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With a large number of players trying out this year for the PCC soccer teams, PCC Assistant Head Coach Warren Altounian anticipates a more productive season with most of the improvement on the women’s team.With only six or seven returning players this year, both men’s and women’s soccer will be vamped up with fresh new players.

Those who make it on the team will be joined by returning sophomores James Hernandez and Jorge Sainz for the men’s team, and Melissa Fudge and Alexa Weigand for the women’s team.

Hernandez scored a team high 12 goals and also had a team leading 28 points throughout the 2008 season. Sainz split time as the team’s goalie, where he amassed 1,820 game minutes and had a 146 saves in 34 games started. Both sophomores are expected to assume the leadership role in the 2009 season.

Weigand was initially expected to be one of the team’s key player, but due to an injury she missed most of the 2008 season.

Fudge was the leading scorer with a team high 18 goals and also had a team leading 42 points throughout the 2008 season. In addition to being the star player in the women’s soccer team, she also had a role on PCC’s 2009 State Champion women’s basketball team, according to Altounian.

The 2008 record for the men’s soccer team was 15-6-1, and 10-8-1 for the women’s.

With the men’s soccer team placing third at the Southern California Regional Playoffs and the women’s placing fourth in the South Coast Conference last year, Altounian hopes for a good season. “We will try to hold the ball more, since we played more defensive last year, so this year we want to play more offensive and score more games,” Altounian said.

“[The women] will be much better this year, because last year there weren’t many members,” Altounian said.

The number of female players trying out this year has risen greatly compared to the preceding years. “[Women are] trying out from Cherif Zein’s club, some just out of high school, and even a [player] from Idaho and another from South Carolina,” said Altounian.

Cherif Zein is the director of the men’s and women’s soccer team, and many players practice on his club team during the off season.

He revealed that yet another advance for the women’s team this season is that those trying out from Cherif Zein’s club have played together. “They are more technical since they know how to play with each other,” he said.

Despite the rise in the number of women trying out this year, it is still only a small fraction compared to the number of men trying out.

“Like always, it’s going to be easier for the [women] trying out to make it in the team, since there aren’t many returning female players and there aren’t as many [women] trying out as men”.

Out of the estimated 60 players trying out, Altounian emphasized the competitive drive of the players trying out, and stated that so far only about 10 has what it takes to make the cut.

“We competed against many of the best teams in the conference and placed in the top 10,” said Altounian.

About the upcoming season, he said: “Every game is a difficult game. They’re all going to be tough games, but I hope we have a better season.I look forward to seeing the [women] win”.

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