Fresno Pacific Athletics

FRESNO, CA -- The weather cooperated. A California school traveled well. The top seed prevailed. A lot went right at the 2009 NAIA Men's Soccer National Championship last week at Fresno Pacific's Ramirez Field, thanks in large part to a dedicated crew of volunteers and staff who took care of all the details.

Sure, it helped that the days were mostly sunny. And that The Master's, just a three-hour drive south of Fresno, reached the championship game and brought a large crowd for the semifinals and final.

But tournament director Mike Rupcich, Fresno Pacific associate athletic director, credited the FPU community for making the event special for participants. It was the second straight year Fresno Pacific hosted the event.

"I can't tell you how proud I am of our university for doing this," Rupcich said. "From the ticket takers to the ball shaggers to the facilities people, Fresno Pacific stepped up."

Scott McClure, tournament coordinator for the NAIA, agreed.

"Mike and his staff did an incredible job in their attention to detail and organization," McClure said. "We identified some things after last year that we wanted to improve on and everything we identified they made improvements on."

The good weather and crowd helped, McClure said.

"We had sunshine all week, and it was good having a great, enthusiastic crowd for the semifinals and final. We didn't have that last year."

Even though The Master's lost the final 1-0 to top-seeded Lindsey Wilson, its fans went back to Santa Clarita feeling proud.

"Great facility, beautiful tournament well run," said Paul Armstrong of Lakewood, a former Fresnan whose son Doug was a midfielder for The Master's. "Wish there were more facilities like this."