The Cal State Stanislaus men’s soccer program may not be new, having been around for more than three decades, but with all the new things around it, the 2009 squad might as well have been an expansion team.
The astounding thing, however, is that the team didn’t play this season like it was new, but rather that it had been together for three decades, piecing together one of the best seasons ever in the program’s history under brand-new head coach
Dana Taylor.
Individual and team records fell and the Warriors took the entire California Collegiate Athletic Association by surprise as they marched to an 11-6-2 record on the season and a second-place finish in the CCAA North Division with an 8-6-2 conference record.
The new 2,100-seat Warrior Stadium opened up for the 2009 season and brought some of the largest crowds Cal State Stanislaus and even the CCAA has ever seen for soccer. The Warriors set the CCAA men’s soccer attendance record of 888 fans averaged per game, and a total of 8,879 fans for the season.
Those crowds were sure to have helped, as the team finished with its best-ever home record since joining the CCAA in 1998 with an 8-1-1 mark. An incredible 1,796 fans watched the men defeat UC San Diego, 2-1, on Sept. 18. An average paid attendance of 888 fans supported Warriors soccer each and every home game this season.
Overall, 2009 was the Warriors’ winningest season during the CCAA era. It was the team’s first 10-plus-win season during the CCAA era, and it was its winningest season overall, since 1991 when that team went 11-5-1.
The team set a new CCAA-era (since 1998) record in assists (26) and broke the 11-year-old team points record (86) with 88 points in 2009. The Warriors were also ranked in the top-half of the conference in shots (295), total assists and assists per game (1.37).
Junior forward
Victor Regalado became one of the most exciting players in the CCAA, setting individual records and bringing home the program’s first conference player of the year award in 16 years. Regalado was named the CCAA Most Valuable Offensive Player after he led the conference in goals scored and led all players in points per game (1.75), goals per game (0.81) and game-winning goals (six). Edmon Khangaldian won the award in 1993 while the Warriors were members of the now-defunct Northern California Athletic Conference.
Regalado played in at least two less conference games (13) than most of the other leaders (15 or 16) and still led the CCAA in points (20), goals (nine), points per game (1.54) and goals per game (0.69) during conference games only.
Regalado set new Cal State Stanislaus CCAA-era single-season records for goals with 13 and points with 28. His single-season goals total has already placed him at No. 2 on the Warriors’ CCAA-era career list for goals, trailing Dennis Wolfe’s 14 scores from 2003 and 2005-07. He is just five points away from setting the CSUS career record in points, sitting in third right now behind Tony Amaral (33 points, 2002-05) and Wolfe (30 points).
Regalado ranked among the top 10 CCAA players in six offensive categories, including leading the conference in goals scored, goals per game (0.81) and points per game (1.75).
For all of his accomplishments, Regalado was then named to the Daktronics all-West Region first team by the region’s sports information directors. He is the program’s first first team all-region player since Albert Martins earned the NSCAA All-Far West Region honors in 2005.
Joining Regalado with all-conference honors in 2009 was Warrior freshman midfielder
Edgar Santana, who got a second-team nod, and sophomore goalkeeper
Javier Rosales, who received honorable mention.
Santana finished the season with four goals and three assists for 11 points in playing a key roll at midfield and forward. The freshman also had two game-winning goals for the Warriors. He was among the top five in shots taken with 58.
Rosales finished the season strong to earn CCAA Honorable Mention accolades after splitting time with freshman goalkeeper Steven Waite through the early part of the year and ended up having one of the best seasons ever as a goalkeeper at Cal State Stanislaus. Rosales would go on to set a new CCAA-era CSUS single-season record for saves percentage with a .819 clip. He cut his goals against average in half from 2008, going from 2.03 last year to 1.00 this season, which also set a new single-season CCAA-era record for Cal State Stanislaus.
The sophomore Rosales had 59 saves and four shutouts in 2009, which move his career totals in both categories to the top three in the CCAA-era at Cal State Stanislaus. His career 140 saves are third behind Jose "Mando" Herrera (2004-07, 287) and Matt Buckman (2001-02, 146). His seven career shutouts are second behind Herrera (20).
The Warriors marched through the CCAA North Division after being selected to finish second-to-last in the CCAA preseason coaches’ poll. They went 5-3-2 against CCAA North opponents, including a 1-0 upset over then-No. 8 Sonoma State at Warrior Stadium on Oct. 25. It was the Warriors’ first victory over the Seawolves in four years.
The Warriors split their six games against CCAA South Division opponents in 2009, going 3-3, with all three losses coming against teams who qualified for this season’s CCAA Championship Tournament.
Speaking of the CCAA Championship Tournament, Cal State Stanislaus played host to the conference’s best Nov. 6-8 with the men and women’s CCAA soccer title on the line. It was the Warriors’ second time hosting the tournament and first since 2005, with 2008 National Champion Cal State Dominguez Hills taking home the men’s title and the women’s No. 1 team in the west, Cal State LA, taking home the women’s title.