000

Photo by Devika Agarwal.

The fall quarter is quickly coming to a close, which also means the end of several campus sports for the year. City on a Hill Press gives you the lowdown on how UC Santa Cruz’s teams did this season.

~~~~~

Men’s Soccer
Record: 13-4-4 (8-2-3 in Division III)

With new head coach Michael Runeare at the helm, the UC Santa Cruz men’s soccer team greatly improved over last year’s record of 8-7-2 and made the NCAA postseason for the fourth time in five years. They started off the year strong with two overtime road victories over University of Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran, and went on to win 12 straight games. The second half of the season proved to be more difficult for them, however, as they lost four games on the road. These losses included their last two games of the season, after seven players were suspended from the team during the last weekend of October for an undisclosed team misconduct incident. The Slugs then hosted Claremont Mudd-Scripps in the first round of the playoffs on Nov. 14, but were defeated 2-1 to end their national championship hopes.

~~~~~

Women’s Soccer
Record: 12-6-0 (8-5-0 in Division III)

The women’s soccer team slightly bettered last year’s final record with two fewer losses and made the playoffs for the fourth straight year. They had two significant winning streaks during the season, winning four in a row after a first game loss as well as three straight wins at the beginning of October. Unfortunately, they too also suffered a first-round playoff loss at the hands of Claremont Mudd-Scripps, and will have to wait until next year for a chance at redemption for their early postseason exit.

~~~~~

Women’s Volleyball
Record: 20-11 (10-8 in Division III)

The Lady Slugs had a successful season, nearly equaling their impressive 2008 record of 22-8. After losing their first game of the year to Carthage University, the team went on to win six in a row and 13 out of 14 games in a single stretch. They had a difficult October, however, losing seven games straight on the road at two tournaments, in Thousand Oaks and Colorado Springs. Unfortunately, this losing streak lessened the team’s playoff chances, and they were unable to make the NCAA postseason roster this season.

~~~~~

Women’s Cross Country

The team started off the year with the University of San Francisco 5K Invitational on Sept. 5, where they placed sixth of 10 colleges and junior Mikayla Murphy finished second out of 100 participants with a time of 18.25.70. Their most successful meet of the year proved to be the Bronco Invite on Oct. 17, as the team finished fourth overall out of 14 teams in the open portion of the event. They then met at the NCAA DIII West Regionals in Claremont on Nov. 14 where the team finished 11th out of 17 teams. While this was not enough to continue on to the championship in Cleveland on Nov. 21, Murphy’s performance at the Regionals meet (where she placed seventh out of 113 runners) was enough for her to make it to nationals on an individual level.

This Week in Sports

Julia Reis — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:34:05 +0000

{Last Week’s Results}

Men’s Soccer
11/14 vs. Claremont Mudd-Scripps (home) 2-1 (loss)*

Women’s Soccer
11/14 at Claremont Mudd-Scripps (away) 2-1 (loss)*

Women’s Basketball
11/17 vs. William Jessup 69-58 (loss)

Men’s Basketball
11/11 vs. SF State (home) 69-68 (win)

{Upcoming Athletics}

Men’s Basketball
11/20 vs. Puget Sound (away) at 8 p.m.
11/21 vs. Whitworth (away) at 8 p.m.
11/27 vs. Claremont Mudd-Scripps (away) at 5 p.m.
11/28 vs. Pomona-Pitzer (away) at 5 p.m.

Women’s Basketball
11/21 vs. Mount St. Mary (away) at 12 p.m.
11/22 at Emmanuel Tourney (away) at 3 p.m.
11/25 vs. Menlo (home) at 6 p.m.
11/27 vs. Claremont Mudd-Scripps (away) at 7:30 p.m.
11/28 vs. Pomona-Pitzer (away) at 5 p.m.

*Indicates NCAA postseason game

Men’s Soccer Makes NCAA Postseason

Julia Reis — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:07:22 +0000

Illustration by Rachel Edelstein.

American novelist Rita Mae Brown once said, “Sport strips away personality, letting the white bone of character shine through…[it] gives players an opportunity to know and test themselves.”

This quote essentially summarizes the 2009 season of the UC Santa Cruz men’s soccer team. Through strength of character and an ability to overcome obstacles, the team was able to secure a spot in the NCAA Division III postseason for the fourth time in the past five seasons.

Third-year midfielder and forward Clay Sorensen attributes the team’s success to a new style of leadership under coach Michael Runeare, who was the head coach of the UCSC women’s team for six years prior to becoming the men’s coach this year.

