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Updated: January 2, 2025 @ 12:02 am
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Las Positas College freshman Saul Tecle dribbles the ball in a Sept. 5 game against Lake Tahoe, which Las Positas won 3-2. Tecle was recently named by United Soccer Coaches the Men’s Player of the Year for the Junior College Division III. (Photo — Bryn Lux courtesy of Las Positas College)
Las Positas College freshman Saul Tecle dribbles the ball in a Sept. 5 game against Lake Tahoe, which Las Positas won 3-2. Tecle was recently named by United Soccer Coaches the Men’s Player of the Year for the Junior College Division III. (Photo — Bryn Lux courtesy of Las Positas College)
Las Positas College men’s soccer star Saul Tecle started playing soccer when he was a four-year-old in a park in Oakland.
“My family saw how much I enjoyed it,” said Tecle about the kids’ class he was in. “We had little cones, made some goals. The second that we got on that field, it was everybody having fun.”
Seventeen years later, he still has that love for soccer, and his talent has been recognized. On Dec. 17, Tecle was named the 2024 Junior College Division III Men’s Player of the Year by the United Soccer Coaches.
“It’s a great honor, first of all … It’s a team accomplishment,” said Tecle on Dec. 27. “All the dedication and hard work I’ve put into the sport in my lifetime has shown a bit.”
Las Positas coach Andy Cumbo said, “It’s such a prestigious accomplishment for him as an individual, but also for our college.”
Tecle, a freshman forward, finished the 2024 season tied for second in the nation in goals scored, with 27 over the course of 24 games. He was also tied for the most goals for California community college men’s soccer teams with Patrick Kearney of Lake Tahoe. In addition to his Player of the Year award, the United Soccer Coaches also named Tecle a Junior College Division III All-American.
“He can score different types of goals. … He can score goals outside of the box, inside of the box, breakaways,” said Cumbo about Tecle. “He’s extremely fast, very technical on the ball, great dribbler and passer. … Because he’s so fast and athletic, he’s difficult to guard.”
Tecle was born in Frankfurt, Germany, and moved to Oakland with his mother and an older sister when he was just three years old. He played for the Bay Oaks and East Bay United soccer clubs from the ages of seven to 15, and he attended Maybeck High School in Berkeley as a freshman and sophomore. He then moved to South Carolina with his mother for his final two years of high school, and graduated from Catawba Ridge-Fort Mill High School in 2021.
After returning to Oakland, Tecle joined the Pleasanton Ballistic United MLS Next program and scored 24 goals in 20 games, he said. He then played for the Oakland Roots’ developmental team, Project 510, for two years until the beginning of last summer, when he was not offered a contract.
“In terms of me committing to an (NCAA) D1 school, it was hard,” said Tecle about the timing of his release. He contacted a former coach, Ballistic United MLS Next’s Craig Scheer, who told Tecle about Las Positas.
Cumbo remembered his first phone call with Tecle. “He was driven,” said Cumbo about his first impression. “He was very open and honest with me.”
Tecle said that when he started playing for Las Positas, he saw a team “that wanted to win, (and) a coaching staff that was really supportive.” Las Positas won its first six games in 2024 and had an impressive season, finishing 13-8-4 and advancing to the semifinals of the 3C2A NorCal Regional Playoffs.
Cumbo said an Oct. 22 game against San Francisco City College was a great example of how good a player Tecle is.
“We needed a tie or a win,” Cumbo said. “Our strategy going into that game was to offensively play pretty conservative … we had a plan to counter-attack with a couple players, and Saul was one of them.
“He scored off his first touch. He didn’t have time to collect (the ball) and dribble; he took this shot, and it hit the back post and went in. … It was just an amazing goal and stunned everybody on the opposing team. … We were more defensive-minded. Typically, forwards aren’t excited about that. We won that game 1-0. It was a key moment for our team.”
Cumbo also said that Tecle broke the school’s single-season scoring record with four goals against Gavilan on Nov. 12.
Interestingly, when asked about a game that stood out in his mind, Tecle mentioned a matchup in which he didn’t score. It was a 2-0 upset victory over No. 1 seed Evergreen Valley in the second round of the NorCal playoffs. Las Positas was the 17th seed. “We had a point to prove that we are capable of being a really good team,” said Tecle.
Cumbo said an underrated part of Tecle’s game is his defense. “He defends really well. There are a lot of forwards that are great goal scorers, but don’t defend well. He defends well,” Cumbo said.
Tecle said he will be committing to an NCAA Division I university in the near future. As far as his love for soccer, Tecle said he loves everything about the game … “that feeling once you win, that feeling once you score a goal. The second you touch the field, you’re in that element where you feel no one can touch you.”
That love for soccer has led to national recognition. And Tecle’s journey continues.
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