By Jim Richards
September 6, 2007

The Cougars men’s soccer team, coming off a 1-16-1 campaign in 2006, upped their season’s record to 3-1 on the young season after Wednesday’s difficult 2-1 home victory over Glendale in front of packed stands at the SMCC soccer field.

Cougars’ coach Mark Wilson thinks so differently of this season’s club that even a win isn’t guaranteed to bring words of praise from him.

“It’s a win,” Wilson said of the Glendale game. “It’s ugly, but it’s a win.”

Parity seems to be the word for this season’s men’s soccer division of the ACCAC. Many conference coaches believe that perennial power Yavapai isn’t going to be quite the dominant team this season and that many of the other schools have made strides.

“I think we can butt heads with Yavapai,” Wilson said. “It’s probably a group of six teams out of 10 that will be fighting for the lead. Even those bottom three or four teams can beat you at any moment. There are no gaps like there used to be.”

Wilson’s 2007 club returns seven players with significant playing time. Wilson mentioned midfielder Carlos Padilla as being one of the leaders the team will look toward this season.

Wilson brought in 14 freshman recruits to fortify the roster, mentioning defender Luis Paez and Luis Morphin as two of the stronger recruits.

Through four games, there hasn’t been a standout in Wilson’s eyes, but that’s fine with him.

“It’s a great group,” Wilson said. “There are no standouts. They are just blue-collar workers doing their jobs.”

Soccer fans can catch the sizzling Cougars at home against Arizona Western at 3:30 and Wednesday (also at home at 3:30) against Chandler-Gilbert.

Get there early. The stands pack up pretty quickly.