Souza Named All-Region; All-American
Holy Names University sophomore Guilherme Souza was named to the 1st Team All-Region II team and was an Honorable Mention NAIA All-American as well. Souza, the NAIA's leading scorer last season, makes it two season's in a row in which he has received these honors. Souza lad the Hawks to a 9-7-2 overall record including a 6-1 mark in Cal Pac play. He scored 24 goals and dished out 12 assists while leading his team to within a game of the Region II Finals, a game which they advanced to a won last season. Holy Names lost in the semifinals to Concordia University 2-1 this season. Souza is already the program's leader in goals scored in a game, in a season and for his career.
NAIA Region II All-Region Team
Men's Season Ends in Irvine
Concordia Advances With 2-1 Win
Holy Names had their attempt at a second consecutive Region II Title end at the hands of the 2005 GSAC Champions, Concordia University. After drilling rival Dominican University 3-0 to advance to the tournaments semi-finals, Holy Names ran into a hot Concordia team, ranked #16 in the Nation,and succumbed 2-1 in a valiant effort. After spotting the Eagles a goal in the 24th minute, Holy Names' Wilson Rodriguez tied it up a\on a rebound shot at the 70th minute mark. The tie was short lived as Concordia's Jose Diaz headed in a a Ryan Ninke pass for the game winner just two minutes later. After another frantic 20 minutes of play, Concordia held on and advanced, sending Holy Names home.
The Hawks finish the year with a 9-7-2 record including 6-1 in Cal Pac play good for second place to Dominican.
October 31, 2005
Men Advance to Region II Tournament
Will Face Off Against Rival Dominican
The Holy Names Men's Soccer program advanced to the NAIA Region II Tournament for the second time in as many years. The fourth year program won the Region II tournament last season beating Azusa Pacific 4-3 on penalty kicks propelling them into the NAIA National Tournament. Holy Names received the #5 seed of the field of eight and will travel to arch rival Dominican University on Wednesday for their first round match up. Dominican received the #4 seed based on their California Pacific Conference championship. Dominican swept through the Cal Pac unbeaten, their only blemish was a tie with Menlo College who received the #8 seed. Dominican beat Holy Names 2-1 back on October 8. The game will begin at 1:00PM.
Souza Scores 7 Goals in Rout
Sophomore Breaks School Record
Sophommore Guilherme Souza scored a school record seven goals in a 12-0 route of CSU Maritime Saturday. The seven goals eclipses the previous record of 4 held by numerous players including Souza. The Londrina, Brazil native added in assists while the scoring was finished off by teammates Marcelo Santos, Luke Liberty, Guilherme Frietas, Martin Erlandsson and Wilson Rodriguez who each knocked in a goal apiece. Holy Names finishes the regular season at 8-6-2 including 6-1 in Cal Pac play. Their only Cal Pac blemish was a 2-1 loss at the hands of Dominican University.
October 25, 2005
Souza Receives Cal Pac, Region II Honors
Holy Names sophomore Guilherme Souza was named both the California Pacific Conference and NAIA Region II Player of the Week announced Tuesday for his efforts in 2 Cal Pac wins. Souza, a 2004 Honorable Mention All-American, recorded 2 goals and 2 assists in each win on the week, a 10-0 drubbing of Simpson University and a 7-0 win at Pacific Union. The Londrina, Brazil native now has 15 goals and 10 assists on the season. Souza was the NAIA's leading scorer in 2004.
Holy Names Shutout by Point Loma
The battle between nationally ranked regional opponents turned out to be not much of a battle at all as #22 Point Loma Nazarene sprinted by #16 Holy Names in the second half for a 4-0 victory. The first half finished without any scoring, but it did provide possibly the most important play of the game as Holy Names' Ricky Vargas was given a red card in the 41st minute and the Hawks were forced to play a man down the rest of the way.
Holy Names held serve until the 49th minute when Pt. Loma's Brian Thames pushed one across the goal. Brad Lewis would make it 2-0 in the 56th minute before goals by Derrick Thames and Jason Smith in the 71st and 78th minutes respectively finished off the scoring. Point Loma improves to 6-1 with the win while Holy Names drops to 2-3-2 on the season.
#16 Holy Names Settles for 2-2 Tie
San Bruno, CA - Holy Names, ranked #16 in this weeks national poll, could not hold their lead and had to settle for a 2-2 double overtime tie with regional foe The Masters College. Holy Names held a 2-0 lead midway through the second half as Guilherme Souza converted two beautiful free kicks, one in each half. The Masters would pull to within one in the 63rd minute on a Rob Miller goal and then tie the game on a goal by Evan Cox at the 86:11 mark. The two teams played two scoreless overtimes and finished knotted at two. Holy Names drops to 2-2-2 on the season.
Holy Names Reappears in Top 25
Currently Sit at #16
After spending a week banished from the nation's elite due to a #5 regional ranking, the Holy Names Men's Soccer team is back in, currently sitting in the #16 slot on the NAIA National Rankings released yesterday. An 0-2-1 start prompted the NAIA's Region II to rank Holy Names #5 in the region and National Raters must follow the order of regional rankings as they vote for national rankings. The Hawks' two losses came to #3 Auburn Montgomery (AL) and #6 Embry-Riddle (FL).
Holy Names improved to 2-2-1 over the weekend with wins over Mid-America Nazarene (1-0) and Albertson College (3-0) at the Westminster Tournament in Salt Lake City. Holy Names gets a crack at two regional foes and another ranked team as the take on #22 Point Loma Nazarene on Friday and The Masters College on Saturday. Both games will be played at Skyline College on the Peninsula.