“Our coach has brought us an attitude of togetherness and brotherhood that we’ve never understood before,” said Sorensen. “I think a lot of it has stuck with the guys and it’s helped us develop as players and teammates, as well as friends.”

Sorensen also added that the team was able to learn and mature from last year, when they were “a pretty young team.”

The team finished this year with a record of 13-4-2, significantly improving over last year’s record of 8-7-2. They were undefeated through the first twelve games of the year and were at one point ranked as high as fourth in the nation, according to the NSCAA poll.

Coach Runeare says the team’s good start was what helped them continue to excel.

“We had some good results early in the season that gave us a lot of confidence,” said Runeare, citing to two overtime road victories against University of Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran as games that helped motivate the team.

The team encountered a significant problem, however, at the end of the regular season schedule. During a late October road trip to Southern California, several players were banned from the team for the remainder of the season due to an undisclosed breach of team rules. Subsequently, they lost their last two games of the season against Cal Lutheran University and Holy Names University, which accounted for half of their total losses this year.

“Seven of the players broke a team rule and were immediately released from the team, but all seven players are back [for the playoffs],” said senior co-captain and central defender Brendan Ward, who preferred not to elaborate on what led up to this decision by the coaches. “Our entire team had our backs and all the players talked to the coaches, [who] reconsidered and gave us a second chance.”

Sorensen feels that despite the obstacle the team had in playing with several teammates missing for the remainder of the season, it ultimately made them stronger and more united.

“Some players made a bad decision that affected the team but coming out of it, especially now all the players have been reinstated, it’s actually going to build our trust with each other and it’s going to benefit us finding out who we are as people and players,” Sorensen said. “If we could do it over I think everyone would’ve done it differently to make sure it didn’t happen, but in the end it has made us stronger and more of a team.”

The team hopes to take this mentality into the first round of the postseason, which begins this Saturday as UCSC will host Claremont Mudd-Scripps (11-7-2), a team they faced in one game during the regular season, and which resulted in a 1-1 tie. Chapman will also play Whitworth on the East Field shortly after this game, and the winners of these two games will face each other in the second round on Sunday (which will also take place at UCSC).

Sorensen believes the team learned from their matchup with Claremont Mudd-Scripps earlier this year and has a plan of attack in mind for this weekend.

“Last time we played them they definitely switched up … they’re a team that plays more direct like [in] Division I soccer and that took us off our game and we weren’t able to keep the ball,” explained Sorensen. “We really need to dictate the style of play … and if we play our game it’s going to come up with us on top.”

Meanwhile, Ward is confident that the team will come out victorious in the postseason.

“Without a doubt we’re the better team, and if we come with the right mentality I think we’re going to win.”

This Week in Sports

Julia Reis — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:46:01 +0000

{Last Week’s Results}

Men’s Soccer
10/30 at Chapman (away) 1-0 (win)
11/1 at Cal Lutheran (away) 2-1 (loss)
11/4 at Holy Names (away) (1-0) (loss)

Women’s Soccer
10/30 at Claremont Mudd Scripps (away) 3-2 (loss)
11/1 at Chapman (away) 5-0 (win)

Women’s Volleyball
11/3 at Dominican (away) (3-1) (win)

{Upcoming Athletics}

Men’s Basketball
11/6 at Merced (Club) (away) at 6 p.m.
11/11 vs. SF State (home) at 7 p.m.

Women’s Volleyball
11/6 vs. Mills (home) at 7 p.m.*

*indicates last regularly scheduled game of the year

This Week in Sports

Julia Reis — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:14:05 +0000

{Last Week’s Results}

Men’s Soccer
10/24 at Austin College (away) 2-1 (loss)
10/25 at University of Dallas (away) 2-1 (win)

Women’s Soccer
10/23 vs. Academy of Arts (home) 1-0 (win)

Women’s Volleyball
10/23 vs. Colorado College (away) 3-0 (loss)
10/23 vs. Chapman (away) 3-0 (loss)
10/24 vs. Millikin (away) 3-2 (win)

{Upcoming Athletics}

Men’s Soccer
10/30 at Chapman (away) at 7 p.m.
11/1 at Cal Lutheran (away) at 12 p.m.
11/4 at Holy Names (away) at 1 p.m.*

Women’s Soccer
10/30 at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (away) at 7 p.m.
11/1 at Chapman (away) at 12 p.m.*

Women’s Volleyball
11/3 at Dominican (away) at 7 p.m.
11/6 vs. Mills (home) at 7 p.m.*

