Jeff Cardinal, Head Coach

Jeff Cardinal
M.A. Kinesiology, San Jose State University
B.S. Kinesiology, California State Hayward

Jeff Cardinal was hired full-time in 2002 to start the Solano College Women’s Soccer program. This was the first soccer team men or women in the history of Solano College. Cardinal in his two previous coaching positions was in a similar role both at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose and Las Positas College in Livermore. "He's had some experience building programs and that was something we were looking for. A history of success was critical to the hiring committee," Athletic Director Bob Myers said. "The first year, we don't have real high expectations. We don't expect him to win the conference. We just want him to do all things necessary to get things running," Myers said.

Upon arrival to Solano and after seeing the local talent, Cardinal saw that Solano could be competitive right away and was not interested in spending anytime building a program. "With the girls I have on my list here, Solano can not only start a women's team, but can be competitive right away," Cardinal said. "Normally, we say a first-year program is going to take its licks, but based on the feedback from players, we can start competing right away." Cardinal added that there are good local high school and club teams already in place in the Solano area. The coaches have done a good job preparing the players to play at the next level.

Since the Inaugural 2002 season, the Solano Women’s Soccer team has enjoyed a great start and had much success in the new program. Winning the Bay Valley Conference in just its first season in 2002 and adding conference championships in 2003 and 2005, the Women’s Soccer team has won the Bay Valley Conference 3 out of its first 4 years of having a program. In addition, the Solano Women’s Soccer team has been in the Northern California playoffs in each of its first four seasons. Overall, the Lady Falcons have won 43 matches in its first four seasons while competing in the Bay Valley Conference. Jeff Cardinal was named Coach of the Year in Solano’s first season in 2002 as well as the 2005 season.

Head Coach Jeff Cardinal and Assistant Coach Dave Todd have led the Lady Falcons from 2002-Present. Their combination of coaching styles has led to Solano’s quick success. The mission of the soccer program is to prepare student-athletes to transfer to the 4 year university. In its first two seasons, Solano sent Quisha Simon (Will C. Wood High School) to San Francisco State University and Angie Biagio and Danielle Biagio (Napa High School) to William Jessup University in Rocklin, California. The 2003/2004 class sent Jenny Bloom (Vacaville High) to Cal State East Bay and Crystal Parra (Fairfield High) to Humboldt State. Solano also sent two players out of state to Kansas Wesleyan, Roxana Salmeron (Vanden High School) and Nancy Berg (Vacaville High). The 2005 season sent its biggest recruit Andrea Salvador (Salesian) to Division 1 Fresno State University on a full scholarship and Mayra Garcia (Armijo High School) to The Masters College in Santa Clarita, CA also on a full scholarship.

Academically in its first four seasons, women’s soccer was named Team Scholar of the Year by the COA for the state of California two years in a row both in 2003 and 2004. This award goes to the women’s soccer team with the highest GPA in the state. This is the highest award achievable in the state for academics. The 2003 team had a team GPA of 3.10 and the 2004 team carried a 3.23 GPA. Individually, Solano has had a number of 4.0 students on its teams, specifically Danielle Biagio who carried a 4.0 while at Solano. Danielle was awarded as a Pepsi Scholar athlete in 2003 by the COA, and was chosen for the Wooden Scholarship Award in 2003. The Pepsi Scholar Athlete Award is the highest individual award given in California community college athletics. The Wooden Scholarship award is given to one student-athlete at Solano once a year and is based on academic success as well as dedication and sportsmanship in the sport. Danielle was also a recipient of two additional scholarships on the Solano campus for her high academic achievements. In 2005, Ashley Casassa completed her junior college courses with a perfect 4.0 GPA. Ashley is transferring to UC Berkeley in the fall of 2006 to major in Chemistry.

In addition to its success in the classroom, Solano has also produced many All Conference and All Nor-Cal players in its first four seasons. In 2002, Quisha Simon (Will C. Wood) was an All Nor-Cal selection and teammate Jackie Hopkins (Armijo) was MVP Offense for the Bay Valley Conference. In 2003, Lisa King (Vacaville) was All-Nor Cal, Player of the Year and MVP Offense in the Bay Valley Conference. In 2004, Maria Avila (Vallejo) was All-Nor Cal, Goalkeeper of Year and teammate Lisa King was Forward of the Year for the Gold Division of the Bay Valley Conference. In 2005, Andrea Salvador (Salesian) was MVP Offense and Maria Avila MVP Defense for the Bay Valley conference. In addition Solano has put many of its players on the 1st team all conference.

In 2005, forward Andrea Salvador was named National Junior College Player of Year by the NSCAA. This is the highest award attainable for a player in the nation at the junior college level. In addition to this phenomenal award, she was also named 1st team All-American, 1st team All West Region, 1st Team All-State, Bay Valley Conference MVP, and 1st team Bay Valley Conference.

In addition to the success of the team both on the field and in the classroom, the Solano Women’s Soccer program is currently planning improvements to its already excellent soccer field. The improvements are part of a bond that was passed to improve Solano College athletic facilities.

Mr. Cardinal came to Solano from Evergreen Valley College in San Jose, California where he was the Head Women’s Soccer Coach for one season in 2001. Prior he was the Men’s assistant soccer coach at Las Positas College in Livermore, California from 1995-2000. Cardinal learned a lot in his position at Las Positas College as he worked with current coaches Lawrence Aguiar, Geoff Smyth and Vince Martinez. He credits his preparation for being a head coach at the college level to the Las Positas College soccer program.

Cardinal did his Masters degree in Kinesiology at San Jose State University from
1995-1998. It was there that he started the SJSU college handball team, which he coached from 1995-2001. He also taught soccer classes for the university as a graduate assistant and part-time instructor. He did his Bachelors degree at California State University Hayward from 1991-1993. He was a junior college transfer from Las Positas College where he competed in College Handball Nationals and also Tae Kwon Do.

After receiving his bachelor’s degree, Cardinal lived in Monterrey, Mexico from 1993-1995, teaching physical education, coaching soccer and track and field in a private school. He also continued his study of martial arts in Tae Kwon Do in Mexico. He also studied Spanish and speaks fluently.

Following completion of his Masters degree from San Jose State, Cardinal began his goal of coaching soccer and teaching at the college level. He taught at San Jose State University, San Jose City College, Evergreen Valley College, Mission College, Foothill College and Las Positas College.

Mr. Cardinal currently still competes in local and national level handball tournaments. He won a USHA national handball title in 2000 and hopes to add to that total as he continues to compete. He believes in order to stay competitive in coaching athletes, he needs to keep training and competing in order to maintain a competitive edge and stay current. Cardinal looks forward to continue to build the Solano Women’s Soccer Program at Solano and continuing to stay current with new trends in coaching soccer.
 

Zach Sullivan, Assistant Coach
M.A. Kinesiology, Chico State University

Zach Sullivan joins the Solano College coaching staff in 2006. Zach is currently coaching with the DVSC (Diablo Valley Soccer Club) in Concord, CA. Zach begins his first year as the assistant women’s soccer coach at Solano after helping out and getting involved with the program in 2005. In 2005, Zach also coached the Boys Varsity team at Justin-Sienna High School in Napa. Sullivan completed his Masters degree in Kinesiology from Chico State in 2005.

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