Don’t expect the moniker “Westmont United” to be applied anytime soon, but changes in the coaching staff have provided an opportunity for a different approach to the school’s soccer programs. Dave Wolf, who has served as the men’s head coach since 1991, has been named the Director of Soccer and will serve this coming season as the head coach for both the men’s and women’s programs.

With responsibilities for both programs, Wolf intends to rely heavily on the efforts of his combined coaching staff.

“The word that comes to my mind immediately is collaboration,” said Wolf. “What the college has supported us in doing is putting together a soccer staff that will enable us to accomplish all of the different tasks that will be required. The working out of that plan will be very much a daily endeavor.”

Twelve student-athletes were honored on Thursday night at the Fourteenth Golden Eagle Award Dinner held at Fess Parker’s Doubletree Resort. Referred to as the ‘best night of the year for Westmont Athletics,’ the event is sponsored by the Pacific Beverage Company and Pete and Gerd Jordano.

“It’s even better than our 28-point win over Azusa Pacific,” said associate athletic director and head women’s basketball coach Kirsten McKnight in welcoming the 125 attendees.

Westmont athletic director Dave Wolf served as master of ceremonies for the event and noted that the Westmont staff of head coaches tallied a combined 114 years of experience and that for seven of the coaches, their entire head coaching experience has been at Westmont.

Tomorrow morning a dream comes true. Westmont senior soccer star Johnny Alcaraz will board an airplane headed to Houston to pursue a long held dream of becoming a professional soccer player.

Drafted by the Houston Dynamo in the first round of the Major League Soccer supplemental draft, Alcaraz was one of two players from the NAIA, both from Golden State Athletic Conference teams, to be taken in this year’s draft. Steven Lenhart of Azusa Pacific was selected by the Columbus Crew in the final round of the super draft the previous week.

“I have always wanted to play professional soccer,” said Alcaraz. “It has finally happened and it is really exciting. I’m extremely blessed and very thankful. The last three years at Westmont, I knew that this could happen but did not know how I would deal with it or what my emotions would be. Now that it has actually happened, I am very thankful, very happy and very excited.”

Ryan Jorden, the long-time assistant men’s soccer coach at Westmont, has been named the new head coach at California Baptist. Jorden will begin his new duties at the Riverside campus on January 2.

“I am super excited for Ryan,” said athletic director and head men’s soccer coach Dave Wolf. “It’s a great opportunity and without a doubt he is ready to be a head coach. It’s bittersweet because we have been together for eight years and he has done an incredible job here. If we thought the conference was tough last year, wait until we add him to the coaching ranks.”

Senior Johnny Alcaraz of Santa Barbara and sophomore Dillon Barna of Phoenix, Arizona have been named to the All-Golden State Athletic Conference team for their contributions to Westmont men’s soccer in 2007.

“It goes without saying that the attacking pieces we had in our team were built around Johnny,” said head coach Dave Wolf. “The same is true of the defending pieces – they were built around Dillon. So these two players were really the critical cornerstones for the attack and defense respectively.”

Alcaraz scored 11 goals and added five assists to lead the Warriors this season with 27 points (two points for a goal, one point for an assist). Alcaraz has led the Warriors in both goals and points each of his three years at Westmont. Alcaraz’ 1.59 points per game and 0.65 goals per game was fifth best in the GSAC this season.

Forty-eight hours after defeating top-ranked Azusa Pacific on the road, Westmont men’s soccer found itself facing #5 Fresno Pacific in the semifinals of the NAIA Region II Tournament. Westmont had won four games in a row to get to Fresno, outscoring their opponents 12-1. But Fresno turned out to be the end of the road for the Warriors who lost to the Sunbirds in overtime by a score of 2-1.

Fresno Pacific (17-2-1) drew first blood when Amaury Nunes scored in the eleventh minute on a penalty kick. The ball barely squeaked under the outstretched hand of junior goalkeeper Josh Etherton. Westmont (9-8) evened the score in the fifty second minute when senior Johnny Alcaraz, playing with an injured hamstring, sent a shot over the keeper after receiving a pass from junior Jon Schoff.

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Two goals within an eight minute stretch and a solid defensive performance were all that Westmont men’s soccer needed to upset the top-ranked Azusa Pacific Cougars (16-1-1) in the first round of the NAIA Region II Tournament on Thursday. The Warriors’ 2-1 victory allows Westmont (9-7) to advance to the semifinals on Saturday at #5 Fresno Pacific. Westmont brings a four-game winning streak into the one o’clock contest - a streak in which the Warriors have outscored their opponents 12-1.

The loss was the first this season for the Cougars who have only allowed nine goals all year. Westmont has scored four of those goals, having lost to Azusa Pacific 2-3 in overtime on October 3. Only two teams have scored more than one goal against Azusa Pacific in a single game – Westmont has done so twice.

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By virtue of a 2-0 win over California Baptist (6-10-1, 2-8) on Saturday, Westmont Men’s Soccer (8-7, 4-6) has qualified for the NAIA Region II Tournament which will begin on Thursday, November 1. The Warriors are seeded at number eight and will play at top-seeded Azusa Pacific (16-0-1, 9-0-1) at 1:00 p.m.

On Saturday, junior midfielder Jonathon Schoff set up both of the Warriors goals. Eighteen minutes into the game, Schoff crossed the ball into the box and found junior midfielder Sammy Montemer who finished the opportunity to give Westmont a 1-0 lead. In the thirty-fifth minute, another pass from Schoff’ went to freshman Dan Sargent who put the ball away to account for Westmont’s second goal.

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