SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The Hornet men’s soccer team announced its first signing of the 2002 season by inking Castro Valley High School goalkeeper Ryan Jimenez on Monday. Jimenez will enroll at Sacramento State as a freshman in the fall.
The goalkeeper was a member of the U-19 State Cup Champion Tri-Valley Premier club team in 2000 and currently competes with the U-19 Ballistic Untied club team. During the 2001 fall season, Jimenez led the Ballistic squad with seven goals allowed in 1,160 minutes for a goals-against-average of 0.48.
In high school, Jimenez currently is the starting goalkeeper for Castro Valley High School in the North Coast Section playoffs. He led the Trojans to a 16-3-1 overall record and a No. 2 seed in the postseason. Jimenez was also in goal when the Trojans won the Hayward Area Athletic League title in 2001. In his career, Jimenez earned first team all-HAAL honors after his junior and senior seasons as well as second team all-HAAL honors as a sophomore. He has also started every game for the Castro Valley varsity squad since his freshman season.
Sacramento State head coach Michael Linenberger expects Jimenez to compete with redshirt freshman Matt McDougall for the starting goalkeeper position in 2002. McDougall is the Hornets’ only returning goalkeeper from last year’s roster.
“We knew keeper was going to be a priority for us since we lost two seniors (Leo Marin, Chris Haustein) from last year’s team,” Linenberger said. “Jimenez will come in and compete with Matt for the starting spot. It should be an interesting battle.”
