Coach takes no credit for South City's success

The Warriors added to the record later in the week with a 1-0 win over second-place Sequoia. Now, with two games remaining in the regular season, South City is one win away — or one loss by Sequoia away — from clinching the program’s first-ever league championship.

Now in his second year as South City’s head coach, Salvador Navarro previously enjoyed record-setting success last season when the Warriors’ 13 overall wins and eight league wins also achieved new program highs, which stood until last week. Navarro, however, isn’t taking any of the credit for the two straight historic seasons.

“No,” Navarro said. “It’s the players.”

Previous to his head-coaching career, Navarro served as an assistant at South City, arriving there in 2002-03 when the Warriors girls’ soccer program was started. Previous to that, the school only had a boys’ team.

Former head coach Danny Marcucci and his niece changed that though. The niece, Jackie Alvarez, was one of five girls getting limited minutes with the South City boys’ soccer team at the time; they were allowed to play for the boys’ team because the school did not offer girls’ soccer. But Alvarez, a year-round club player with Roxie Girls out of Pacifica, was persistent in asking Navarro to coach a girls’ team. And so, South City girls’ soccer was born.

The timing was perfect. It was the “Dare to Dream” generation, with the U.S. women’s national soccer team emerging as the most accomplished team in international competition in the history of U.S. women’s sports. And South City was not immune to the ripple effects that created a boon in girls’ soccer across the nation.

Navarro said the culture in South City was stubborn though, citing many in the city’s Latin-American culture who had old-school values when it came to girls playing sports. He recalled one parent in particular objecting to his daughter wanting to play, saying the parent said soccer was a boys’ game.

“That’s what he told me — girls weren’t supposed to play,” Navarro said. “And that’s what some other parents told me. … Of course, for men’s, it’s always successful. But girls in [Latin America] don’t have girls’ soccer.”

That girl was one of many who had little to no previous soccer experience. At the time, the Warriors had a core of five experienced players. The rest of the roster, Marcucci and Navarro had to build from the ground up. Therein lies the coaching talent Navarro does take credit for.

“That’s the key,” Navarro said. “My job is making the other ones complement with the [rest of] the team.”

Even with South City’s recent successes, this hasn’t changed. Sure, the Warriors get more experienced players now. Last year they had six who played year-round for the San Bruno Tornadoes club soccer team. This year they have seven, and next year Navarro said he anticipates having eight.

“I think (the success) it’s because a lot of us are playing together [year-round],” said Alexandra Jara, a sophomore who leads South City in scoring. “So we know each other. … It’s chemistry.”

Then there’s the synergy factor, another area where Navarro is integral. Now 51, he still plays serious soccer. For the past 10 years, he has played defenseman for San Francisco Oro. When he was younger, he had ambitions to play professionally.

A native of Mezcala, Mexico — a small town along Lake Chapala 60 miles south of Guadalajara — he enjoyed some semipro success. And he was hoping to follow in the footsteps of his father Salvador Navarro Sr. and uncle Francisco Navarro, both of whom played pro ball for Club Atlas in Guadalajara.

Navarro’s career ambitions took a hit, however, when he endured a sliding tackle from a defender and suffered a severely dislocated knee. He opted not to have surgery and took over a year to return to the soccer pitch. He never again played semipro ball. Nonetheless his passion for the sport drove him to a successful rehabilitation.

“I never stopped playing,” Navarro said. “I still play. … I always play every weekend.”

Now his Lady Warriors bring that same type of passion to the field every day. And they may just be getting started in terms of etching a legacy. Six of the team’s top players are underclassmen, five sophomores and a freshman. While South City has always played in the lower PAL Ocean Division, Navarro said his team has expressed excitement about the prospect of possibly moving up to the Bay Division in future seasons.

In terms of postseason soccer, though, Navarro has his sights set on the Warriors making that leap this season. And they are just one win away now from the Ocean Division title needed to get there.

“If we don’t win (the PAL Ocean championship) this year, I don’t know when we’re going to win,” Navarro said.