Excerpt from Daily Republic, December 16, 2010 by Mike Corpos

ROCKVILLE - Just the last month has been an exciting one for Natalie Guerrieri, never mind her two seasons as a star defender for the Solano Community College soccer team.

Since she joined the Falcons out of Napa High last fall, Guerrieri has earned two spots on the All-Bay Valley Conference first team, and a pair of BVC championships to go with them.

This year, she not only was named all-conference, she was named the conference most valuable player as a defender — an honor that traditionally goes to a high-scoring forward or midfielder. Guerrieri finished the season with seven points total on three goals and an assist.

Since then she was named to the All-Western Region first team by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, and most recently she accepted an athletic/academic scholarship to play at Biola University in Southern California next fall.

With all the accolades coming her way, Guerrieri said it’s been a bit of a shock to her.

‘(When I was named MVP) I was so excited, I had no idea I was going to get anything this year,’ she said. ‘My team was so good, I can’t imagine they can pick just one person.’

When she learned of the all-region selection, she was even more surprised.

‘That was unbelievable, I was so shocked,’ she said.

Falcons coach Jeff Cardinal said Guerrieri earned the accolades.

‘She’s a great defender and she’s as good as anybody we have offensively in regards to passing, dribbling and even shooting, we can put her anywhere on the field,’ he said. ‘. . . She never misses a day. She was voted by her teammates as a captain this year. She’s a leader and her awards in the classroom and on the field are very well deserved.’

After all that, committing to Biola is the icing on the cake.

‘My brother went to Biola back in the day,’ she said. ‘I visited the campus when I was 12 and I always wanted to go there. It finally just got down to having to pick a college.’

Cardinal said getting Guerrieri into Biola was one of the easiest transfers he’s ever made.

‘She’s pretty much a top-level student,’ Cardinal said. ‘She was looking for that private Christian university when she came to Solano.’

One of the first things Cardinal does with his players is ask them if there’s somewhere they want to go to play soccer, and naturally Guerrieri said she wanted to go to Biola.

‘We contacted Biola last year and told them we have a freshman who’s very interested,’ he said. ‘When we played Cal State East Bay in our offseason game, the (assistant) coach came to see her play.’

After that, the head coach from Biola went to see the Falcons play Mt. San Antonio College in the fall, and that was all he needed to see of Guerrieri.

‘He told me he really wanted me to play there,’ she said.

That was all Guerrieri needed to hear, and now she’s making arrangements to join the Eagles for the spring semester to give her a jump on getting settled in.

‘I’m really excited to go down there and play, I’m getting stuff together,’ she said. ‘I want to start in spring to get to know the girls and the program, and get settled in to the school. I kind of wanted to go there as soon as possible and build a comfort level.’

Looking at her time at Solano, Guerrieri said she’s sad to leave, but that she’s pleased with what the Falcons accomplished the last two seasons.

Reach Mike Corpos at 427-6979 or mcorpos@dailyrepublic.net.