*Indicates last regularly scheduled game of the year

This Week in Sports

Julia Reis — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:43:29 +0000

{Last Week’s Results}

Men’s Soccer
10/11 at La Sierra University (away) 2-1 (win)

Women’s Soccer
10/16 vs. Chapman (home) 2-1 (loss)
10/18 at Cal Lutheran (away) 3-1 (loss)

Women’s Volleyball
10/16 vs. Cal Lutheran (away) 3-0 (loss)
10/16 vs. Pomona Pitzer Colleges (away) 5-3 (loss)
10/17 vs. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (away) 3-0 (loss)
10/17 vs. University of Redlands (away) 3-0 (loss)

{Upcoming Athletics}

Men’s Soccer
10/24 at Austin College (away) at 1 p.m.
10/25 at University of Dallas (away) at 12 p.m.

Women’s Soccer
10/23 vs. Academy of Arts (home) at 4 p.m.

Women’s Volleyball
10/23 vs. Colorado College (away) at 3 p.m.
10/23 vs. Chapman (away) at 5 p.m.
10/24 vs. Millikin (away) at 1 p.m.

This Week in Sports

Julia Reis — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:15:33 +0000

{Last Week’s Results}

Men’s Soccer
10/8 at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (away) 1-1 (tie)
10/10 at Cal State San Marcos (away) 2-0 (loss)
10/11 at La Sierra University (away) 2-1 (win)

Women’s Soccer
10/8 vs. Menlo College (home) 5-2 (win)

Women’s Volleyball
10/9 vs. Holy Names University (home) 3-0 (win)
10/10 vs. Dominican (home) 5-2 (win)

{Upcoming Athletics}

Men’s Soccer
10/24 at Austin College (away) at 1 p.m.
10/25 at University of Dallas (away) at 12 p.m.

Women’s Soccer
10/16 vs. Chapman (home) at 3 p.m.
10/18 vs. Cal Lutheran University (away) at 1 p.m.

Women’s Volleyball
10/16 vs. Cal Lutheran University (away) at 3 p.m.
10/16 vs. Pomona Pitzer Colleges (away) at 7 p.m.

Any athletic teams, clubs or programs that wish to have sports scores and information listed in future issues of City on a Hill Press, please send schedules, results and contact information to sports@cityonahillpress.com.

This Week in Sports

Julia Reis — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:48:42 +0000

{Last Week’s Results}

Men’s Soccer
10/2 vs. Chapman (home) 1-0 (win)
10/6 vs. Fresno Pacific (home) 4-3 (win)

Women’s Soccer
10/2 vs. La Sierra (home) 3-0 (win)
10/4 vs. Whittier (home) 6-0 (win)

Women’s Volleyball
10/3 vs. Menlo (home) 3-1 (win)

{Upcoming Athletics}

Men’s Soccer
10/8 at Claremont-Mudd Scripps (away) at 4 p.m.

Women’s Soccer
10/8 vs. Menlo (home) at 3 p.m.
10/16 vs. Chapman (home) at 3 p.m.

Women’s Volleyball
10/9 vs. Holy Names (home) at 7 p.m.
10/10 vs. Dominican (home) at 7 p.m.

Mid-season Review

Julia Reis — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:48:40 +0000

A Look at How UCSC’s Fall Sports Have Done So Far

Women’s Soccer
Record: 9-2-0 (6-1-0 in Division III)

The UCSC women’s soccer team reminded everyone on Oct. 4 that they are a force to be reckoned with with a 6-0 rout of Whittier at home. Led by new head coach Josh Schelhorse, the team needs only three more victories in their last six games to match last year’s win total and (hopefully) secure itself a spot in the postseason for the fourth year in a row. They will play an equal amount of games home and on the road for the rest of the season, with two upcoming home games against Menlo College this Thursday, and against D-III rival Chapman on Friday, Oct. 16. The team plays the last game on the schedule at Chapman on Nov. 1.

Men’s Soccer
Record: 9-0-1 (6-0-1 in Division III) (game on 10/6, record will change before issue prints)

The UC Santa Cruz men’s soccer team came into this season looking to improve on last year’s 8-7-2 record, and so far this year they’re well on their way to doing that. The team already has more wins than in 2008 and is currently undefeated and ranked fourth in the nation in Division III play. After shutting out D-III independent rival Chapman 1-0 on Oct. 2, the team faced another independent team, Fresno Pacific, on Oct. 6 and came away with an important 4-3 win. They will spend the second half of the season out on the road and finish up the schedule at Holy Names University on Nov. 4. With the way the team is playing, however, that game will likely not be their last of the year, as they have a good chance of making the playoffs if they can keep the current momentum going.

