The Roughrider’s soccer team is kicking off the year with sixteen newcomers to the program.

 

“Getting to know your teammates,” is a big part of the pre-season says Fabrice Kalala, a returning sophomore defender. Head Coach Mike Pantalione has seven returning players and the freshmen, “bring a new style and personality.” Only having students for two years, makes teammate development more important.  

According to Kalala, the team is very privileged to have so much history within the teams 20 years.  

Joel Mitchell, freshman defender, feels that the incoming freshmen need to, “fill some big shoes,” with last year’s team being undefeated.  

“The players understand the history and tradition,” says Pantalione. History is very important to the players as well as the fans.  

“…the incoming freshmen need to, ‘fill some big shoes.’”

The team really enjoys home games. “Home games are definitely better,” says Kalala, “Ken Lindley has a lot more history,” than the amphitheater.  

“First thing is first this league is very difficult,” says Pantalione.  He is thinking towards the next games rather than looking to win another national championship.  You can make it to nationals if you don’t make it past your league.  

Yavapai College has won the past 20 Arizona Conference Titles. Yavapai College’s soccer team has only been around 20 years. Pantalione is going for number 21 with the hopes of winning this year’s title, according to Pantalione.

Yavapai College has earned itself the nation’s best winning percentage at 92.7 percent, with the overall record of 443-29-13 and a home game record of 211-6-1, according to statistics prior to this season.  

The soccer team has won the National Junior College Athletic Association seven times that includes winning the past two years, according to Pantalione.

Yavapai College has been ranked in the National Poll every week since 1990, being ranked number one 75 times. 

The Roughrider soccer team has had 97 All-Region players and 44 All-American players over the past 20 years, including 4 National Players of the Year. 

Yavapai College has had 8 players and 2 coaches inducted into the NJCAA Soccer Hall of Fame, which is the most in all of the NJCAA. The two newest inductees are Kevin Jeffery and Matt Kirkpatrick and will be officially honored at the NJCAA Division One National Tournament Soccer Banquet in Trenton, New Jersey on Wednesday, Nov. 18, according to goroughriders.com.

Keeping up a record like this isn’t easy, it takes a lot of recruiting and practice to work together as a team, according to Pantalione.

On August 29 the Yavapai College Soccer team lost their first game in 33 games, with a 2-1 defeat against Chandler/Gilbert Community College. This is the second time in Yavapai College soccer history that the team has lost its opener game, according to goroughriders.com.

On Sept. 5 the Roughriders won 6-0 over Paradise Valley Community College in Paradise Valley. David Malloy, Rodolfo Godinez and Greg Gilmer each scored two goals and one assist.  Gabriel Okito, Ryan Fuertsch and Vince Martin got one assist. This win kept the teams record of never losing a back-to-back game in the 21 years of the program. 

 On Sept. 7 the Roughriders won 1-0 against Mesa Community College Thunderbirds. Rodolfo Godinez scored the only goal during the first half. This game was their Prescott Valley home opener, giving them a 20-1 in home opener games over the past 21 years. This win also continued the Roughriders undefeated streak at their Prescott Valley field, 28-0-0, according to goroughriders.com.

Photos by Frances Karl