The 2009 EvCC Men's Soccer team still has a chance to reach the postseason and represent the school in the NWAACC playoffs. A lot of the credit for the team's success rests on the shoulders of EvCC's Goalkeeper Eric Cruz.

Cruz, the only keeper on the roster for the Trojans, has playing keeper in his blood. The sophomore from Marysville has been playing soccer for 13 years, virtually all as a keeper, and his father played keeper before him.

This season, Cruz has allowed 48 goals through the first 13 games, including five games in which he allowed two or less goals with one shut-out.

Always looking to improve his game, Cruz reviews the film of each game to try and correct any mistakes he had made. "To just improve what I do bad in each game," is how Cruz described his motivation to be a better player each time he steps on the pitch.

He tries to rally and motivate his teammates to up their games while raising his voice, but has a difficult time getting his teammates to respond. "Yelling at them, but it doesn't usually work," Cruz said about challenges of getting his teammates motivated.

The man who has single-handedly defended the net for Everett over the past two seasons looks up to another keeper, Italy's Gianluigi Buffon. Cruz says that Buffon, the starting keeper from the Italian national team and Italy's Juventus FC, is his favorite player. Buffon was the starting keeper for the 2006 World Cup champion Italy, his favorite team.

If he wasn't a keeper, Cruz says he would want to play forward. "They get all the credit," he said.

Freshman Seth Jones, who is second on the team in goals with a total of four, knows the importance of having an experienced keeper in the net.

"He's an amazing goalkeeper. He saves us 90 percent of the time," Jones said. "But it would be nice to have a backup in case he gets hurt."

The Trojans do have one player who can step in for Cruz in case of an injury or red card. That is Jeff Gosslee, who leads the Trojans with six goals. Gosslee, who played keeper as a youth, has embraced his position should he have to step in for any reason.

"I would definitely step in if Cruz got hurt," Gosslee said. "Anything for the team. It's a team sport."

Cruz is rounding out his career at EvCC, and then plans to transfer to a four-year school to continue playing soccer.

Cruz gave up two goals in the loss to top-seeded Whatcom CC Oct. 21, Everett moved to 4th place in the North Division.

The Trojans have four games in the season to make the NWAACC tournament.