Arizona Western College has 14 soccer players sign letters of intent
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Arizona Western College had a big signing day as 14 players from the men's soccer team signed letters of intent to continue playing at the collegiate level.
Half of those are playing at the Division I level, while the rest are either playing Division II or the NAIA.
Below is a list of the players:
- Hiromasa Iwai - Radford University
- Nael Redjam - Radford University
- Diogo Silvestre - Mid-America Christian University
- Fernando Carvalho - Emmanuel University
- Jacob Quintana - St. Mary of the Woods College
- Tupo Kyumba - Grand Canyon University
- Haruto Horii - Withrop University
- Luis Munoz Valencia - Arizona Christian University
- Saneyuki Yamagat - Eastern Illinois University
- Yves Sisse - Daemen University
- Ebenezer Laryea - Oral Roberts University
One of those players is Yuma local and Cibola graduate Jacob Quintana, who is moving on to the NAIA level at St. Mary of the Woods College.
He shares what it meant to be apart of this squad for the previous two years.
"You know, it meant a lot to me being the only guy from Yuma to play here as well, and one of the only two players to play here as well," Quintana said.
AWC head coach Kenny Dale explains how his goal is more than just winning championships.
"It doesn't really matter in terms of a life experience, moving on to a university and getting a bachelor's degree and maybe an advanced degree is really more important than that," said Dale.
Others players expressed their gratitude to the local college.
"The community, the people, you will always be in my heart, because it was always the start to a beautiful journey and my next college you got the good one the real one, I'm coming," said Yves Sisse, who will be studying Criminal Justice at Daemen University.
