The greatest week in the history of the Trinity University Men’s Soccer program has finally come to an end.Dating back to Saturday April 10th, roughly 350 gathered in Trinity University’s Mabee Dining Hall for the 3rd annual Timothy “Tito” Isom Memorial dinner and Senior Soccer Banquet. Among the attendees were current faculty and staff members, alums, current parents and parents of alums, current President Dr. Dennis Ahlburg, former President Dr. Ronald Calgaard, and most importantly Timothy Isom’s mother Edna, father Harold, sister Ralynn and her fiancé.
As the 350 mingled and conversed around a silent auction of donated gifts including over 30 autographed jerseys from the world’s greatest players and teams, the emotional evening began. A 6-minute tribute video, celebrating the life of Timothy “Tito” Isom ‘98, highlighted the evening. Both tears of remembrance and humility covered everyone’s face as we honored Trinity Soccer’s only #3. Following this tribute, Dr. Ahlburg made the announcement that the Timothy “Tito” Isom Memorial Media Center will begin construction down on the soccer field this summer, completed in time for the beginning of the fall 2010 season. Years and years of hard work by so many have finally paid off. Affectionately known as Tito’s Tower, it will be a stunning 14 foot tall red brick, green grass and steel structure. Play by play announcing, score keeping, stats analysis, video recording and live streaming of home games will be housed in this facility located at the Jesse H. Jones Soccer Field.
Following this portion of the evening, we began honoring our nine seniors, Andrew Chong, Tyler Czinege, Joey DeCosta, Ben Grossman, Eric Henderson, Conner Hickey, Patrick Johnson, Alan Llobet, and Chris Schardon. In 4 years of service to the Trinity Men’s Soccer Program, this senior class amassed an overall record of 77 wins, 5 losses and 4 ties, won four straight conference titles in unprecedented fashion by posting 38 wins, ZERO losses and 1 draw, made four trips to the NCAA tournament, appeared in two Elite Eights, one final four and were national runners-up in 2007. Chris Schardon became the 10th honoree of the Timothy Isom award, awarded annually to a graduating senior who puts team first, demonstrates dedication and a passion for life. We concluded this segment with our team awards. Eric Henderson, Sr. was honored as Most Improved Player, Alan Castillejos, Fr. as Most Promising First-Year, Alan Llobet, Sr. as Most Valuable Defender, Zack Garcia, So. as Most Valuable Midfielder, Ben Grossman, Sr. as Most Valuable Forward and Alan Llobet again, but this time as the Team MVP. The final award was given to professor of economics, Dr. Jorge Gonzalez for his dedication and service to the Soccer Program for the last 20 years. Dr. Gonzalez was given a plaque and a framed autographed jersey of his beloved Monterey Rayados.April 10th concluded with a live auction as we said our good-byes and parted ways. Weekends and moments like this are what make this program special. We come from near and far but we will always have one common bond. We are Trinity Soccer.