To view this week's rankings in full click here.
Holy Names Wins Westminster Tournament
Improve to 2-2-1
Holy Names University, who fell out of the Nation's Top 25 after a 0-2-1 start, got their first two wins of the season as they won the Westminster College Tournament in Salt Lake City, UT. Holy Names beat Mid-America Nazarene on Saturday 1-0 on a Guilherme Freitas goal in the 75th minute. Freitas was assisted on the goal by Guilherme Souza, last year's leading scorer in the NAIA. Goalkeeper Tim Hart pitched a shutout saving all four shots on goal.
The next day Holy Names shutout Albertson College 3-0 to take home the tournament's top prize. Hart once again recorded the shutout notching two saves in the process. Per Karlson's first goal as a Hawk gave Holy Names a 1-0 lead at the 27 minute mark. Alberto Vega finished off the scoring with goals at both the 59:35 and 75:00 marks. Souza, Tobias Flueckiger and Sukui Ono each assisted on a goal.
Holy names improves to 2-2-1 on the season and has moved back up to the #2 slot in the NAIA Region II's rankings which is expected to move them back into the Top 25. The NAIA rankings are released on Wednesday. Holy Names meets up with #20 Point Loma Nazarene and The Masters College this weekend in the Notre Dame de Namur Tournament.
Tough Trip to Alabama
Men's Soccer Returns 0-1-1
Mobile, AL - #15 Holy Names University returned from University of Mobile 's O' Charley's Futbol Festival with a 3-2 loss to #8 Auburn Montgomery and a 0-0 double overtime tie with 13th ranked University of Mobile. Holy Names, ranked #6 at the start of the season now sits at 0-2-1 with all three opponents ranked in the top thirteen.
Holy Names held a 2-0 lead at halftime over Auburn Montgomery on goals by Alberto Vega and Guilherme Souza. The lead would not hold up as Auburn Montgomery ran off three unanswered goals in the second half for the win. The next night Holy Names held Mobile to just one shot on goal for the game but could not convert on any of their own 8 shots and had to settle for the 0-0 tie.
Despite the caliber of their opponents, the location of the games and the closeness of the scores, Holy Names 0-2-1 start has dropped them to #5 in the their Region and is expected to wipe them off the NAIA's Top 25. The new rankings will be posted Wednesday. Holy Names is headed for Salt Lake City, UT this weekend to take on Mid America Nazarene and Albertson College.
#13 Embry-Riddle Tops Holy Names 1-0
#6 Hawks Lose Opener
Prescott, AZ - #6 Holy Names University lost their season opener to 13th ranked Embry-Riddle of Florida on the campus of Embry-Riddle of Arizona on Sunday. In a defensive battle, one goal was all it took and it was scored by ERAU's Mike DeAgelis in the 58th minute.
Embry-Riddle's defense held the Hawks to 4 shot attempts including just one on frame as they moved to 2-0 on the season. Holy Names drops to 0-1 and travel to Alabama to take on two more Top 25 teams this next weekend.
"That was the best and most organized defensive effort I have ever seen," stated head coach Lance Thompson. "That was a great team we just played"
Holy Names will get to see two more great teams in #4 Auburn Montgomery and #10 Mobile University on back to back days this weekend. The Hawks face Auburn Montgomery on Friday before taking on Mobile on Saturday.
Holy Names Cracks the Top 25
Men's Soccer Ranked #6 on Preseason Poll
Last season the Holy Names Men's Soccer program took nearly everyone by surprise winning a California Pacific Conference Championship, an NAIA Region II Championship and notching their first National Tournament win in their first National Tournament appearance. All of this came in not only their first year in the Cal Pac, but in just their third year of existence. Apparently, the rest of the nation is taking notice.
For the first time in the short history of the Men's Soccer program at Holy Names, they find themselves ranked among the nation's elite. Holy Names currently sits in the #6 slot of the 2005 NAIA Men's Soccer Preseason Rating which came out today. Holy Names spent one week in the Receiving Votes section of the weekly rankings last season but has never appeared in the Top 25. The defending National Champion Lindenwood (Mo.), who ended the Hawks 2004 season in the National Tournament, start the season as the top ranked team.
Head Coach Lance Thompson has assembled a squad worthy of the attention. In addition to one of the deepest and most talented recruiting classes in the country, Thompson returns a slew of All-Conference, All-Region and All-American players, including the Nation's top scorer and Cal Pac MVP Guilherme Souza. Souza lead the nation with 1.52 goals and 3.48 points per game last season as a freshman and was named 1st Team All-Region and Honorable Mention All-American. Also returning is fellow Honorable Mention All-American Marcelo Santos and All Conference performers Jens Ljungcrantz, Beto Vega, Ricardo Marquez and Sukui Ono. Ono was also named to the National Tournament All-Tournament team last season.
Thompson has put together a nationally ranked schedule as well, as their 2005 slate is littered with nationally ranked teams. Five of the nation's Top 25 teams appear on the schedule and the Hawks will play four of them in the month of September alone. Holy Names will open against 11th ranked Embry-Riddle (Fla.) on September 4 followed by #4 Auburn Montgomery (Ala.) and #10 Mobile (Ala.) on September 9 and 10. Holy Names will also face #25 Point Loma Nazarene (CA) on September 23 before hosting 6-time National Champion and 2nd ranked Lindsey Wilson on October 15.
To view the NAIA Preseason Rating in full click here.