Scorpion soccer accepts high expectations

By ROY HESS
The Brownsville Herald

Coach Dan Balaguero knows expectations will be even higher when the men's soccer team at the Uni-versity of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College begins its second season in August.

Balaguero said he feels upbeat about the program because of the team's productive spring semester workouts plus the recent addition of some talented recruits.

The Scorpions return seven starters from the 2007 squad that went 14-5-1 and won Red River Athletic Conference regular-season and conference tournament titles. UTB-TSC advanced to the Region VI Tour-nament before ending the season just short of qualifying for the NAIA nationals.

UTB-TSC finished ranked third in Region VI, which is a traditionally strong region for NAIA men's soccer.

"It's been about 18 months that I've been here now, and I'm still really enjoying it," Balaguero said. "Ob-viously, everyone's expecting us to do well again, which we know we need to do. It's great to be in an area where there's a tremendous passion for soccer. The players love playing at home, and I do, too.

"The long-term goal is to win a national championship, and obviously, the next step for us is to get to the (NAIA) national tournament," he added. "We need to improve every year. The block (expectation) was set pretty high last year, and I believe we can go a little bit further in the coming season."

Balaguero listed his returning starters as Juan Gamboa at goalkeeper, Fernando Mendoza at forward, Ricky Rodriguez in the midfield plus defenders Dave Purser, James McCarron, Antonio Vernaschi and Rogelio "Chino" Perez.

Other players expected back who Balaguero said were also contributors last season include midfielder Brian Hardie, goalkeeper Ruben Hernandez, forward Enrique "Chicle" Rivera and defender Cristian Sierra.

Central defender Darren O'Connor transferred to UTB-TSC at mid-semester and also should be a key contributor next season, Balaguero said.

Other new recruits joining the squad include forward Liam Taylor of England, center midfielder Steve Howard of England, outside midfielder Evans Frimpong of Ghana, midfielder Jose Galvan of San Benito and step-brothers Omar Mendoza Jr. and Carlos Manuel Pehr of Oregon, who are both forwards.

Balaguero said Howard is expected to step into the center midfielder position vacated by Mark McCormick, who graduated.

He said spring workouts went quite well as the players were challenged to make a commitment to the team by regularly attending early morning workouts.

"We made it very clear that ‘If you don't like it here or you're not disciplined enough to show up at the workouts, then you might as well leave,' but the guys responded tremendously well," Balaguero said. "I'm really happy with our group of guys. The spring's been great for us. I feel we're much closer as a group. Now we know who wants to be here and who doesn't."

During the spring semester, the Scorpions defeated Texas A&M International University in Laredo 3-1 in an exhibition match.

The Scorpions will be holding a tryout camp on Friday and Saturday for graduating high school seniors at Morningside Park in Brownsville. The camp runs from 4-7 p.m. Friday and 8-11 a.m. Saturday. The fee to participate in the camp is $50.
Balaguero said the team is hoping to sign a few more players to bolster the squad before Aug. 11, when the Scorpions open fall workouts.
"The big challenge for us is that everyone kind of knows about us now," Balaguero said. "No one (as far as our opponents) was really expecting too much from us in our first year. Now we're going to have a target on our backs, especially at the conference level."

For more information about the camp, call Balaguero at 372-9099.