Plus a bunch of home grown players… GSAC NAIA teams were pretty good this season. I believe Azusa Pacific and Concordia could have competed in the Big West Conference and would have been successful ( ergo in the middle of the standings) in league. In addition, I believe Azusa could of competed for 1st or 2nd place in the Big West. Even the mid-level teams such as Point Loma Fresno Pacific, and Biola could have competed with Cal Poly and Cal State Fullerton. I also think Azusa and would have fared well in the PAC-10 and Concordia could have challenged Stanford or Washington. When compared to the West Coast Conference (WCC) Here too I think 2 or 3 teams GSAC teams could have competed in the WCC with Azusa challenging for first place. Of course I also believe that the top Division II schools such as Cal State Dominquez and Cal State Bakersfield would have been in the middle of the pack in any of the west coast D1 leagues as well. What does is all mean, at least here in the west coast there is a lot of good soccer being played at the NAIA and Division II level with the added boost that most of the player being American.
Most players in the NAIA are American, but the more talented ones (sans-West coast) are foreign. In California, there are a lot of players period, and a lot of good ones as well.
competed for 1st or 2nd in the big west? I know our conference isnt that strong but csun and ucsb can be considered top 20 in the nation... I really dont think azusa would be challenging for the conference title...
Perhaps I was overzealous but APU did play UCSB in the spring and it was a draw. In addition, CSUN and APU did share a common player (sophomore transfer - forward), although he was not a starter for either team.
the spring games mean nothing trust me and i know the player ur talking about, but that is one player not 11... a bit overzealous but im sure they are a quality team none the less
I wouldn't be surprised if Azusa loses their head coach in a year. He's an alum of Wheaton College (IL) and their long time coach announced his retirement for after next season. he's developed a really good program at Azusa but I could see him going back to IL for this position.