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sports
Club soccer hot
By Mike Haubrich
On-line Forty-Niner
The Long Beach
State men's club soccer team is rolling -- and the pollsters
have taken notice.
The Beach is ranked
second in the National Intramural Recreation Sports Association
Region 6 rankings with a 9-0-1 record heading into this weekend,
when the team will play California League rivals Cal State
San Marcos and UC San Diego.
A third straight
trip to the national championship tournament could be in the
cards for LBSU, which finishing fourth in 1999 and third in
2000.
"We're one
of the top teams any given year," said Sanjit Toor, who
has coached LBSU for six years.
This season, the
49ers have achieved success despite having only 13 players
on the roster, which presents a challenge to Toor when it
comes to keeping players fresh.
"Even if we're
up 5-0, it's tough to get subs in," Toor said. "We're
only 13 deep after having 20 players on the roster last year,
and at nationals, you can play two games a day."
The 49er have outscored
opponents, 28-7, this season, with forward Tristan Corbett
leading the team in scoring with 10 goals and eight assists.
The senior said
the team's ranking is justified.
"We played
some top-ranked teams, so our wins are no flukes," Corbett
said.
Corbett came to
LBSU via Portland, Ore. and said the men's team status as
a club sport rather than an NCAA-sanctioned sport didn't factor
into his decision to come to venture south.
"I would have
come here anyway," Corbett said. "[Long Beach is]
a great location."
Other key LBSU
players include central midfielder Dan Kolano, who has four
assists on the year, and sweeper Shadi Hannah, who switched
from his normal position of forward this year.
"We lost a
lot of players to graduation, and Shadi was the best fit for
the [sweeper] position," Toor said. "He's played
tremendous."
Said Corbett: "Sweeper is a totally different position
than forward, and Shadi's done a great job."
Bozidar Stojanivic
and Justin Schroeder have split goalkeeping duties for LBSU,
giving up only seven goals in nine games, with Schroeder playing
about 80 percent of the time, according to assistant coach
John Reynolds.
"[Schroeder's]
been phenomenal," Corbett said. "The goalie is the
backbone of the team. You can have a great team, but without
a great goalie, you get rocked."
The Beach plays
Cal State San Marcos Friday at 3 p.m. and UCSD Sunday at 11
p.m. Both games at George Allen Field.
"[UC] San
Diego is historically a good team," Reynolds said. "They'll
be a good test."
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