Aug. 23, 2002
SAN DIEGO - With the 2002 edition of the San Diego State men's soccer team, head coach Lev Kirshner is experiencing difficulties that would fulfill most coaches' dreams. His program returns 14 letterwinners and eight starters from a year ago, but consecutive blue-chip recruiting classes have provided the Aztecs a roster bursting with talented, versatile players that Kirshner must sort out and place into specific positions.
"One of the greatest strengths in this program right now is that every single player in the program is a good player," Kirshner said. "I couldn't tell you a starting line-up right now if I had to, but we've got tremendous depth in this program and there's a lot of players who are going to fight for starting jobs.
"I'd rather have the certainty of nine or 10 returning starters, but it's a good problem to have."
The San Diego State program continues to make great strides under the third-year head coach. After going 6-12-1 in 2000, the Aztecs improved to 7-9-4 while playing very competitively against a difficult schedule last season and are poised for a breakout year in 2002.
"The program's been getting better and better every year and I think we are ready for our breakout year this season because, most importantly, of the depth that we have in every position," Kirshner said. "We have finally come to a point where we don't feel there is a deficiency anywhere in the program and we have a couple of guys in each position that can fight for a starting job. And with that type of positive competition, there is no doubt that we are as strong as we've been since the early nineties."
The Aztecs lost Enrique Tovar's six goals and seven assists to graduation and Kevin Sapanli's eight goals and 19 points to the professional ranks, but the program has more than made up for it by recruiting quality depth. SDSU welcomes 13 talented newcomers to the fold in 2002, including 10 freshmen and three transfers.
But not only are the Aztecs extremely talented up-and-down the roster, they are also unified and focused on a return to the postseason.
This group of young men is tremendous to work with," Kirshner said. "Everyone in this program is on the same page and looking to change the program around and get into the NCAA tournament this year. And it's one of those things that everybody talks about, but when you really have the chemistry, you know that you're not just throwing words out there. It's really there."
The following is a position-by-position breakdown of the 2002 Aztecs.
Forward
This year's Aztec squad will have an excellent complement of forwards, as a pair of newcomers and a sophomore will see time up front with a couple of veteran strikers.
SDSU's top returning scorer is sophomore Eric Wohl, who is coming off a 17-point initial collegiate season. He made an immediate impact in the Aztec attack as a freshman by starting 15 of 19 matches played and scoring his first collegiate goal in the season's second game.
"Having six goals and five assists as a freshman is a tremendous season, and we just want to make sure that Eric continues on in his sophomore year and continues through his junior and senior years with improving on those totals," Kirshner said.
Junior Ryan Curtis spent his first two collegiate seasons filling a deficiency in the Aztec back line. But with SDSU having added talented depth at the defender position for 2002, Curtis was moved to his more natural position of forward in the spring and responded with an excellent showing.
"Ryan Curtis is coming into his own and will finally play a position that he's more natural in," Kirshner said. "He's played in the back basically because we've needed him there. With Ryan playing in the spring up top, he was by far our most productive striker and is showing his comfort level in a position he's more accustomed."
Another veteran in the mix at forward is senior Adam Kulpa, a transfer from Yavapai College who played a key reserve role for the Aztecs last season and saw action in 12 games.
The Aztec program was fortunate to find two talented freshman forwards late in the signing period, Raul Bautista and Matt Couch. The duo will create valuable depth and fight for a starting job up top.
"With Ryan being a junior, and Adam Kulpa being a senior, we're putting ourselves in a position to have both young and old up top, and that's a good combination," Kirshner said. "The old have a little bit more experience and the young will do the running for them because they don't know any better."
Midfield
The 2002 Aztecs are loaded with quality depth at every position, but perhaps the most impressive collection of talent is amassed in the central midfield. SDSU returns six players with successful experience at the position, so it's up to Kirshner to sort out who will play centrally and wide.
