Men's Soccer
It's the kind of domination that could only happen in Coyote Country: LTCC's men's
soccer team had an incredible second season in 2015, capturing the Golden Valley Conference
championship for the second time and earning its first-ever state Final Four appearance!
The men finished ranked #7 in the entire country, according to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
Thanks to an overwhelming response springing out of last year's success, the men's
team had a lot of talent to work with in 2015 - more than any other community college
in the country. Over 90 athletes came for tryouts, with about 60 players coming from
countries outside the United States. But it was South Lake Tahoe's own Carlos Trujeque
who garnered a lot of the attention this season, and with good reason: the South Tahoe High graduate was the #2 field player in California. Carlos also won the MVP and Offensive Player of the Year awards from the Golden
Valley Conference, then followed that up by being selected to the All-State Team and
to the All-America Second Team for Men's Junior College Division III. Other standouts in 2015 were forward Jerrell Cato (London, England), who finished
the regular season as the #10 field player in the state, and tough-as-nails Coyote keeper Victor Andrades (Las Vegas, NV), who was the #8 keeper in California. Last but not least, men's head soccer coach Nick Arbelaez finished in third place
for Community College Coach of the Year voting for the entire country.
After an amazing playoff run, the men's team headed to the state's Final Four, where they lost 1-0 to the eventual 2015 champion, Oxnard College. While the Coyote men fell just short of their goal of winning the state championship, their tremendous success will pave the way for another outstanding season in 2016!
A Winning Strategy: the Coyote men's team took on some of the toughest, highest-ranked colleges in California during its pre-season, and the results speak for themselves. By taking on top-shelf teams like Hartnell and Cerritos, the Coyotes mentally prepared themselves for the in-conference challenges to come. And with all the talent on campus to choose from, LTCC had terrific options, and won the Golden Valley Conference Championship once again!