With Simple Goals, Wackerman Making Her Mark at CLU : High-Scoring Forward Quietly Nearing NCAA Soccer Record

Cal Lutheran soccer player Rachel Wackerman scored her 100th goal two weeks ago and, sure, there was the attendant fanfare.

A wave, in fact.

From her mom and dad.

That’s about it. Few others at the match at Occidental College were aware of the goal’s significance. The contest wasn’t stopped for a public-address announcement because there was no public-address announcer.

Nor could Wackerman carry off the game ball as a keepsake.

“It wasn’t our ball,” she explained.

If recognition is what she sought, the senior forward would have been better off as an understudy to a Hollywood extra.

But all Wackerman wanted after high school was a nice place where she could continue her education and play soccer. Public recognition as the No. 3 scorer in women’s collegiate soccer history has been barely a sideline consideration.

“It’s not been a goal of mine,” she said. “I don’t think about it (before matches). But after the game, it’s fun.”

Going into today’s 1 p.m. NCAA Division III West Regional wild-card match at UC San Diego, Wackerman has scored 106 goals in her career. She trails only Franklin & Marshall’s Beth Byrne (110, 1985-88) and New Hampshire’s Heidi Schuberth (107, 1983-86), according to the Intercollegiate Soccer Assn. of America. The NCAA does not keep official soccer records.

Five goals shy of the all-time scoring title, Wackerman simply shrugs. ESPN hasn’t raised an eyebrow.

But many of those closest to her are celebrating.

“That has to be something that’s reckoned with,” first-year Cal Lutheran Coach Dan Kuntz said. “There just aren’t that many athletes that have accomplished that.”

Equally gratified is Kuntz’s brother George, who coached the Regals the previous four years before leaving to start another program at Pepperdine.

Kuntz recruited Wackerman in the waning days of her 12th-grade year, strictly on the word-of-mouth advice of her coach at South Pasadena High, Bob Mendoza. Kuntz never saw her play until she was in Regals dress.

“It definitely is a milestone and it definitely is something that is noteworthy for CLU,” George Kuntz said. “When somebody can put the ball in the back of the net, no matter who it is, they still have to play against an opponent. She has been a known quantity there for years, so you have to give her credit for that.”

True enough. As anonymous as Wackerman is in the stands and beyond, she’s flashing neon to an opposing defender.

“From the seventh to the 10th game (her freshman year), Rachel has been a marked player,” George Kuntz said. “I guarantee that. From the seventh to 10th game on, she’s had a player in her back pocket.”

Despite being constantly shadowed, her scoring totals mounted. Wackerman senses the goal like a compass senses magnetic North.

“She knows where to be to finish the goal,” Dan Kuntz said. “She knows what spot to be in and where to run to get the ball to finish it and it takes time to get that skill. You have to kind of read the game a little bit and know the players on your team and anticipate where the ball is going to go.”

Wackerman’s pursuit of the more cerebral aspects of the sport dates to her freshman year, when she became coach of a lower-level soccer team at Thousand Oaks High. The job fell to her after teammate Vanessa Martin, who was set to coach the team, suffered a broken ankle.

Suddenly, the spotlight was on.

“I was really quiet as far as coaching,” Wackerman said. “It was really hard to get the team going, to be demanding. I wanted to be their friend. I’m sure some of them think I’m pretty mean now.”

But coaching taught Wackerman more than how to say, “Take a lap.”

“Once you get involved in coaching, you really have to evaluate and break down many areas of the game,” George Kuntz said.

As Wackerman’s knowledge of the game increased, more teammates arrived to share the benefits. Of her 106 goals, only 19 have come this season. Sophomores Joey Allard (17 goals) and Jill Gallegos (13) have threatened to outscore the leading scorer.

“A lot more this year, we started getting together,” said Allard, a Newbury Park High graduate. “I think friendship had a lot to do with it. We didn’t really know each other the first year and we kind of had our own style of play.”

The welcome result is a Cal Lutheran team that is 36-0 in its three years in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play. The Regals (14-4) won a school-record-tying 14 consecutive matches this season after an 0-3 start.

Perhaps, as the years go by, Wackerman will be remembered less for her scoring totals and more for her overall contribution to a soccer program that is a regular postseason participant in only its fifth year.

“She has been a very important factor in the program,” Dan Kuntz said. “No question about it. You can’t have an athlete who’s done what she’s done and not be an important factor in the program’s development.”

There will be no move to the next level for Wackerman. Unlike men’s soccer, women’s soccer does not offer professional leagues in the United States or abroad.

“I was going to be a teacher, but now I’ve decided against it,” Wackerman said. “I’m going to take a year off and work, then go to nursing school.

“I don’t think it’s going to hit me until next season. When I see Cal Lutheran scores, I’ll be sad.”

Nearing the end of her playing career and looking back, Wackerman had to laugh at how far she has come.

The first time she took the field, a not-so-seasoned 5-year-old, her goals in the sport were not quite directed.

“When I first played, I was just doing cartwheels on the field,” Wackerman said.

Probably, no one noticed her. But if she can lead Cal Lutheran to an NCAA title, maybe people will.