Head of the class

Raul Yepez thought he would be playing professional soccer this year.

The Pacifica High graduate trained for many teams and was given offers to sign contracts. But Yepez decided he wanted to get an education.

By choosing to attend Cal Lutheran, Yepez became a trailblazer on two fronts.

The striker is the first from his family to attend a four-year university and the first player from Pacifica to play on the CLU men's soccer team.

"It am just so excited to go to school and get a career," said Yepez, whose parents work at a factory in Camarillo. "I am the first one, so it is something special you know."

Yepez is the centerpiece of a talented recruiting class that CLU hopes will buoy its chances of capturing a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title this season.

The Kingsmen get off to an early start by hosting Johnson and Wales (R.I.) today at 2:30 p.m.

CLU coach Dan Kuntz heavily pursued Yepez, and finally convinced him to take a tour of CLU's Thousand Oaks campus.

Yepez, a 4.0 student at Pacifica, was impressed with the surroundings and the school's academic and athletic accommodations.

"He has some magic," Kuntz said. "Most freshmen need time to gain strength to deal with the speed of play and the physical part. But if he can cope with that and get himself settled in school and feel good about his environment, he can definitely do some things for us."

CLU finished 9-9-1 last season, and barely managed to extend the program's 18-year streak of a winning conference record. The Kingsmen finished fifth in the SCIAC at 7-6-1.

Although Josh Moskowitz and Kai Werring graduated, the Kingsmen return veterans on offense in senior Ryan McDermott, junior Matt Fernandez and junior Jorge Martinez while junior Ryan Dosh and senior Alex Tragos headline the defense.

Dosh and junior midfielder Robbie Spangler have been named team captains.

Along with Yepez, freshmen Ross Taira-Kuehu, Lucas Kurzon, Matsuo Kunimitsu and goalkeeper Chris Holm could make immediate contributions.

"We didn't lose too many starters, so we have a lot of experience on the field and coach did an incredible job recruiting this year," said Spangler, a Thousand Oaks High graduate. "We have some good talent and it should be a good year for us."

Despite not having much time to prepare, Spangler thinks the early start to the season can benefit the Kingsmen.

"I personally like it because it takes a lot of pressure off to get one out of the way right off the bat," Spangler said. "There can be a lot of hype built up if you are waiting and you don't know what it is really like until you play a game. To play right away let's us know where we are at and what we need to work on."

The Kingsmen endured three-a-day practices last week in high temperatures to hasten their preparation. But McDermott expected the conditions to foster continuity.

"We need to develop friendships because it is hard at the beginning when you don't really know anybody and all the new freshmen are scared to talk to anybody else," said McDermott, who scored a team-high 11 goals last year. "I think that is a lot bigger of a factor than many people think and once everyone becomes comfortable with each other it really helps."

By the second day of practice last week, Yepez already felt right at home.

"They are good players and really nice people," Yepez said. "I really appreciate what they do. They don't put you down if you do something wrong."

While Yepez is just beginning his college career, McDermott's will be over in just a few months. CLU hasn't reached the NCAA Tournament in 11 years, and the senior feels an urgency to end that drought.

"That has been my goal the last three years, and this is my last year to actually do it," McDermott said. "It would nice if they could say, ‘Here you go Ryan,' and we could get there."

--- Published in the Ventura County Star on Sept. 1, 2009