Cal State San Bernardino's men's soccer team has nowhere to go but up as the 2008 season begins Saturday at home with a non-conference match with University of Hawaii-Hilo at Coyotes Premier Field. Match time is 3 p.m. 
    In the meantime, Head Coach Noah Kooiman and his staff have been working hard to reverse the trend of the past couple years that saw the team's fortunes slide to 5-13-2 overall (2-10-2 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association) in 2007. 
    The Coyotes have not scored in two pre-season exhibitions (Cal Baptist and UC Irvine) as they look for players to replace the team's top two scorers from last year – Lorenzo Loson and Danny Rodriguez. Loson graduated and Rodriguez did not return for his senior season. 
    New to the Coyotes team are two stars from the Foothill Conference champion Rio Hondo College team that went 19-2-2 last season, 8-0 in the conference before losing to Palomar College in the state tournament. The team was ranked No. 3 in the Southern California region. 
    One is Jeremiah Marquez of Whittier, captain of the Rio Hondo team who scored three goals and assisted on four others in 2007. 
    The other is Michael Cirrincione of Diamond Bar, also one of the team captains.
Kooiman is expecting big things from Obi Agwu, who impressed as a freshman with three goals and three assists along with central defender Jeff Meyer, another Rio Hondo product. Other returnees who figure prominently in next season's plans are Jahmel McDermott, Albert Cabrera, Jorge Aguirre, Harry Cruz and Ryan Larson. 
    After losing goalkeeper Lucas Pepi to graduation, Kooiman is also looking at three goalkeepers – Tyler Kahn, a 6-4 sophomore transfer from University of San Francisco, 6-1 sophomore Arath De La Rocha and 6-0 sophomore Jorge DeHorta. All three saw significant minutes in the exhibitions. 
    Hawaii-Hilo, a member of the Pacific West Conference, is coming off an 8-10-1 season, 5-4-1 in the PacWest. Top returners for the Vulcans are senior midfielder Dustin Daley (10 goals, three assists) and junior forward Drew Geis, three goals and eight assists). 
    The Vulcans have a new coach in R. Cam Camarena. 
    This is the first of five straight home matches for the Coyotes who entertain Notre Dame de Namur of the PacWest on Sept. 7, followed by CCAA conference matches against Cal Poly Pomona on Sept. 10 and Cal State L.A. on Sept. 12, and a non-conference match with Concordia University Irvine on Sept. 15. 
    YOTES NOTES: Joining Coach Noah Kooiman's coaching staff for this season, his fifth at the helm of men's soccer, are former players Tony Vigil and Nick Boyce, who both played their final year of eligibility in 2007……CSUSB drew the short straw in the annual pre-season poll of CCAA coaches, picked to finish last once again in the South Division….The coaches voted Sonoma State to win the North Division and Cal State Dominguez Hills to take the South Division. Sonoma State was a near-unanimous pick to take the conference championship. Dominguez Hills has won the CCAA title the past two years….Sonoma State is ranked No. 6 in the coaches national pre-season top 25 poll while the Toros are rated at No. 11….Grand Canyon, whom the Coyotes will face in October, is rated No. 20 in the national poll.