A year ago, Salpointe Catholic High senior Leo Gutierrez set a state record with an unfathomable 62 goals, giving him a state-record 173 goals in his prep career as he became the Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year.
Last week, Gutierrez scored his 17th and 18th goals as a freshman at Pima College, which requires some perspective. In the past 15 seasons, coach Dave Cosgrove’s perennial NJCAA championship contenders have only had two players score more than 18 goals in a season: Hugo Kametani, 30, for the 2019 national championship team, and Jason Romero, 16, for the 2016 club.
It gives you an idea of how good Gutierrez is. With the postseason still remaining, he could push his freshman total to 25 or so for the No. 6 Aztecs.
Leo Gutierrez had the sixth-most goals (22) in his first season at Pima College.
Why is Gutierrez at Pima instead of some NCAA powerhouse? Because men’s soccer in the NCAA is sponsored on a limited basis. The only Big 12 school with a men’s soccer program is West Virginia, which plays in the Sun Belt Conference. The No. 1 men’s soccer team in the West is the Portland Pilots, followed by the San Diego Toreros. The top school with men’s soccer close to Tucson is Grand Canyon, which has populated its No. 41-ranked team with players from Senegal, Sweden, Mexico and France. Getting a D-1 scholarship in men’s soccer is a challenge, even for a player with Gutierrez’s skills.
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But now that he has proven himself at the JC level, I’m sure NCAA men’s soccer teams know all about Gutierrez.
