Quote from: Kuiper on April 07, 2025, 12:27:19 PMNice to see a kid score who only played 8 games and 109 minutes last season.  One of the benefits of spring play.

Trinity graduates a little over 40% of their scoring and minutes played so there should be plenty of opportunities for fresh faces to make their mark in 2025.  In theory Michael Meese could return, but he's had at least two season-ending injuries already (including all last season) and I doubt he'd risk further injury.  Such a shame, he had such fine touch and elite scoring abilities (16G/4A in 12GP in 2021) but just could not stay on the pitch.  18 games two years ago (of 19 total) was the best he could do after 15 in 2021 and just 5 in 2022.

Cross-Posting from the Coaching Carousel thread:

Moore should bring a breath of fresh air to a Pomona-Pizer program that has long stagnated in the middle to lower third of the SCIAC despite having national recruiting base and an attractive location. His experience at Colorado School of Mines and Air Force Academy suggests he should be comfortable coaching at a strong academic school.  Interesting, however, that this will be his first head coaching job after a very long career as an assistant.

Clint Moore Named Head Coach of Men's Soccer at Pomona-Pitzer

 

QuoteClint Moore has been named the new head coach of the Pomona-Pitzer Men's Soccer team, as announced by the Sagehen Athletic Department.
 
Moore joins the Sagehens after eight seasons as an assistant coach at the Colorado School of Mines, where he helped guide the Orediggers to an 86-41-21 record. During his tenure, Mines captured six RMAC Regular-Season crowns, five RMAC Tournament titles, and made five NCAA Tournament appearances—including a trip to the Sweet 16 in 2019.
 
Under Moore's leadership, the program produced 36 All-RMAC players, 21 all-region selections, and six All-Americans. His mentorship also resulted in one RMAC Player of the Year, two RMAC Defensive Players of the Year, and two South Central Regional Players of the Year. Moore was part of the United Soccer Coaches South Central Regional Staff of the Year in both 2019 and 2020-21. Four times during his tenure, Mines swept both the RMAC regular-season and tournament titles, with five straight regular-season championships from 2018 to 2022 and three consecutive tournament wins from 2018 to 2020.
 
Before Mines, Moore coached at the United States Air Force Academy, where he was part of the 2017 United Soccer Coaches West Region Division I Staff of the Year. With Moore on staff, the Falcons posted a program-best 11-1 home record, earned 10 shutouts, and won the first Western Athletic Conference Regular-Season title in program history. He also helped guide a program-best eight players to All-WAC honors.
 
From 2015–2016, Moore served as an assistant coach at Illinois Wesleyan in Bloomington, Illinois. During his time with the Titans, he was involved in all aspects of managing an NCAA Division III program, including recruiting, student-athlete development, academic advising, travel operations, community engagement, and soccer camps. His leadership helped IWU rise from the bottom of the conference standings to a top-three finish in 2016 and its first trip to the conference tournament since 2012.
 
Moore also coached for two seasons at his alma mater, Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. While at Knox, he worked with both the men's and women's programs and served as interim head coach for both teams on separate occasions. His impact was immediate—leading the men's team to its first regular-season conference title since 1988. That season, the program earned MWC Coach of the Year, Player of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year, and Defensive Player of the Year honors. Over two seasons, Moore guided the team to a 28-10 record with back-to-back trips to the conference tournament.
 
"It's a privilege to be named the next men's soccer coach at Pomona-Pitzer," said Moore. "I am grateful for the opportunity to lead this program and thank Dr. Miriam Merrill and the members of the search committee for their roles in bringing me to Pomona-Pitzer Athletics. I'm excited to work hard and build on the strong foundation that Coach Swartz established during his tenure.
 
Colorado School of Mines gave me seven rewarding seasons, and my time there will be cherished. I learned so much inside a great program and department while competing against some of the nation's best Division II programs. I will take these experiences into my new role to coach, mentor, and lead our Pomona-Pitzer student-athletes. We have a talented group, and I am eager to get started!"
 
Moore was a dual-sport athlete at Knox College, where he earned four varsity letters each in soccer and basketball. He was a two-year captain in soccer and a one-year captain in basketball, earning multiple scholar-athlete awards throughout his collegiate career. Academically, Moore completed a double major in biology and environmental studies, graduating with honors in biological research. He was the recipient of a summer research fellowship from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a Knox College Richter Memorial Scholarship, and an award from the Illinois State Academy of Science Research Conference for his independent honors research.

