What do people think of the WCC? SoccerRatings.com had it ranked the 3rd conference in the country. Who will compete next year?
Santa Clara will do quite well I think, even though Ballouchy is leaving. Coach Rast has a huge recruiting class coming in, it appears, which may make the next two or three years a very good set for him. St. Mary's could improve on its winning season assuming the coaching change is smooth and uneventful. I'd like to know how many of USF's regulars are graduating and how they are doing with recruiting.
USF has a big centerback from William and Mary comming in, he had to sit out the past season. They are losing outside backs Louis Aguilar and Kevin Long and that is all i beleive. They have a defender from San Diego Surf coming in and another back from Atlanta accoring to topdrawersoccer.com recruiting list.
Interesting. I'm guessing that transfer is Chris Rodd, the 6'4 Bay Area native. That could be a big pickup for USF, as he was improving at W&M and also had experience with Williamsburg in the PDL. I also wonder if his absence partly explains the terrible season they had (although, IIRC, Scherder was hurt as well).
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/high_school/13615573.htm Way at the bottom: "College commitments: Jeff Cosgriff, St. Ignatius (Santa Clara); Trevor Hatzke, Bellarmine College Prep student, forward for Santa Clara Sporting (Santa Clara)." Looks like SCU picks up the 3rd Hatzke kid following brothers Nick at Cal and Matt already at SCU. Also, I assume Amechi Igwe - who has previously committed to SCU - will show up next fall. He's been with the US U18 team.
For those in the So Cal area, the College Classic (Temecula Apr 1-2) has posted it's schedule that includes 5 WCC teams in some interesting matches. The schedule is at http://www.collegeclassic.com/schedules but may be incomplete at this point.
The WCC may be down this year. I've heard that the WCC was ranked as high as #3 as far as conferences go in '05, but they only got two teams in the tournament and only Santa Clara got as far as the second round. The league lost Ballouchy to the MLS (#2 pick), and USF kind of dissapointed even though they won the conference. Also Sain Mary's lost its coach (Steve Rammel)- Shame to lose the coach when the program was on the up and up for the first time in a long while. Also, Portland is coming off of one of its worst seasons ever and Gonzaga hasn't scared anyone since Brian Ching was there. As far as the SoCal schools, who knows. Loyola was very inconsistent last year, and USD probably should have made the tournament. I'm sure Seamus M. will have his boys ready.
Three WCC alums on World Cup roster. Speaks well of a small conference, minus football money. See link.... http://wccsports.cstv.com/sports/m-soccer/spec-rel/050306aaa.html
The WCC could be loaded next year..... SCU, LMU, USF could all be Sweet 16 teams....LMU just got Sloustcher from UNC and Santa Clara has a ridiculous class coming in.....USD could be the sleeping giant.....but then again....none of these teams have the potential to run the table like UCLA.