Freshmen class looks to lead Vaqueros men’s soccer
Last season’s disappointment hasn’t been forgotten.
It still lingers with Glendale Community College men’s soccer Coach Joe Agoston, who is looking to revamp the program.
“Last year was a complete disappointment,” said Agoston, whose team finished 4-15-2, 3-10-1 in the Western State Conference last season. “We underachieved and underperformed.
“We can’t have that anymore. We need to start fresh and have a group that’s looking to overachieve and get some wins.”
Agoston and the Vaqueros will begin their season at 3 p.m. Tuesday against host Irvine Valley College in a nonconference match. The Vaqueros are expected to field a 22-member team and will attempt to record their first winning season since 2003, when they went 12-5-4 and last appeared in the Southern California Regionals.
Glendale, which last won a conference championship in 2000, will mostly consist of first-year players looking to put their mark on the team by earning a starting position in the lineup.
“Some years, you have players who come out here and try their best to overachieve and then there are others when it doesn’t happen,” said Agoston, whose team will play its home opener at 7 p.m. Sept. 4 against L.A. Harbor at Sartoris Field. “I’d much rather have a group that has less talent and overachieves than any group that underachieves.”
Agoston will find out immediately what the makeup of the team will be.
Those expected to battle for the starting goalkeeping spot will be freshmen Bryant Molina, Cristian Hernandez and Julian Ortega.
The defenders will likely consist of sophomore Andrew Reyes and freshmen Luis Vasquez, Jose Amaya, Christopher Fierro, Edward Gomez and Juan Quintanilla.
The midfielders will likely be sophomore Christian Lopez and freshmen Alex Berger and Michael Shahnazarians, both who graduated from Crescenta Valley High, Michael Ajemian, David Martirosyan, Brayan Ochoa and Bryan Secaida.
Among those vying for the forward spots are freshmen Kenert Barrientos, Mouataz Garci, Alberto Hernandez, Roland Shahnazaryan and Christopher Simidian.
Berger, who helped Crescenta Valley win the CIF Southern Section Division IV championship last season, said the Vaqueros should have plenty of depth to move up in the conference.
“It’s a group that gets along, so there’s good chemistry,” said Berger, a reigning All-Area first-team pick and All-CIF Division V Player of the Year. “I think we can do well and surprise some people.”
The Vaqueros will play four of their first six matches on the road.
Glendale will begin conference at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 21 against host College of the Canyons and will conclude the regular season at 1 p.m. Nov. 9 on the road against Citrus. Its conference home opener will be at 7 p.m. Sept. 14 against Allan Hancock.
