Men’s Soccer Takes State Title

With a 2-0 victory over Taft College on Dec. 3, the Fresno City College men brought home the first-ever California Community College soccer championship in school history.

Let by tournament MVP Johnny Rodriguez, who scored the first goal in the 13th minute, the Rams shut out a game Taft team to take the title. FCC’s Matheus Araujo scored the second goal in the 74th minute.

The champion Rams since have since collected several national honors, including junior college Division III National Player of the Year recognition for Rodriguez and regional coaching honors for the staff.

It’s the second All-America honor for Rodriguez; FCC’s Alfredo Lopez was named to this year’s second team. The Regional Coaching Staff of the Year honors come on the heels of national coaching honors in 2016.

The Rams finished the 2017 season with a 18-1-6 record, and two of those six ties came against Taft. The team also rebounded from a penalty kick loss in last year’s state championship game.

The win marks the first CCCAA championship for head coach Eric Solberg at FCC. It’s the eighth time his team has made it to the final four and the third time his team advanced to the championship game. Solberg’s overall coaching record is 291-83-77.

For the first time in school history (since 1948), both state soccer championships were won by Fresno City College. For all sports, men’s and women’s titles of the same sport at the same college have only happened four times in CCCAA history (since 1955).

Rodriguez’s Division III National Player of the Year honors also were matched by Danielle Pacheco on the Rams women’s team.

The two soccer teams, along with FCC’s state championship wrestling team, were honored Thursday (Dec. 14) with a proclamation by the City of Fresno.