Men’s Soccer: First Season was Major Success

By Dakota Hallaway

Men’s soccer at College of Southern Nevada rejoices after a successful first season.

CSN added soccer to the athletics programs’ line up this year to ride the excitement of the sport especially in light of the growing Hispanic demographic at the College and in the City.

A fruitful and well-played season with a rousing record of 16 wins, six losses and two ties, according to team statistics, set the Coyotes men’s soccer team off to a great start.

Geoffrey Hawkins, head men’s soccer coach for the Coyotes, said, “I feel fantastic about our record and our results on and off the field. We are a first-year program and had all freshman with the exception of one sophomore. We overachieved and have set the bar very high for all the classes that will follow.”

“This year’s program had a very strict and regimented mentality,” Hawkins said. “We did not have any returning players to show the new guys what was expected, so we had to build the program’s culture from scratch. But ultimately we had a core group emerge with the right attitude it takes to win at this level.”

The team’s stellar record qualified it to play for the 2016 Region 18 Scenic West Athletic Conference. Its success led the team to play for the Western District title, according to the team’s webpage, as the only unranked team in the tournament and it won. That led the Coyotes to compete in the National Junior College Athletic Association’s national tournament. The team sadly lost that game.

CSN engineering student and mid-fielder for the team Manuel Jahuey couldn’t help but feel thrilled for the team’s hard-earned results this season.

“Not many people believed that a first-year program would do things we are doing now,” Jahuey said. “And with most of the team being freshman no one was thinking we would make it to the national tournament. I’m proud to be a part of this team and its success.”

CSN student and soccer fan Charles LaRocca is excited to have a home team on campus. “It would be nice to see the team get more attention around the school.”

“I hope our fan base grows and I believe it will as more people within the community learn about the benefits of our program,” Hawkins said. “I expect our athletes to give their best in the classroom, on the field and to give back to the community, which has given them so much.”

For more information on CSN’s Men’s Soccer, please visit http://www.csncoyotes.com/.