Santa Barbara City College forward Mark Knight, the leading goal scorer in California over the last two years, has made a verbal commitment to play soccer for the University of Louisville in 2009.
“It’s close to a full ride (scholarship) and it’s a very, very good deal,” said Knight, who will visit Louisville next month. “I’ve been looking at my options for the last few weeks. When this offer came along, I couldn’t turn it down.”
Knight, a 5-10 sophomore from Woking, England, was heavily recruited. He was also considering UCSB, UC Irvine, Cal St. Northridge, Cal Poly, UC Riverside, Oregon and San Diego State. The official NCAA letter-of-intent signing period for men’s soccer begins on Feb. 4, 2009.
Knight poured in 31 goals and a state-best 19 assists this season for 81 points, leading SBCC to a 20-5 record and its first Western State Conference title in eight years. The Vaqueros were 32-12-3 during Knight’s two-year tenure, including 22-4-2 in WSC play.
Knight, who led all California JC players in scoring last year (28 goals, 61 points), set new school career records for goals (59) and points (142). The WSC Player of the Year appeared in every game the last two seasons, tallying 59 goals in 47 games. He had two hat tricks this year, scoring four times in a 6-1 win over L.A. Mission on Oct. 24 and all three goals in a 3-0 shutout of Moorpark on Nov. 7.
The Vaqueros went 13-1 in WSC play and reeled off a school-record 13-game win streak, including two Southern Cal Regional playoff wins, before falling in the state quarterfinals to top-seeded Mt. San Antonio.
SBCC was the highest-scoring team in California with 90 goals and a 3.6 average. The Vaqueros went 12-1 at home and have won 18 of their last 19 in La Playa Stadium.
Louisville, which competes in the tough Big East Conference, went 11-8-2 and reached the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year, falling to Jacksonville 4-3 in overtime in the opening round.
“I think it’s a great fit for Mark,” said SBCC coach John Sisterson. “I’m a little disappointed he won’t be playing in our backyard. It was a difficult choice but Louisville offered a great package. Their head coach (Ken Lolla) and assistant (Brian Maisonneuve) both played in Major League Soccer and the assistant played on the 1998 USA World Cup team in France.”
Lolla, a four-time Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year at Akron, just completed his third season as Louisville’s head coach. The Cardinals scored 32 goals this year, one more than Knight’s total.
Knight has a 3.32 GPA and is on track to graduate from SBCC in June. He plans to major in Physical Education.
“He’ll be playing against some real quality teams in the Big East (St. John’s, UConn, Indiana, Notre Dame) and I’m sure he’ll do himself and SBCC proud,” said Sisterson.
IBRAHIM CHOOSES UCSB: Waid Ibrahim, a speedy freshman from Accra, Ghana, has made a verbal commitment to play at UCSB. Ibrahim, SBCC’s second-leading scorer with 11 goals and seven assists, will be reunited with his Dunn School teammate and countryman, Michael Tetteh.
Scott Wells, a sophomore midfielder from England, will continue his career at West Texas A&M. Sisterson was the head coach at West Texas before coming to SBCC to coach the women’s team in 2005.
