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Veteran coach has Roseville back in soccer playoffs
By Bill Paterson - bpaterson@sacbee.com
Published 5:43 am PDT Friday, May 9, 2008
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C3
He's the dean of area high school soccer.
Pablo Gutierrez, 57, has coached the boys for 33 seasons and girls for 23 at Roseville High School.
Gutierrez's Tigers, after a one-year absence, are back in the Sac-Joaquin Section girls soccer playoffs that began Thursday.
Roseville (11-1-5, 6-1-5), the Sierra Foothill League runner-up, will host Ponderosa (9-0-4, 7-0-3), the Sierra Valley Conference's No. 2 team, tonight at 7 on the school's artificial-turf football field. It's a nice showcase game for the Tigers, one Gutierrez thinks his girls deserve after surviving a challenging league schedule.
"You want to have the parents be able to go, and the football field offers a nice atmosphere," Gutierrez said. "I expect a good game. Ponderosa is loaded with competitive players, and they've been section champions (in 2005 and runners-up '04, '06 and '07). So it's going to be a battle."
Gutierrez said his team has as good a chance in a balanced, eight-team Division II field. The Tigers beat and tied SFL champion Rocklin, and they finished ahead of 2007 playoff participant Oakmont for the league's second and final playoff berth.
"The SFL has gotten so very, very tough," Gutierrez said. "But we survived some injuries, and the girls came through with a couple of big wins at the end."
The team's top player, Sacramento State-bound forward Caitlin Pulver, is a huge talent who makes her teammates better.
"Caitlin is strong and skillful and has amazing touch with both feet on corner kicks and free kicks," Gutierrez said. "We're a totally different team without her."
Gutierrez is a vice principal at Roseville's Buljan Middle School. He moved from Mexico to Placer County at age 15 and started the boys program in 1975.
His 1996 and 2004 boys teams won Division II section titles, but he's still looking for his first girls banner. His 1994 girls team lost to St. Francis on penalty kicks in the Division I final.
Despite the countless practices and games through the years, soccer remains special for Gutierrez.
"I still have that spirit and love for the game," he says.
About the writer:
- Call The Bee's Bill Paterson, (916) 326-5506.
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