SFIAC Soccer Results

Italian Soccer Returns to The City

By David Liepman/Special to The San Francisco Examiner

Soccer at the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club has returned. After a five-year hiatus, the venerable North Beach men's club is fielding a team for the 2009 San Francisco Soccer Football League season.

Marco Innocenti is the man responsible for the team's reincarnation. The 2002 graduate of Riordan High School took over the reins as the club's athletic director last year. As a three-year starter and two-year captain on Riordan's soccer team, Innocenti feels comfortable in his dual role as leader on and off the field.

Innocenti hired Tighe O'Sullivan to coach the new team. O'Sullivan shows no favoritism toward his boss, a starting defender. "I'm honored that I was chosen to coach the team, but I'm still going to crawl all over him if he doesn't do things right," the coach said. "Marco, as a defender, has a tendency to want to contribute to the attack a little bit more than most."

O'Sullivan, a self-described "San Francisco soccer junkie," played four years of college soccer at College of Marin and Dominican University.

He and Innocenti recruited former USF club player Matthew Zatto, who spent time training with the Spanish professional team Rayo Vallacano. The three of them collaborated to build the current roster of 21 players, half of whom are of Italian descent.

Innocenti is proud of the club's rich 91-year history and its soccer program. "The SFSFL is the oldest league in the country. We were actually one of the three clubs that helped create the league as it stands right now," he said. "I have nothing but 100 percent support from the club. I hear it all the time: 'You know what, when I was your age, I used to be on that team.'"

The 2006 Santa Clara University civil engineering graduate leaves his Dublin home early each morning for his job with a San Jose construction company. After work, Innocenti heads to San Francisco for club board meetings, athletic events planning or soccer practice.

Juggling commitments, Innocenti opted out of the second match of the season to attend the Miss Italia California Pageant held at the club on March 15. He watched as his fiancée, Jennifer Consalvi, was awarded second runner-up in the competition.

Innocenti's missed game resulted in a disappointing 2-1 loss to the Kezar Football Club at the Golden Gate Park Polo Fields.

"We are having a lot of problems securing not only the amount of fields, but the quality of the fields," O'Sullivan said. "We hope that the league gets recognized by The City for what a cultural icon it is."

Innocenti's enthusiasm is not dampened by the challenges facing the SFSFL and the SFIAC. "It is my goal to create a soccer program that will stand for the next 91 years," Innocenti said.

Enjoy Watching Our Winning SFIAC Soccer Team

By Dennis Bianchi, SFIAC Staff Writer

Under a beautiful, clear sky almost as blue as the uniforms of our Club's team (squadra), I was treated to an afternoon of some pretty magical offense, sturdy and disciplined defense and a very lop-sided victory for SFIAC: 7-0 against the young but game B.A.S.A. Pit Bulls.

Led by SFIAC's Matt Zatto, who has now scored nine goals over the previous four games, our team saw the Pit Bulls control the field for the first few minutes. Then Zatto added to his season total with a goal in the first ten minutes of play. He would add two more goals and three assists before the afternoon was over and his season total reached nine.

On one memorable play Matt dribbled toward a defender, got the ball up in the air and headed a pass forward. As the defender leaped, Zatto slid under the defender, recovered his own pass and scored. Amazing!

But this is not a one-man team. Goals were also recorded by Matt Stone, Sean Koomen, Owen Ridings, Josh Newland and Greg Urmini. Federico Calvi and defensive strongman Marco Innocenti exhibited excellent play.

All of these talented young men have responded well to their coach (allentore) Tighe O'Sullivan. Tighe has brought a system he has been perfecting from Bolivia and the team looks very well suited to the system. Tighe believes this team is at the level of divisions higher than the one they have been forced to play in, due to the team's long absence in the league. Watching the play on Sunday, it is easy to see the truth of that statement.

Team trainer and super sub Rob Sampera helped this reporter identify the individual players as the game was in progress. Rob was injured but was still into the game completely, exemplifying the spirit of the entire squadra.

There were several fans present and a few Club members, such as former President Steve Landi and longtime member John Galletta, father of tem member Sean. The team greatly appreciated fans (tifosi) showing up, especially Club members. At one point there was a SFIAC banner attached to the fence, giving the feeling of serious (tifosi).

Consider spending a pleasant and exciting Sunday morning or afternoon at Golden Gate Park's Polo Fields and show your support and some Club pride! The next great matchup will be SFIAC vs. South City FC on May 10, at 9 AM at the Polo Fields. They are currently in First Place.