Women’s Volleyball
Record: 15-3 (9-3 in Division III)

With an impressive 15-3 record, the Lady Slugs volleyball team is on track to have one of the best seasons in the history of their program (see page 9 for story). After losing the first game of the year to Carthage University, the team went on a six-game winning streak that included four decisive 3-0 victories. The team will play two of their last home games of the year this weekend against Holy Names University and Dominican, then go on the road for eight games (four of which will be against Division III opponents) before finishing the regular season at home against Mills on Nov. 6. While the team hopes to make the playoffs this year, they are also setting their sights on making the NCAA Regionals for the first time in team history.

Women’s Cross-Country

So far this season the team has seen success on a collective and individual level. At their first event of the year, the USF 5K Invitational on Sept. 5, the UCSC women placed sixth out of 10 colleges with an average runner time of 20:07.50, and junior Mikayla Murphy finished second out of 100 participants with a time of 18:25.70. The team did even better overall the following weekend at the Irvine Invite, finishing fourth out of 11 teams. Most recently, the cross country team appeared in the West Region Preview Meet hosted by Pomona Pitzer and finished third overall out of 10 teams with junior Murphy winning the race. The team is currently ranked eight out of 20 teams in the Western region with three meets left in the season, including the Bronco Invite hosted by Santa Clara University on Saturday, Oct. 17 and the NCAA Division III West Regional meet on Saturday, Nov. 14.

Best in the West

Julia Reis — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:22:00 +0000

Coach Runeare explains how a passion to prove themselves has wrought success for men’s soccer players. Photo by Devika Agarwal.

The UC Santa Cruz men’s soccer team is out to prove the adage that numbers don’t lie. With an 8-0-1 record they’re well on their way to proving that they deserve their current ranking as the fourth-best Division III team in the nation, according to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA).

Head coach Michael Runeare won’t let the numbers get to the players’ heads, though.

“We’ve been talking a lot about how they’re just numbers and not indicative of where we want to be at the end of the year,” Runeare said. “It’s just coaches making evaluations early in the season so it’s not relevant to whether we will get into the postseason.”

He added that while the team is proud of the recognition, it’s the rankings by the main governing body, the NCAA, that really matter in the end.

“The NCAA rankings don’t come out until mid-October, and you need to be ranked in the top seven in the Western region to qualify for the playoffs,” Runeare said. “Then there’s a selection Sunday [where the NCAA picks who will go to the playoffs].”

Third-year center forward C.J. Villalobos agrees with his head coach, saying that although the team is fully aware of their stature on the NSCAA list, they don’t take it too seriously because they realize how short-lived it could be.

“We realize it’s so early in the season that we could be dropped right away if we lose a game, so we don’t really think about it and let our performance speak for the numbers,” Villalobos said.

UCSC wasn’t actually ranked in the NSCAA Top 25 Poll at the start of the season. They cracked the top 10 after two overtime victories on the road against the University of Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran to start the season, two games which Coach Runeare points to as indicative of the team’s overall success.

“I think the two victories we had in Seattle showed the players we could win in that they played in away games in overtime and were able to win and it gave them confidence,” Runeare said. “I think last year they lacked an ability to overcome those hurdles, [but] this year they have an identity.”

Villalobos agrees that the team has a different attitude this year and thinks that a large part of its success comes from motivation to make up for last year, when the team finished with an 8-7-2 record and didn’t make the playoffs.

“We all came out this summer training harder than we’ve ever trained because we’ve wanted to prove something, and that’s why our team is so good,” Villalobos said. “We’ve got the passion from not making the playoffs last year that [makes us] want to go all the way.”

Brendan Ward, senior central defender and co-captain, credits Coach Runeare with improving overall team play. Runeare is entering his first full year as the head coach of the men’s team after spending six years with the women’s team.

“Coach Michael Runeare has helped us out a lot this season,” Ward said. “The players connect better with Mike and he gives us a lot of good info on the field that’s really helped our team out.”

Runeare says it is critical that the team keep the momentum going, especially over the next couple of weeks when they will run into some tough opponents. He points to this Friday’s home game against Chapman (6-1-0) as one of those potentially challenging match-ups, as well as an upcoming trip to Dallas to play Austin College and the University of Dallas (who beat UCSC at home last year).

“Friday’s game against Chapman is going to be a really big test for us, [especially since] they’re also a D-III independent,” Runeare said. “Generally if someone goes to the postseason as an independent it’s going to be one of us two teams.”

