2019 Season in Review- COD Men's Soccer
The complete list of All-Inland Empire Athletic Conference honorees can be found HERE
Under the tutelage of third-year head coach Enrique Cardenas, the #11 seeded Roadrunners Men's Soccer team ended the 2019 season claiming their 6th Conference championship and the inaugural Inland Empire Athletic Conference (IEAC) Coach of the Year award.
Cardenas was awarded, for the second consecutive season, as Coach of the Year finishing the regular season, with a 10-10-2 overall record and a 5-3 conference record, wrapping up the regular season winning 6 of their final 8 games. They were rewarded with the 11 seed in the Southern California Regional Playoffs.
This past season represented a series of firsts in program history: facing College of the Canyons, Bakersfield and Irvine Valley, which included a first ever wins over Bakersfield and Santa Ana. Along with these firsts in program history, some impressive "first in a long time" events also occured, including: knocking off Chaffey for the first time since 2013, defeating San Bernardino Valley for the first time since 2008 and grabbing a win from Taft for the first time since 1999.
On the field, sophomore forward Alejandro Pimentel (Thermal Desert Mirage) started 19 of 21 games for Desert, winning the IEAC Most Valuable Player award. Pimentel was 5th in the state in shots taken, with 54 shots, shared the team lead in goals with eight and led the team with five assists. He had a multi-goal game at Southwestern on August 27. This is the second consecutive Conference MVP award for Pimentel, who won the award last season for the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference-North Division.
Named first team all-IEAC was sophomore goal keeper Uriel Lopez (Palm Desert H.S.), who finished in the top 15 in the state in save percentage and saves per game. Securing an .848 save percentage and a 5.60 saves per game in Conference play. Lopez also logged in the most time in the net with 877 minutes and was top 50 in the state with 47 saves overall.
Also named first team all-IEAC was sophomore midfielder Lucas Rosales (La Quinta H.S.) who started 14 of 19 games and finished the season with 19 points and sharing the team lead in goals (8) with Pimentel. Rosales had multi goal games against Cuyamaca, on September 17 and Irvine Valley, on September 24, both contests were at home.
Also named first team all-IEAC was sophomore midfielder Jose Reyes (Cathedral City H.S.) and sophomore midfielder Jonathan Zambrano (Thermal Coachella Valley). Reyes started in 17 of 19 games and scored the game winning goal at Rio Hondo on September 20.
Named second team all-IEAC was freshman forward Leyver Guzman (Cathedral City H.S.) is top 50 in the state with 26 shots, grabbing four assists and nailing two game winning goals, at Southwestern on August 27 and at Victor Valley on October 25.
Also named second team all-IEAC was freshman defender Ivan Roman (Rancho Mirage H.S.), freshman defender Dan Sanchez (Rancho Mirage H.S.) and freshman defender Vincenzo Costaglolia (Palm Springs H.S.).
Named Honorable Mention all-IEAC was freshman midfielder Emmanuel Muñoz (La Quinta H.S.) and freshman defender Jason Teran (La Quinta H.S.).
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For additional information, please contact the COD Sports Information Office at 760.423.6641.
Information and Photos provided by COD Sports Information. Story by Natalie Avila (COD Sports Information Office).