USD Men's Soccer 1999

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1999 Season Outlook

SENIOR LEADERSHIP & TEAM CHEMISTRY KEYS FOR TORERO SUCCESS IN 1999 ! Seamus McFadden, who enters his 21st season directing the fortunes of the University of San Diego men's soccer program, returns thirteen players and seven starters from last year's squad that shared the West Coast Conference title with Gonzaga and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Despite losing the WCC Offensive Player of the Year in Leighton O'Brien, and the WCC scoring leader in Devin Ebright, the Toreros feel they have a solid nucleus of returners and quality class of newcomers that will again gun for the WCC title. Coach McFadden, who earned his fifth WCC Coach of the Year honor in

1998, will have the luxury of six seniors in his starting line-up to provide leader– ship to the newcomers and give the Toreros a solid chemistry on the field. Three of the seniors were starters a year ago -- midfielders Brian O'Connor (2nd Team All-WCC) and Antonio Gonzales (game-winner vs. CS Fullerton in 1st round of NCAA's), and defender Erin O'Connor, a solid performer in the back. Two 0 forwards back that missed last season with injuries - Mike Marvil and Levi Parker, will be counted on for offense. Senior newcomer Matt Hall , a transfer from San Diego State where he was a two-year team captain, is the projected starter in goal for the Toreros -- from nearby Vista, he's played club soccer over the years with the O'Connor brothers. Additional starters back include junior Miguel

Suazo, 20 starts at midfield; sophomore defender Eric Van Demeo , a 1998 2nd Team All-WCC pick who started 21 matches; and sophomore midfielder Mike Piserchio, the team's top returning scorer with 11 points (2 goals, 7 assists). Justin Neerhof, a sophomore keeper who earned 10 starts (7-3 record) over the second half of last season, will compete for playing time with Hall. Torero returners that will be pushing for playing time include junior forward Joel Armstong, junior defender Paul Fisher, sophomore midfielder Duncan Woods and sophomore defender Tim Petrovic.

Coach McFadden likes what he sees in his newcomers. A trio of sophomores have transferred in that will compete for playing time -- midfielder Norman Gireaux earned Division I playing experience at UC Irvine; forward Tyler Conley comes to USO from Rhode Island; and midfielder/forward Ryan Coiner started at Saddleback

Community College. USD's freshman class includes forward Sy Reeves, de– fender Garrett Turk, defender Aaron Tubbs, defender Alex Romagnolo and keeper Bradford Duttera. The Toreros hope to take advantage of opening the season with six home matches before they head on the road to two tournaments that will pit them against Notre Dame, Cal Berkeley, Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine. They open up WCC play at home on October 8th with San Francisco, followed by three very tough WCC road contests at Santa Clara, Gonzaga and Portland. USO will then

finish out the regular season slate with three home matches against UC San Diego, LMU and Saint Mary's. If USO can stay healthy in 1999, they have the makings of a team that will gun for their 7th trip to the NCAA's in the '90's.

Final 1998 West Coast Conference Standings Team WCC Overall San Diego#* 5-1-0 12-9-0 Gonzaga# 5-1-0 12-4-0 Santa Clara* 3-2-1 15-5-2 San Francisco 2-3-1 5-14-1 Portland 2-3-1 10-5-3 Loyola Marymount 1-4-1 5-12-1 Saint Mary's 1-5-0 6-14-0 # Co-WCC Champs ..... *NCAA participant