"Probably our biggest strength, along with goalkeeping, is central midfield and I mean that from player one on down to the last central midfielder," Kirshner said. "We have some tremendous talents and it is going to be devastatingly difficult to decide who will be our starter."
The veterans of the group are seniors Tyler Tinling and Travis Baker. As a testament to the central midfield depth, Tinling, whom Kirshner describes as the program's "Mr. Versatility" for his ability to play every position, may end up playing wide. The former all-conference pick will be counted on for leadership and scoring punch as one of the program's top three returning scorers.
Baker, a local product from Point Loma HS, played in only five games last year before he suffered a season-ending injury that came just after the redshirt deadline. Healthy again in 2002, Kirshner expects great things from him. "We need to make sure that Travis has a great year so that he gets the honors he deserves because I truly believe this is one of the best talents ever to come out of San Diego," Kirshner said.
Also in the fold: sophomore Paul Szefler, the only Aztec to play in every match last season; sophomore and former walk-on Pat Strait, whom Kirshner says "came out of nowhere" last season to start nine matches and tally 11 points; sophomore Nick Natale, a left-footer who played in 10 matches last season; sophomore Anthony Zoric, who possesses a great passing ability and offensive mind; and junior Chris Novak, a hard worker who saw time in 17 matches in 2001.
A welcome addition to the program is junior Kenny Fechner, who will probably play in one of the wide positions in either the midfield or back. During his two years with the program, the Yavapai College transfer played in every match including the NJCAA final four in 2000 and the national championship game in 2001. Says Kirshner: "Kenny provides us tremendous athleticism and speed as well as a winning attitude that he had at Yavapai."
Defender
"This is where we're happiest," Kirshner said. "We felt our biggest deficiencies were in the back last year and we made a concerted to effort to go and find players to fill those deficiencies."
And finding players is what the program did, as a transfer and four freshmen will join four incumbents to solidify the defender positions.
Senior co-captain Ryan Cook, a second team all-MPSF selection in 2001, will anchor the defense at the center back position. Returners joining Cook in the back: sophomore Jeff Whitton, who has recovered from an injury that forced him to redshirt in 2001 and who had an excellent spring; sophomore Drew Picone, who cracked the line-up in 16 of the last 17 matches last year; and senior Abraham Martinez, an all-MPSF academic selection who made 12 starts in 2001.
The Aztecs also receive experience at the defender position from Blake Perry, a transfer who competed against San Diego State in the MPSF while with Fresno State a year ago.
Other new additions to the program include four versatile freshmen who will most likely spend their initial collegiate seasons competing for playing time in the back. Nate Slesnick captained the nation's No. 1-ranked high school team, Bellarmine Prep, last year while Gabe Fett served as captain for the regional champion club team San Juan Force. The Aztecs also landed Derek Pickett, one of the top prep recruits out of Washington, and Dustin Puskar, a league MVP from Modesto.
"We did a great job in our recruiting of players that are very versatile players in general that could go in the back," Kirshner said.
Goalkeeper
No other position instills such pride in Kirshner as the recent success of the goalkeeping spot. The Aztecs' recent tradition begins with 1996-98 netminder Matt Hall, the program's all-time saves leader (213) who was one of 90 players and 15 goalkeepers invited to the prestigious adidas summer league in 1998. Now that Hall is in his third year as an Aztec assistant handling the duties of goalkeeping coach, SDSU is looking for its third all-conference goalkeeper in as many seasons following Tim Edwards' honors in 2001.
So who will the Aztecs look to in 2002 to keep that streak alive? None other than the 2000 all-conference goalkeeper selection, senior Brian Barnes.
Barnes began 2001 as the starting keeper before he was sidelined with an injury early in the campaign. Edwards stepped in admirably with an all-conference performance and kept the starting assignment even after Barnes recovered.
Despite some uncertainty about other starting positions in 2002, there is no question about the Aztecs' starting goalkeeping spot now that a healthy Barnes is back and poised to break the program's all-time saves mark. But in case of a repeat of last year's situation, there is plenty of depth behind Barnes ready to contribute.