Meanwhile, Ward says the key to continuing to be successful this season lies in the team chemistry.

“We really just have to keep improving every day. We have to respect and love each other and be extremely close like a family, and I think we’re getting to that.”

This Week in Sports

Julia Reis — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:18:19 +0000

Last Week’s Results:

Men’s Soccer
9/22 vs. Menlo (home) 2-0 (win)
9/27 vs. La Sierra (home) 4-0 (win)

Women’s Soccer
9/25 vs. Southwestern (home) 5-0 (win)
9/27 vs. La Verne (home) 2-1 (win)

Women’s Volleyball
9/26 vs. Luther (home) 3-2 (loss)
9/26 vs. La Sierra (home) 3-0 (win)
9/29 at Mills (away) 3-0 (win)

Upcoming Athletics:

Men’s Soccer
10/2 vs. Chapman (home) at 2PM
10/6 vs. Fresno Pacific (home) at 4PM

Women’s Soccer
10/2 vs. La Sierra (home) at 4PM
10/4 vs. Whittier (home) at 12PM

Women’s Volleyball
10/3 vs. Menlo (home) at 7PM

A Changing of the Guard

Julia Reis — Thu, 07 May 2009 10:55:30 +0000

Courtesy of Dan Chamberlain.

The UC Santa Cruz soccer program is living out the Beatles’ “Hello Goodbye” dichotomy as they simultaneously bid farewell to and welcome in familiar faces to the men’s and women’s head coaching positions.

The moves began when men’s head soccer coach Dan Chamberlain decided to accept an assistant coaching position with the Stanford University men’s team.

While Chamberlain immediately recognized the Stanford opening as “one of those things in your life that you can’t pass up,” it didn’t make the decision any easier for him.

“It was definitely something I grappled with … but at the end of the day it was a decision that was best for me and my career in coaching,” Chamberlain said. “While it was probably one of the most painful things to do to let my team know I wouldn’t be there anymore, I knew it was the right decision.”

The move came as a surprise to junior left forward Clay Sorensen, who was called over to Chamberlain’s house along with two other teammates for what they thought was a meeting to discuss the spring season.

“We were pretty shocked that he was going to leave, because he was pretty invested in the program,” Sorensen said. “It just came out of the blue.”

After the initial surprise wore off, however, Sorensen says the team was supportive of their coach.

“It’s a pretty big opportunity,” Sorensen said. “We’re happy for him but also really excited to move forward.”

As a result, former UCSC women’s soccer head coach Michael Runeare will be taking over for Chamberlain. Josh Schelhorse, who has been an assistant to both the men’s and women’s soccer teams for the past year, has stepped in as interim head coach for the women.

Runeare also had to face the difficult task of breaking the news of his departure to his team, and says the players dealt with the decision well.

“I thought they handled it fantastically,” Runeare said. “Their initial reaction was surprise; I don’t think they had any idea something like that would take place.”

Despite the abruptness of the moves with regard to timing, there is a general consensus among players and coaches that the transitions have gone smoothly, thanks in large part to the fact that both Runeare and Schelhorse were familiar with the UCSC soccer program before these position changes occurred.

Schelhorse says his prior experience as an assistant for both the men’s and women’s teams has helped prepare him for taking over from Runeare.

“It just gave me good insight into what the program was like,” Schelhorse said. “It allowed me to hit the ground running and not have to start from scratch with them.”

For Runeare, the transition to coaching the men’s team was made easier by his experience as coach of the Breakers, a semi-pro team in the Monterey Peninsula Soccer League that used to play during UCSC’s offseason and therefore attracted many players from the men’s team.

Meanwhile, as the new assistant coach for the Stanford men’s team, Chamberlain says the adjustment of going from a Division III to a Division I program is still taking some getting used to, as it comes with an added amount of pressure.

“Definitely Stanford’s at a level along with many other athletic departments where if you’re not winning or producing a quality experience for your student athletes you run the risk of getting fired, and that’s not the pressure at UC Santa Cruz,” Chamberlain said.

Both coaches realize they have big shoes to fill. During his three years as head coach of the men’s soccer team, Chamberlain’s teams went a combined 44-14-2 and made the NCAA DIII tournament twice, and as the women’s head coach for six years Runeare compiled a 68-28-13 record.

While Runeare acknowledges that maintaining fitness levels and getting good recruits are key, there is one other component that he said will prove essential to the team’s success come fall.

“One of the biggest things is we need to play with weapons of the heart — courage, integrity and selflessness,” he said. “Players have to come in here hungry, want to get better and push themselves to be competitive.”