The Junior Varsity Soccer team is destined once again this year to have a successful season. Led by Bill Ayoub and Thrasos Papadopoulos on offense,
Feliciano Hernandez and Leslie DeLeon in the middle of the field, along with Fernando Ochoa and Mike Galligan on defense, the "Mini-Dons" should prove to be more than enough competition for their opponents.
At one point during the regular season, the Hilltoppers had reeled off eight consecutive shutouts — a real credit to Negoesco's European style defense. The players who made the defense click were mid fielders Edgar Sagustume, Lorenzo Cumplido and John Micklewright and defensemen Pancho Ruiz, Chuy Bracamontes, Al Werner, and the scrappy Mike Galligan. The backbone of this tenacious defensive unit was the goalie combination of Bill Rapp and Steve Carvajal who between them, minded relatively clean goals.
The big question this fall at USF is not whether or not the football team can win a game but rather if the soccer Dons can repeat as WCISC and Western Regional champions. In short, can the Dons earn for themselves another Christmas week trip to Miami and the Orange Bowl? Looking at the question objectively, one must ascertain that the prospects are indeed high. Steve Negoesco has done a tremendous recruiting job and has brought some fantastic international soccer talent to the Don domain. Of course, one must realize that much was lost from 1971s astounding team which breezed all the way to the West Coast Intercollegiate Soccer Conference crown. Gone are record-breaking forwards Alex Roboostoff and Hans Friesen—both now playing professional soccer. Thus Negoesco has a major task confronting him in rebuilding the offensive punch of the forwards. Then there is the case of the defensive wall or fullbacks. The 1971 unit of Al Werner, Mike Galligan, Pancho Ruiz and Chuy Bracamontes has completely departed leaving a tremendous void to fill (TheFoghorn).
Â
