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Dons among NorCal best in soccer
De Anza men, women win conference titles
By Dick Sparrer
There are junior colleges out there that boast strong programs in women's soccer.
There are other JCs that possess strong programs in men's soccer.
But out at De Anza Community College, it's just a little different ... because they can make both claims.
De Anza has proven once again to rank among the best in Northern California in both men's and women's soccer, each team winning a Coast Conference division title to advance to NorCal play.
Both De Anza teams went two games into postseason competition before losing to face elimination. It meant a NorCal Top 8 finish for each squad.
The De Anza women opened the Northern California playoffs with a 4-0 win over Las Positas before losing 2-1 to Santa Rosa to fall out of the field.
The De Anza men, meanwhile, blanked Chabot 1-0 before losing 2-0 to Cañada to wrap up the season.
And what a season it's been for both De Anza teams.
De Anza Women
The women's team at De Anza completed an outstanding 20-3 season that included a NorCal win and a Coast Conference North Division championship.
The Dons posted an impressive 17-0 record in the conference and went 10-0 to claim the North Division title for the second straight year.
Coach Cheryl Owiesny led her squad into the NorCal playoffs, and the Dons opened up with the 4-0 win over Las Positas.
Tracy Hess, the conference leader in both goals scored and individual points, knocked in three goals and added an assist to lead the Dons to the win over Las Positas. Beatriz Solorio also scored a goal and Jenny Skinner and Katie Slivinske had assists.
Only Avygail Austria could manage a goal, though, in De Anza's 2-1 loss to Santa Rosa in the final game of the season.
Hess, Austria and goalkeeper Marie Gutto were all conference leaders for the Dons in their championship season.
Hess topped the circuit with 34 goals and, together with her 10 assists (fifth in the league), she finished with 78 points to lead the conference in that category as well.
Slivinske also figured among the league's top 10 in both categories, finishing eighth in both goals (13) and points (34 on 13 goals, eight assists). Skinner was 10th in the league in goals scored with 10.
Austria led the conference with 18 assists. De Anza's Melissa Resendez was ninth with nine assists and Danielle Atwood was 10th with eight assists.
Gutto topped all 'keepers with an average for 0.09 goals allowed for the year. The freshman goalkeeper allowed just one goal and registered 30 assists in 1,043 minutes in the net. Teammate Annette Rodriguez, also a freshman, was second in goals allowed average (0.18 in 487 minutes--one goal allowed, four saves).
Sophomores Diana Ridway and Danielle Harvick and freshmen Kimya Milaninia, Amy Telles and Stacy Vinyard also figured among the scoring leaders for the Dons this season.
Ridway ran up 18 points (5 goals, 8 assists), and Harvick (6/4) and Milaninia (7/2) had 16 points apiece. Telles (7/0) and Vinyard (6/2) had 14 points each.
Elizabeth Alvarez, Danielle Boulger, Crystal Corcoran, Dezi Corey, LaKenya Evans, Nicole Garcia, Helena Gloria, Gutto, Carianne Skinner and Liz Tocce also figured in the scoring for the Dons.
De Anza rolled to 17 straight wins in conference play, and at one point put together a 12-game win streak that included 11 shutouts. The season started with a tight 1-0 loss to powerhouse American River in non-conference play, and ended with a 2-1 loss to state-ranked Santa Rosa in another non-conference game.
De Anza Men
The De Anza men, meanwhile, wrapped up an impressive 14-6-2 campaign.
The Dons opened NorCal with the 1-0 win over Chabot. Sophomore co-captain Jacob Kovacs knocked in the game's lone goal off an assist from Cesar Sanchez, another soph co-captain. The second-half goal was all the Dons needed to secure the win.
But De Anza fell victim to Cañada a game later, and lost 2-0 to finish up the year.
De Anza allowed just 21 goals in 22 games this season while scoring 51. The Dons recorded nine shutouts on the year.
Kovacs was the team's scoring leader with eight goals and five assists for 21 points, and sophomore Yaser Khalil was close behind with six goals and eight assists for 20 points.
Freshman A.J. Palsgrove (Bellarmine) supported with 19 points on seven goals and five assists, and Sanchez put together a couple of goals with a team-high 11 assists for 15 points.
Tomi Mateoc, another sophomore co-captain, finished the year with 12 points (4 goals, 4 assists), sophomore Nobuaki Tomine (Saratoga) had 11 points (5/1), Adam Soldofsky 10 points (3/4), Kyle Holland nine points (4/1) and Minerhiro Hosaka eight points (3/2).
Others figuring in the scoring for the Dons this fall with either a goal or an assist were Angel Calderon, Philip Sousa, Smith Cheregosha, Jared Chandler, Russell Ortiz (Prospect), Albert Souza, Mauricio Silva, David Common, Garrett Thrasher, Juan-Carlos Cortez, Matt Newton, Bentley Peabody and Jared Racz.
Racz led the De Anza defensive effort in the goal, allowing just 12 goals and registering 61 saves in 1,250 minutes in the net. Robert Avalos supported with 27 saves and just five goals allowed in 445 minutes.
The squad was coached by Kulwant Singh and his coaches were Colin Lindores, Adriano Toni and Jeff Panos.
De Anza's longest winning streak of the year was six games that included shutout wins over West Valley and Cabrillo. A tie against San Francisco and another shutout win over West Valley stretched that to an unbeaten string of eight games.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