Junior Colin Hanke, a transfer from Washington who redshirted in 2001, should assume the back-up position behind Barnes. A pair of newcomers, 6-foot-4-inch sophomore and Cal Poly transfer Mike Land and highly sought-after Arizona prep star Luke Burgess, further solidify the position and could redshirt their first season at SDSU.
"There's no doubt on the goalkeeping side - we're very happy with our starter," Kirshner said. "But more importantly, I've always said that you need at least two good keepers to make one great one. We believe that every keeper in our program could start at other Division I programs across the country. That's difficult, because there's only one position in goalkeeping, but it will make sure and ensure that these guys are training hard and sharp every single day. And you're going to see a couple of first-team all-conference keepers following Brian down the road, there's no doubt about it in my mind."
Schedule
"One of the first things that I wanted to accomplish when I was named head coach was to make our schedule more competitive and to play more national than simply regional opponents," Kirshner said. "We have seven top 20-caliber teams from last year on our schedule this year, so we've hit that goal.
"But in that same breath was to compete and beat these teams. And although we got started on that last year, it's not enough to get us where we want to be, and that is to be a national championship contender like we were in 1987 as well as six other times."
In 2002, the Aztecs face a 19-game regular season schedule that boasts six NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago, including perennial contenders UCLA and San Diego. Additionally, SDSU takes on conference foes Air Force and Denver, teams that appeared in the 2001 national rankings.
"It is critical now, especially with the RPI, to make sure that we put out a very, very good schedule that allows the opportunity to play against teams that would be fighting for NCAA bids," Kirshner said. "From the nationally competitive level, I don't know the last time that we've played a schedule that's as good as this from game one to game 19."
The schedule is much more balanced in 2002 than a year ago when the Aztecs played 13 home matches. Having to return some of those matches on the road leaves SDSU with 10 home appearances in 2002.
The Aztecs open the season on the road Aug. 30 at UC Riverside before beginning the home slate Sept. 2 vs. the first of four opponents from the West Coast Conference, St. Mary's. The Aztecs renew their rivalry with cross-town foe USD before returning to the SDSU Sports Deck for a three-game homestand that includes NAIA opponent Westmont College Sept. 14 followed by the two-day SDSU/USD Tournament Sept. 20-22 vs. IUPU-Indianapolis and Drake.
Following a three-game road trip that takes the Aztecs to CSU Northridge (Sept. 27), UCLA (Sept. 29) and UCSB (Oct. 4), SDSU plays five of its next seven October matches at home. This stretch begins with CSU Fullerton at the Sports Deck Oct. 6, followed by a trip to Santa Clara Oct. 10 for a match-up against the defending WCC champion Broncos. After an Oct. 16 home date with Loyola Marymount, the Aztecs open the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation schedule by hosting UNLV Oct. 18.
In 2001, the Aztecs finished league play with an above-.500 record for the first time since the program became affiliated with a conference in 1992. Last season's experience of being a victory from the MPSF regular season championship has SDSU primed to contend once again.
"I always believe that you have to be there first before you can win it," Kirshner said. "Last year, we were in the thick of it and a couple of things did not go our way, but we've learned from that and I feel that experience is going to carry through to this season and give us the greatest opportunity possible to win our league."
A trip to Albuquerque Oct. 20 to face New Mexico awaits the Aztecs before they host San Jose State Oct. 25 and CSU Sacramento Oct. 27. SDSU wraps up the conference slate with trips to Air Force (Nov. 1) and Denver (Nov. 3) before completing the regular season with a home date against Gonzaga Nov. 8.
The 2002 MPSF Championships, hosted by New Mexico Nov. 14-17, give the Aztecs an opportunity to avenge last season's first-round, penalty-kicks loss to UNLV after they came so close to a 2001 regular season title.
"Last year's experience let everybody in the program feel like we are capable of winning our league," Kirshner said. "And with the team being better this year, our goal is to win the league."