Aug. 25, 2005
SAN DIEGO - As part of the 2005 SDSU Opening Week festivities, fans of Aztecs athletics will be able to chat with student-athletes and coaches about the upcoming season. Representatives of each fall sport will be in attendance during the week of Aug. 29-Sept. 2 to answer your questions live.
Click on the link at goaztecs.com to submit a question and be sure to chat with SDSU student-athletes and coaches on their respective date and time.
On Monday at 1 p.m., senior co-captain and 2004 Mountain West Conference Player of the Year Alexis Solovij and second-year head coach Dr. Mike Giuliano will be on hand to discuss any questions you have about the team. Solovij, who earned all-MWC first team honors for the second straight season in 2004, anchored the defense which surrendered only three goals in MWC play. Head coach Mike Giuliano enters his second season with the Aztecs after guiding Westmont College to four NAIA titles in his final five years at the school. In his 12 years of coaching at the NAIA and NCAA levels, he has never had a losing season. The squad, which is coming off their most successful season since 1999, returns 12 letterwinners from a year ago and brings in the 19th-ranked recruiting class in the nation, according to SoccerBuzz.
Assistant cross country coach Jennifer Nanista will chat live with fans at 2 p.m. Tuesday in preparation for the team's first meet of the season at the Fullerton Invitational. Nanista is entering her 13th season as assistant coach at SDSU after spending four years running for the Aztecs. One of the best middle distance runners to ever wear the scarlet and black, she finished second in the 800 meters at both the 1989 and 1990 Big West Conference championships. With senior all-MWC second-team selection Christal Cuadra back for her final season and a complimentary cast of able runners, the 2005 squad looks to be its deepest in many years.
At 11 a.m. Wednesday, fans will have the opportunity to chat live with volleyball head coach Mark Warner. Warner enters his 11th season at the helm, amassing an 161-147 (.523) career record at SDSU. The 2002 MWC co-Coach of the Year, Warner has led his teams to three NCAA appearances, including a trip to the round of 16 in 1995. With five starters back from an inexperienced 2004 squad, which started three freshmen, a pair of transfers from Ohio State and Missouri, and its deepest team in many years, the Aztec volleyball team could make some noise in the competitive MWC.
On Thursday at 1 p.m., men's head soccer coach Lev Kirshner will discuss the upcoming 2005 season with the Aztec fans. Kirshner has brought SDSU men's soccer back to the national spotlight in his sixth season with a top-40 recruiting class and spot in the powerful Pac-10 Conference. Kirshner guided the U.S. Maccabiah soccer team to a silver medal at Maccabiah Games this past summer and hopes to lead SDSU to its seventh NCAA birth in 2005. The Aztecs return 10 letterwinners and seven starters from a young 2004 team and bring in the 39th-ranked recruiting class, according to collegesoccernews.com.
At 2 p.m. Friday, sophomore Lynell Hamilton and senior Kurt Kahui will take questions from Aztec football fans in preparation for Saturday's showdown with UCLA. One of the most decorated recruits in nearly two decades, Hamilton lived up to the hype by producing the best rookie season by an Aztec since Marshall Faulk, running for 1,087 yards in 10 games. However, a late injury to his ankle in 2003 caused him to miss the whole 2004 season. Hamilton has looked impressive in fall camp and is a preseason MWC first-team selection. The team's fourth-leading tackler and one of SDSU's most active defenders, Kahui will be one of the team leaders on the defensive side of the ball in 2005. A native of Wailuku, Hawaii, Kahui finished 2004 with 25 tackles, including 15 solo stops.