National Champions. State Champions.
El Camino College celebrated the near-perfect season of the Men’s Soccer team with a motorcade around campus on Thursday, Feb. 15.
“Today was just so fun, to have that experience for these guys, there are not many times you’re going to win a National Championship,” men’s soccer coach Michael Jacobson said.
The 2023 national and state champions rode a fire truck from the El Camino Fire Academy escorted by police, showing off their state championship trophy as the campus community cheered for its soccer team.
“Being able to enjoy like we have, especially when you have a group like we have, they are just so fun,” the coach said. “They have tons of character, everyone knows how to have a great time and this was a great final kind of celebration.”
Students, faculty and staff showed up across the parade path which started at the Student Services Plaza and ended at the Warrior Plaza near the Gymnasium.
Finishing the season with a streak of 22 straight wins, the team’s almost flawless 24-1 record put them in the Warriors history books.
“It’s a really nice thing to show for the athletics team, for a team that hasn’t won something in a good while,” men’s soccer assistant coach Steven Barrera said on having a parade for the team.
The Warriors broke records all season including ending a 31-year championship drought and becoming first-time national champions for soccer for El Camino College.
The team is only the second team in Warriors history to earn the distinction of being national champions since 1987.
The Warriors’ defense played a big part in their route to state and national champions by not allowing a goal in any of their seven playoff games, going 28-0 goal differential on that run.
“We’re one of the positions that’s very unforgiving and we have to be the guys that are almost perfect,” Barrera said about the defense.
Barrera said the defense’s success comes from sticking to basics. “A lot of it attests to doing the simple things, not having to overcomplicate things and making what we do as simple and easy as we can.”
Midfielder Larry Valle credits team captain Nicholas Baltazar as the commander of the defense.
“The system we play is a good system, our defense is very strong, our captain [Baltazar] was the commander of the defense so we would listen to him,” Valle said.
Jacobson and assistant coaches Barrera, Miguel Sanchez and Richard Fernandez took home the honor of being named the National Coaching Staff of the Year by the United Soccer Coaches.
Jacobson and his staff have an 81-18-15 record in his five-year tenure so far.
“It’s special, one of a kind,” Jacobson said. “To know that we are the number one team in the whole country is an unbelievable feeling.”
The record-breaking coach said the players will remember their run to the final for the rest of their lives. “They will tell their kids this story that will be with them forever.”
The Warriors’ dominance extended off the field, sweeping all four individual awards on the All-SCC South Division Team: offensive, defensive, and goalkeeper players of the year.
Four players also earned spots on each of the first and second teams.
“It feels amazing for our team, and just for ourselves and the school, bringing a national title is a big accomplishment and we’re glad we were able to bring it home to El Camino,” Valle said.
