Tiago Venturi, a sophomore forward for the UCSD men’s soccer team, won the Brine California Collegiate Athletic Association Men’s Soccer Player of the Week award for his play during the week of Oct. 28 through Nov. 3.
Venturi helped lead the Tritons to a spot in the CCAA Championship by providing two goals and an assist during two crucial road victories. During the first match on Oct. 29 versus Cal Poly Pomona, Venturi scored two goals, the first one coming in the 65th minute to put UCSD up 3-1, and the second coming in overtime for a 4-3 Triton win.
The win was extremely important; the Tritons trailed Pomona by a point in the league standings and would have lost control of their own destiny if they had lost the game.
In the second game, against Grand Canyon University on Nov. 2 in Phoenix, UCSD gained an automatic berth to the CCAA Championship with a win. It came with help from Venturi, who assisted on a goal by teammate Ali Managhebi to tie the score 2-2 early in the second half en route to a 4-3 Triton victory.
The Tritons went on to lose to three-time defending champion Cal State Dominguez Hills 1-0 in the Championship Semifinal on Nov. 8, but they would not have advanced that far or enjoyed as much success without the contributions of Venturi.
“”He was instrumental in our two wins,”” coach Derek Armstrong said. “”He scored the crucial goals [against Cal Poly Pomona].””
Venturi, originally from Berkeley, Calif., transferred to UCSD this season after spending 2001 at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb.
Armstrong is very excited about Venturi’s future with the Tritons.
“”We will start to see the benefit next year,”” Armstrong said. “”He spent much of this year adjusting to the university. He is a very mature player.””
Venturi lead the Tritons this season in goals scored with eight, and in total points with 19. He was the first UCSD player to win the CCAA Player of the Week award this year and only the second since the Tritons joined the CCAA in 2000. The previous UCSD winner was goalkeeper Ryan Weirich, who won the award in 2001.
