LTCC Coyotes prepare for first soccer season

Soccer fever has hit the campus at Lake Tahoe Community College as both the men's and women's intercollegiate teams prepare for the 2014 fall season.

The community is invited to check out both teams on Friday, August 15, starting with the men’s team at 1:30 p.m. on the Community Playfield near LTCC’s Fitness Education Center. Head women's coach Chris DeLeon is also hosting an open tryout Friday from 3:30 p.m. to 5:20 p.m. (interested women soccer players should contact Coach DeLeon at cadeleon@mail.ltcc.edu or at (530) 541-4660 ext. 551 with any questions). DeLeon and men's coach Benjamin Wade will make their final player selections based on Friday’s performances.

Another chance for the South Lake Tahoe community to watch local college soccer will be Monday, August 18 as the men's team takes part in an inter-squad scrimmage at 7:30 p.m. on the playfield located at 3100 Al Tahoe Blvd.

The return of college athletics to LTCC is also ushering in a new mascot, logo, and uniforms for the players. For most of the college’s history, the Kokanee salmon was the school mascot. When soccer kicks off this fall, the teams will take the field as the LTCC Coyotes. The school’s colors, green and white, will also be jazzed up with the addition of royal blue, representing LTCC’s proximity to and communion with Lake Tahoe.

LTCC will be part of the Golden Valley Community College Soccer Conference, joining Butte, Feather River, Lassen, Redwoods, Siskyous, and Shasta colleges. LTCC’s first women’s home game (non-conference) will be Thursday, September 11 at 3 p.m. versus Yuba College. The first men’s home game (also non-conference) will be Tuesday, September 23 at 1:30 p.m. against Folsom College. A link to the full soccer game schedule for both teams can be found by going to the college’s homepage (www.ltcc.edu).

LTCC men’s soccer coach Benjamin “Coach” Wade comes to LTCC after 17 seasons as a head college soccer coach. Most recently he was head coach for the men’s and women’s teams at Lassen Community College in Susanville, where he coached the men’s team to the Golden Valley Conference championship in 2013. Fans of the CBS reality television show Survivor might recognize Coach Wade from his time as a contestant on Survivor: Tocantins in 2009.

Coach DeLeon, the women’s coach, has left his mark on South Lake Tahoe’s soccer community since moving to town in 2000. His love for coaching began while working with a local youth team in Yokohama, Japan. In South Lake Tahoe, DeLeon has been both an assistant coach and a head coach at South Tahoe High School, where he’s won multiple state championships with the boys and girls teams. He has also been recognized as the NSCAA’s Coach of the Year twice.

In order to be successful, LTCC’s soccer program needs help from our community. The LTCC Foundation has established the Friends of LTCC Soccer club to that end. Funds collected from this club will support uniform costs, equipment and training supplies, travel expenses, the eventual purchase of a team bus for away games, an annual awards banquet to honor our outstanding student-athletes, and other costs associated with the program now and in the future. Club members can also support the soccer teams in non-monetary ways by sharing their expertise as a participant on a soccer program advisory committee. If you’d like to become a Friend of LTCC Soccer club member or want more information about it, please send an email to athletics@ltcc.edu.

The LTCC Foundation is also working with business partners in the community, offering advertising space at the playfield in exchange for much-needed funds for the soccer program. If your business is interested in supporting soccer at LTCC, please call Julie Booth at (530) 541-4660 ext. 245, or send her an email at Booth@ltcc.edu.