San Jose Continue Undefeated Record at Cal Poly

(credit Gopoly.com)

Although originally forecasted to be a sunny seventy degree day, the Central Coast Showcase ended up having a more, "European" feel, due to a light mist and fog that were present for the entirety of the game. The match was played on Friday, February 10th, at Alex G. Spanos Stadium. The San Jose Earthquakes took on the Colorado Rapids for the second consecutive year at Cal Poly, with 2,422 fans in attendance.

Colorado opened the scoreline in the 13th minute after Omar Cummings was played a high long ball to a streaking Castrillón. Castrillón controlled the ball out of the air, positioned himself with two touches, and easily slotted home a goal in a 1-on-1 situation with the keeper. San Jose maintained a majority of control during the first half, and capitalized off of a corner kick from Marvin Chavez. Khari Stephenson got his head onto the end of it and redirected the cross into the goal. The first half ended with both teams level at 1.

Quakes and Rapids to play in MLS Central Coast Showcase

The San Jose Earthquakes will be traveling south this February to play a match in San Luis Obispo. The Quakes will be facing the Colorado Rapids in what has become an event known as the  MLS Central Coast Showcase. This is the second consecutive year of the event, and the forth time that the Quakes have played a match at Cal Poly's Alex G. Spanos Stadium.

The first showcase was held in 2008, and the first match featured the Quakes playing against the Columbus Crew, where they won 2-1. San Jose also played DC United to a nil-nil draw in the same event. Last year the Colorado Rapids made the journey out west, but were bested by the Quakes 1-0. The Quakes have yet to lose at this event, and are looking for another win on February 10th.

2012 Supplemental Draft: Success for Big West Conference

After the Big West conference saw two alumni picked fourth and sixth overall in the 2012 MLS Super Draft, many Big West Soccer fans were excited to see how the draft would play out.  However, Jacob Hustedt  (who played 3 years at Cal Poly before transferring to Washington)  was the only other player drafted with any Big West affiliation. The Super Draft concluded with Creighton and Louisville tied with 4 draftees apiece, double that of the Big West conference. With the Super Draft finished, the hopes of remaining players rested on the Supplemental Draft.


This year's Supplemental Draft consisted of 4 rounds for a total of 76 picks, and followed the format of the Super Draft. Teams aren't limited to combine players during the draft, and have the option to draft eligible college players during this time as well. This is what makes the Supplemental Draft more interesting to some, its unpredictability.

Combine Preview

The combine, for those of you who may not know, is mainly composed of college seniors who have promising talent. They are invited to a camp, placed on teams, and then play a few games for MLS scouts to watch. Patrick Sigler, Cal Poly SLO, has received  an invite, and I wish him the best of luck. I would love to see SLO produce some MLS quality players in the near future. Gauchos Sam Garza and Luis Silva of UCSB look like definite picks for the draft, but Sigler is more of a question mark. He's had some good performances this season but doesn't have the same name recognition that his conference rivals possess. Sigler does have one thing that scouts won't have trouble recognizing, his size.

Best of luck to all the boys going in from the Big West (even those dirty gauchos). It was fun seeing Boxal's familiar face on tv this past MLS season, and I smile a little bigger when Sean Franklin (CSUN) scores. Hopefully Big West Soccer continues to produce great talent and has an even better showing at the combine this year.

Cheers!