Salt Lake City, June 18, 2000 – The CSAN Men’s Amateur State Select Soccer Team won the championship title in the Region IV US Amateur Soccer Association (USASA) Select Team Tournament in Salt Lake City this weekend. This annual four-day tournament is where the men’s and women’s regional teams are chosen in preparation for the USASA national tournament in August, called the U.S. Soccer Festival. The U.S. Soccer Festival is used to choose players for the U.S. National Men's Amateur Soccer Team.
The Northern California team will also play in the George F. Donnelly National Cup Tournament in Fort Lauderdale over Thanksgiving. In addition, nine men were selected for the Region IV men's select team pool.
Winning the Region IV Championship was particularly satisfying for the CSAN Men’s Team. In the first game of the tournament, they played the Washington State Select Team, which consists mostly of college varsity players from the University of Washington. Northern California lost 4:1 and played for nearly half with game with only nine players due to send-offs. But in the championship game Northern California again played Washington, this time beating them 2:0.
Dan Fife scored the lone Northern California goal in that first game against Washington. In the second game of the tournament, Northern California beat Oregon 1:0 on a goal by Noah Delgado. In the third game of the tournament, Northern California beat Idaho 3:0 on goals by Delgado, Enrique Tovar and Miguel Gomez. In the semi-final game, Northern California beat Colorado 2:0 on two goals by Hilario Santos. This semi-final was an extremely hard fought game in which Colorado played down one player for more than half the game due to a well-deserved send-off.
In the championship game, Hilario Santos and Lars Lyssand scored the two Northern California goals. According to Men’s Coach Hector Uribe, “By the championship game, Washington had won all of their games and beaten us badly in the preliminary round of play. They were confident of a win, but didn’t realize we had watched several of their games and developed a defensive strategy to hold their attackers at bay. Obviously our team executed this strategy flawlessly.”
Summary of the Results:
| Opponent | Score | CSAN Scorers |
|---|---|---|
| Washington | 1:4 | Fife |
| Oregon | 1:0 | Delgado |
| Idaho | 3:0 | Delgado, Tovar, Gomez |
| Colorado (semi-final) | 2:0 | Santos, Santos |
| Washington (final) | 2:0 | Santos, Lyssand |
Eight of the players on the Northern California men’s team come from teams in the San Jose based Peninsula Soccer League, three from the Monterey Peninsula Soccer League, two from the San Francisco Soccer Football League, one from the Madera Soccer League and one from the Central California Soccer League. Most of these players have also played for colleges such as San Jose State, CSU Monterey Bay, Ohlone, West Valley, American River, San Diego State, Fresno State, De Anza and the University of San Francisco.
The head Coach of the men’s team is Hector Uribe, the varsity soccer coach at CSU Monterey Bay. Artie Cairel, Coaching Director for the Fremont Youth Soccer League and varsity coach at Ohlone College, assisted him. The members of the 2000 Northern California Men’s Amateur Select Soccer Team were: Chris R. Humphreys, Dan S. Fife, Donny N. Ribaudo, Elias R. Muñiz, Enrique Tovar, Hilario Santos, Jacob M. Kurey, Jeremy F. Proud, Kenny T. Low, Mike A. Bielski, Lars R. Lyssand, Miguel A. Gomez, Mike J. Clark, Noah Delgado, Oscar R. Renteria, Peter A. Wallace, Ryan Suarez and Sean A. McCormick. Kapono Low was chosen for the team, but was unable to attend due to an injury he sustained at a practice the day before the tournament began. Chad Smith, Owen Flannery, Jose Martinez, Arturo Hernandez and Tim Edwards were named as Alternates for the 2000 CSAN Men's State Amateur Select Team.
Selected for the Region IV Men’s Select Team player pool were Humphreys, Fife, Tovar, Kurey, Low, Lyssand, Delgado, Suarez and McCormick. These players will have a chance to travel to the USASA National Soccer Festival this August in Kingston, Rhode Island.