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Where are they now?

Gauchos kick off 2005 PDL season

By Phillip Brents
Posted April 21, 2005

After splitting home games last season between Southwestern College and San Diego City College, the San Diego Gauchos have returned to their roots. Those roots go back a decade or so when the Gauchos, then competing as a youth team, played home matches at Sweetwater High School in National City.

Now a member of the United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League, the Gauchos will once again utilize Sweetwater High School for the majority of its home matches this season. The Gauchos kick off their first PDL season Saturday, April 23, with a match against the Fresno Fuego. Kick-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

The Gauchos are scheduled to play a total of six matches at Sweetwater High School, one at Southwestern College (June 26) and the final regular season match at Steele Canyon High School (July 17) in East County.

The Gauchos are entering their fourth season of operation in the USL. Three years ago, the Gauchos played their home matches at Eastlake High School, then switched their home venue to Southwest High School the following season.
It is said that everyone eventually comes back to start.

The Gauchos are coming off a redemption campaign in the USL’s Pro Soccer League when the club posted a 9-9-2 record and advanced to the Western Division championship playoffs, losing 2-1 to eventual PSL champion Utah. The previous season, the Gauchos had finished 3-16-1.

Many of the team’s impact players have returned, including captain Dustin Hammond in midfield, Akbar Jr. Zareh Mendez and Jorge Macias up front, outside winger Tate Travis and defenders Tim Roty and Juan Nunez. Hector Meza also returns in the midfield where he is expected to open up space for himself and others.

The team’s coaching staff credits Hammond with good touch and great vision while Mendez is considered a fundamentally sound and clever goal scorer. Travis is credited with good speed and quickness. Roty, a native of Buffalo, N.Y., played four years at the University of Albany. Nunez, a Mar Vista High graduate, is very solid on the backline and very experienced. The Mariner alum returns as one of the steadiest players from last season.

Newcomers who rate to impact the team this season include goal keeper Tim Edwards, an All-American from San Diego State University who exhibits good technique and amazing range, according to the coaching staff report; La Mesa’s John Mendez on defense; Phil Flakes from Medway, Mass., an invitee to the MLS New York/New Jersey Metro-Stars’ 2004 preseason camp and young local talents Eric Loften (Point Loma High) and Oscar Espinoza and Sergio Hernandez (both Mar Vista High).

Mendez, who is considered a good decision maker, played in Italy as well as at St. Johns University in the Big East (1995 NCAA Division I national champions). Flakes played both midfield and defense for the Western Mass Pioneers (a former Pro Soccer League adversary of the Gauchos) and was a crucial member of the defense for the Cape Cod Crusaders in that team’s drive to back-to-back national championships in the PDL.

Loften is an All-San Diego Section performer while Espinoza was tabbed as the 2003-04 South Bay League Player of the Year after earning All-South Bay League First Team honors in 2002-03 as a junior.

The Gauchos present a good opportunity for area players to showcase their talent at higher levels of play.
Another newcomer, George Nixon (Santa Barbara City College), has playing experience abroad in Spain.

The move to the PDL is not that disruptive as the Gauchos already had played an interlocking schedule with several PDL clubs last season while a member of the USL’s Pro Soccer League.

The Gauchos will compete in the Southwest Division alongside the Bakersfield Brigade, BYU Cougars, California Gold, Fresno Fuego, Nevada Wonders, Orange County Blue Star and Southern California Seahorses.

The Gold also competed in the USL’s Pro Soccer League last season but with the addition of a Major Soccer League expansion franchise in Salt Lake City, Real Salt Lake, the Utah Blitzz, the reigning USL Pro Soccer League champion, closed down operations.

The Gauchos, Gold and Blitzz had comprised the Western Division of the USL’s Pro League Soccer, which has now been reclassified as the USL Second Division with a regional slate of eastern teams.

The Gauchos enter the season after playing two preseason matches against MLS clubs, dropping a 2-0 decision to the new USA Chivas in February and 4-0 to the Los Angeles Galaxy on April 16 in Oxnard. Head coach Bob Maruca noted that one goal against Chivas came on a questionable call that led to a penalty kick in the second half. In the game against the Galaxy, Maruca said the Gauchos played several players out of position to test their adaptability.

"We have to hand it to the Galaxy because their finishing ability was second to none. The game ended 4-0 but still we played well together as a team but couldn’t find the back of the net. The one thing that is very promising is that despite the scoreline of the game, our team held together and fought through until the end, and that leaves me very confident going into our home opener this Saturday," Maruca said.

Saturday’s home opener also serves as a U.S. Open Cup qualifier and is crucial for another reason. The U.S. Open Cup ranks as one of the largest most well-respected tournaments among the several tiers of professional leagues in the United States. The various qualification rounds merge amateur teams with professional teams throughout the season. Finals are usually held in September or October in advance of the MLS Cup.

The Gauchos also expect to field a women’s team this season, though the roster has not yet been finalized, according to team officials. The Gauchos hope to field a squad that includes players from the national teams of England and the Netherlands. A number of local women and some from surrounding states.

The Gauchos women are scheduled to make their debut on May 20, also at Sweetwater High School.

PDL notepad
A number of the Gauchos’ divisional opponents have been busy playing exhibition games. Fresno comes into Saturday’s PDL opener having dropped decisions to USA Chivas (6-2) and the L.A. Galaxy (3-0). The former game drew an estimated 5,000 fans.. The new Bakersfield Brigade defeated the California Gold 6-0 on April 9.