Jan. 31, 2008

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara men's soccer assistant coach Eric Yamamoto was named the 2007 National Assistant Coach of the Year by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. Yamamoto, in his 17th year as an assistant coach at Santa Clara and helped the Broncos to a 16-2-4 season in 2007. In addition to Yamamoto's honor, Broncos head coach Cameron Rast was named the NSCAA All-Far West Region Coach of the Year for the first time in his career.

Yamamoto, a former goalkeeper for the Broncos, played an integral role in Santa Clara's outstanding 2007 season. SCU captured the West Coast Conference title by becoming the first WCC team ever to go unbeaten in the double round robin format. The Broncos posted an 18-game unbeaten streak, the second longest in school history, and finished the regular season 15-1-4 to earn the No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Broncos then defeated UCLA to reach the third round of the tournament.

Yamamoto has spent 17 years as an assistant at Santa Clara after a standout career as a goalkeeper on the Mission Campus. He served as the goalkeeper coach for both the men's and women's soccer programs during the 1990s before taking over as the top assistant for Cameron Rast when Rast was named head coach in 2002. As goalkeeper coach, he coached 1992 WCC Defensive MVP Sue Wall, All-American Joe Cannon, 1998 WCC Defensive Player of the Year David Alexander and All-WCC goalkeeper Rusty Johnson. He has helped SCU reach five straight NCAA tournaments as the top assistant, including a trip to the 2003 College Cup and the 2006 quarterfinals. He currently serves as the assistant coach for the United States U18 national team, which he coached at the 2007 PanAm Games in Brazil.

Rast won the All-Far West Region coaching honor for the first time after winning the WCC Coach of the Year three times (2003, 2006, 2007). Rast led the Broncos to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight season in 2007, while posting the top record of his career at 16-2-4. He is now third all-time in wins at Santa Clara with an 83-29-17 record in six seasons. For his career, he has coached six All-Americans, two WCC Players of the Year and 55 All-WCC selections.

Rast becomes the fourth Santa Clara coach to earn the honor. Ralph Perez, Steve Sampson and Mitch Murray were all recognized for this award during their SCU coaching tenures.

	SantaClaraBroncos.com
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