Las Positas Soccer Forward Gains National Honor

Everything is coming together beautifully for Las Positas freshman Saul Tecle, a speedy forward with a clinical finishing prowess. Division I soccer programs are lining up to land him, and the big honors are adding up rapidly.
“My coach (Andy Cumbo) gave me a ring in the morning yesterday, and said, ‘You’ve got another award,’ and I was so confused, like ‘What could this possibly be?’” Tecle said this week.
That’s when Cumbo gave him the amazing news: Junior College Division III National Player of the Year.
“It took a second to understand or process what that meant, but I was really surprised. At the same time after the season I had, it makes sense. Everything happens for a reason, and I’m just glad it worked out.”

It worked out well, indeed. He finished No. 2 in the nation in goals scored with 27 in 24 games played. He was named First-Team All-American, First-Team All-West Region by the United Soccer Coaches, as well as All-State & All North Regional team by the California Community College Soccer Coaches Association, and Forward of the Year and First Team All-Conference by the Coast Conference.
The Hawks soccer team finished the year 13-8-4, while having one of the most successful playoff runs in the program's history. As the 17th seed, they knocked off the 16th seeded San Joaquin Delta 5-1, then took out the No. 1 Evergreen Valley 2-0 before falling to Merced 3-1 in the 3rd round of the Nor-Cal Regional Playoffs.
Tecle, of Oakland, has had a lot of help along the way.
He considers his former Ballistic United MLS Next coach Craig Scheer a mentor who helped steer him to Las Positas after Tecle played two years on the Oakland Roots development team, Project 510. The Roots chose not to sign Tecle after he turned 21, so he sought guidance from Scheer.
“(Scheer) told me that Las Positas was a great program. ‘You play here, you ball out, and you can transfer out,’ and I said, ‘you know what, this is what I want to do.’ And thankfully it all worked out for me.”
A team guy and a business major, Tecle cites two Hawks midfielders as key pieces for him this season, freshman Frank Hinostroza and sophomore Monir Gardizi.
“I got to shout-out Frank, our No. 10, I was coming into the team, and I have a good eye of seeing when there’s really good quality in a player,” Tecle said. “Frank was one of those guys. He doesn’t speak English well, but soccer is a language of its own. We were able to click so well. He assisted me in so many games; we try to push each other to be the best version of ourselves. Another name I got to say is Monir, our No. 6, a great player. He was always feeding me dimes.”
Tecle, born in Germany, cites his speed and ability to take people on 1 on 1 as strengths.
Why is he so clinical in the box?
“That was something I worked on since I was a kid,” he says. “As a striker you have one job and that job is to finish. Whether it was in the box, outside the box, my weak foot, my strong foot, my head, whatever the case is, I would try everything.
“Like I said, I had a lot guys on my team who were able to feed me the ball to help me get to that point, so I got shout-out to the whole team, plus the coaching staff for pushing me every day, talking to me, giving me the confidence, motivation to do better. This National Player, I was talking to my coach yesterday, this is not an individual award, this is a whole team award because without the guys I wouldn’t be able to do it.”
After effectively being released by the Roots at a tough time early last summer when Division I programs had filled their rosters, Tecle had another blow – losing a friend in a car accident. He missed the Hawks first two weeks of training during the fallout, but a conversation with Cumbo help turn things around.
“(He said) if you do your part in terms of scoring goals you will be getting eyes on yourself. … Luckily, I used (the personal setbacks) as fuel to see what happens in terms of scoring goals and helping my team. I thank God every day … everything’s playing out for me right now. I’m really glad about that.”