Benefield: Sonoma County Sol looking for some soccer payback

The Sonoma County Sol are looking for a little payback.

On Saturday, the Sol - last year’s Golden Gate Conference champs of the National Premier Soccer League - will host the Sacramento Republic, a professional outfit from the United Soccer League, in a preseason matchup featuring two of the best teams around.

It’s a semi-pro local squad (think guys with day jobs) versus a team where professional contracts are signed; a Sacramento team that by some accounts is on its way to becoming an MLS squad sooner rather than later.

But members of the Sol like their chances Saturday.

“We can play with those guys,” said veteran Sol player Chris Daly.

In this preseason match, the Sol are looking avenge a 4-2 loss to the Republic in Sacramento last May.

Daly, who prepped at Sonoma Valley High and was on Sonoma State’s national championship team in 2002, said his team got a little rattled last May when they played in front of 10,000 rowdy fans at the Republic’s home turf on Bonney Field in Sacramento. The loss bounced them from the second round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

Now it’s the Sol that have home-field advantage and it’s the Sol oozing confidence that this will be a game.

Just weeks into the 2016 campaign, the Sol had a competitive scrimmage with the San Jose Earthquakes and are still tweaking their lineup and roster after a jaw-dropping 80 players showed up for tryouts in December.

“It was the biggest turnout since I don’t know - about ever,” head coach Vinnie Cortezzo said.

“The success of the team is always going to make it attractive,” he said.

The Sol were poised for a run deep into the playoffs last season before being ousted in penalties by CD Aguiluchos of Oakland - a team they had bested in all three of their previous meetings. The Sol won the NPSL title in 2009 and were runners-up in 2013 and 2005.

The surfeit of players puts Cortezzo in a pretty good position as coach - an abundance of riches.

“We are really deep,” he said. “We may have had years where we may have had a little more talent at the top end, but this is by far the deepest team we’ve had.”

But that depth forces a coach to navigate the complicated puzzle of team, ego, injury and chemistry. Cortezzo said this group is supremely motivated - they have to be; no one there is getting paid to play. In fact, most show up to training straight from their day jobs.

“I told the guys, ‘Look around the room, there are 28 guys signing tonight to play on the team. I can pick 18 (for) a roster on every given night and I can start 11. There is no way I can make everyone happy.’ What we ask the guys to do is put the team over themselves,” he said.

And that is all the better for local soccer fans.

This roster is packed with names that might sound familiar from their prep and college exploits around here: Tyler Varnadore, Nico Spann, Trevor and Tyler Hurst and John McFarlin. And there are guys who currently play for Santa Rosa Junior College and Sonoma State who will be on the roster, too.

It’s a who’s-who of area talent.

“You are looking at the best players that grew up playing in Sonoma County,” said McFarlin, who played at Santa Rosa High. “To me, the level is a little bit better than college.”

McFarlin just wrapped up a career starring at Division 1 Loyola Marymount University.

“We have a lot of veterans out there as well as some 18-, 19-year-olds coming in and pushing for playing time,” he said. “It’s a great environment.”

And that’s great for fans come game night.

“The level is so good,” Daly said.

The potential with this team, and with the Sol in general, is enormous, McFarlin said.

“Soccer is huge,” he said. “We think this community can really get behind it.”

Saturday’s game marks a homecoming of sorts for the team because for the first time in years, Sol will play at Santa Rosa High after stints at Santa Rosa Junior College, Sonoma State and Rancho Cotate High.

Saturday’s game against Sacramento may not affect the conference rankings, but McFarlin would like to start the season on the right note.

“It’s huge for us to have a professional team on our home field. It’s just going to be, hopefully, an exhibition of where this team can go and the potential fanbase it can have,” he said.

The Sol’s first conference game will be on the road against the San Francisco Stompers March 19.

Cortezzo said his group of players has him thinking big.

“Our goal is to win a national title and I think we have a team that can do it,” he said.

An early test of that team comes Saturday.

You can reach staff columnist Kerry Benefield at 526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com, on Twitter @benefield and on Instagram at kerry.benefield. Podcasting on iTunes “Overtime with Kerry Benefield.”