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Soccer Bruins End Season, Claim Eight All League Awards
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When Trans-Valley League officials told Riverbank coach Martin Gonzales that he could select nine total Bruins as TVL All League players, it weighed heavily on his conscience.

How could he honor only eight players on a team that rotated most of the 20 players on the varsity roster with regularity?

So Gonzales made his picks at the TVL meeting, then called coaches and announced his changes a day later. It's been over a week since his last revisions and Gonzales still doesn't feel right about his choices.

It's tough to highlight only a few players after a 10-1-1 regular season that secured a TVL title and propelled the Bruins into the Division V Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs. Riverbank fell 2-0 to visiting Mother Lode League runner-up Summerville on Nov. 8, but it did little to tarnish a terrific TVL season.

In the end, junior goaltender Rafael Ramirez was selected as a co-TVL MVP. Daniel Ramos (senior), Jose Vigil (senior) and Eric Hernandez (sophomore) landed first team All-TVL selections while Ruben Lopez (junior), Christian Contreras (senior), Rodrigo Quintero (freshman), Kenny Veliz (junior) and Jonathan Solano (senior) made the honorable mention list.

Gonzales was honored as the TVL Coach of the Year.

"I really enjoyed this year," coach Gonzales said. "The boys are really easy to coach and guide and it has been a privilege to coach this team."

Riverbank carried a healthy 9 to 5 shot-on-goal advantage over Summerville, but watched the Bears capitalize on quality opportunities with superb shots to capture both scores of the contest. Riverbank controlled the ball for most of the game, but failed to hit the back of the Summerville net.

"There was a point in the game where we trailed 1-0 and Rafael stopped a penalty kick," Gonzales said. "I really thought the momentum we had was going to lead to a game-tying goal, but it just didn't happen."

The Bruins graduate some good players, but will return a goaltender (Ramirez) that pitched five conference shutouts and the team's top scorer (Quintero).

The junior varsity team was second in the conference standings, and most of those players will join the 10 non-seniors from the 2011 varsity roster in 2012.

This was our seventh playoff in a row, and I don't see anything but playoffs in the future," Gonzales said. "It keeps rolling and we just keep looking for that section championship."