Trinity announced (on IG) 5'11" GK Brandon Gongora as part of their 2025 freshman class.  The interesting thing about Gongora is that he is a part of the USL Championship San Antonio FC squad, on loan from the SAFC Academy program, and is on a homegrown contract with the franchise.

He's been on the bench for one SAFC match this season and did not enter the game.

Quote from: Ron Boerger on April 09, 2025, 07:27:49 PMTrinity announced (on IG) 5'11" GK Brandon Gongora as part of their 2025 freshman class.  The interesting thing about Gongora is that he is a part of the USL Championship San Antonio FC squad, on loan from the SAFC Academy program, and is on a homegrown contract with the franchise.

He's been on the bench for one SAFC match this season and did not enter the game.

I saw that as well.  A lot of the USL teams have backup GKs on academy contracts because it's not efficient to use their player budget on someone who is unlikely to play much, but those keepers typically end up in DI (e.g., a player from SoCal, Mark Hyan, who was a backup with Orange County SC and then went to Virginia Tech - although he's transferring to Coastal Carolina for next year). Credit to Trinity for keeping him home.  His size may have scared away some DI programs, but this may be one of those cases where DIII is becoming more attractive for kids who are being pushed out by roster limits, the transfer portal, and int'l signings.

Here's San Antonio FC's press release about Gongora, who was just added to the roster last month.  He actually got into a game last fall for SAFC and won a save of the week award!

https://www.sanantoniofc.com/news/2025/03/07/san-antonio-fc-adds-three-to-2025-roster/

QuoteSan Antonio FC today announced it has signed goalkeeper Daniel Namani to a professional contract and added goalkeeper Brandon Gongora and defender Sebastian Seiterle to its roster as USL Academy signings ahead of the 2025 USL Championship season. The transactions are pending league and federation approval, and per team policy, terms of the deals were not disclosed.

QuoteGongora and Seiterle continue to further their development through the Ricos SAFC Pro Academy, having been with the club since 2020. Gongora made his USL Championship debut in September 2024 at 18 years old, subbing on to close out the match against Charleston Battery and winning the league's Save of the Week award in his efforts to preserve the 1-1 draw. Seiterle earns his first call-up to the first team, having seen action in several of San Antonio's preseason contests this year.

"Brandon and Sebastian are great students, disciplined players and even better young men, and we're thrilled to give them the opportunity to continue their development with the first team." said Ferruzzi. "As a club, we are committed to our homegrown initiative, providing a pathway to the professional leagues and cultivating the talent of young players in our community."

The fun thing about Trinity, Gongora, and San Antonio FC is that it makes a full circle with Matt Cardone, former Trinity GK who after graduation manned the posts for SAFC for parts of six seasons (three complete, I think) and was just named to their team of the decade.

🤣🤣🤣😜

Did they depart for AC/Heat in the locker room at the half?
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McMurry announced that it is playing the following games tomorrow, 4/12, for its spring match day:

1:00 pm v. West Texas (I'm assuming this is West Texas A&M (DII), but it could be Western Texas (NJCAA))

4:00 pm v. Lubbock Christian University (DII)

A couple of schedules have dropped that are of interest to Region X teams:

Occidental

Very interesting opening exhibition game at Azusa Pacific on Aug. 19th, which recently announced it will be leaving DII and joining Oxy in the SCIAC.  Oxy is also taking a trip as far away from SoCal as possible to open the season in a very tough set of three games against Babson, MIT, and UMass Boston.  In the SCIAC, they play Cal Lu, Pomona-Pitzer, Chapman, and La Verne twice, and Redlands, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Cal Tech, and Whittier only once. That likely is a favorable draw and one that probably explains the scheduling to open the season.

Linfield traveling to Minneapolis to play Augsburg on Sunday Aug. 31.  I wouldn't be surprised if they show up on another Minnesota school's schedule on Saturday, possibly St. Norbert.

Chapman opening the season at Wheaton (IL) on Friday Aug. 29.  They will likely play another team on Sunday, possibly Colorado College, which is playing Wheaton on Saturday.

Another Region X schedule dropped

Whitworth

After Lewis & Clark did this last year, it's apparently Whitworth's turn to open the season in Hawaii playing Hawaii Pacific and Chaminade.  They had four Hawaiians on the roster last season, so it's been fertile ground for them in recruiting.  One quirk in the schedule is after returning to the mainland and playing a community college and Carroll (Montana) (NAIA), they have a two week break before starting NWC play against Willamette.  They did something similar last season after a trip to Texas.