By Jim Hague
After having a standout high school soccer career at West Orange High School, helping his team capture conference and state sectional titles, Luis Valle wanted to continue his soccer career in a college close to home.
Thus, the reason why Valle, a fine defender, decided to attend Rutgers-Newark.
“I looked at all the options and thought it was the best place for me,” Valle said. “It’s a good school. I liked its diversity and I came from a diverse school. I had friends there. When I made my choice to go there, I felt at home.”
But after his freshman season with the Scarlet Raiders’ soccer program, a coaching change was made, with Kevin East being brought in from New Jersey City University to take over the R-N men’s program and oversee the school’s soccer operations.
Valle had no idea where he would stand with the new head coach.
“I wasn’t worried that I had to prove myself to a new coach,” Valle said. “I knew Coach East was a good coach and knew what he was doing. I just had to see where I fit in.”
As it turned out, East knew a lot about Valle before hand and knew that he was going to have to rely upon Valle in a big way.
“I actually tried to recruit him when I was at the other school,” East said. “I was very familiar with Luis. When I saw him in the spring, I saw that he had improved tremendously since high school. I knew he could be one of the players that we could build our program around.”
Valle proved to be a solid performer for the Scarlet Raiders in 2007, earning the Coaches’ Award for starting all 20 matches that the team played last season. In fact, Valle has now started 40 straight games with the Scarlet Raiders since his arrival.
But now, Valle has gone from just a sophomore sweeper to a junior leader. Valle has been selected as a captain for the 2008 campaign, which has opened with promise, as R-N has won two of three to start the year.
“Luis is one of our strengths back there,” East said. “He’s very steady and very consistent. When he gets on the field, you know what you’re going to get from him. He keeps things organized for us. He’s able to stop a lot of attacks and cleans it up back there for us. We do rely on him a lot. He’s a captain and one of our leaders. I have to expect him to step it up and be rock solid and hopefully others will follow his lead. That’s what he’s been going. I expect a lot from him and he’s living up to the expectations.”
Valle said that he likes the role of being the Scarlet Raiders’ main defender and inspirational leader.
“Because we have such a young team, we needed someone to step up,” Valle said. “When Coach East puts his trust in me, it’s encouraging to me to keep it going, to keep moving forward. Being a captain is a lot of responsibility, but I’ve done it before in high school.”
Valle said that his role was increased even more so this season, because the Scarlet Raiders have plenty of newcomers on the roster.
“We have a lot of new players and that takes some time to get together,” Valle said. “I’m settling down to do my best and I’m doing my best to settle the new guys down. I know that they can do it and I’m doing everything possible to see that they can.”
One of the newcomers is Valle’s younger brother, Bernardo, who is a freshman this season.
“It’s great that he’s on the team, because we really didn’t get a chance to play together in high school,” Valle said. “As an older brother, he’s doing a good job listening to what I have to say and so far he’s doing everything right. I have to make sure that everything goes well.”
East knows that Valle plays a huge role with the team this season.
“He’s critical to our success,” East said. “We need Luis to keep doing what he’s doing, keep giving the same effort game in and game out. He also has to get the others to play to his level. It’s a big responsibility, being the key player in the back, shutting down the opponents’ chances to score.”
Valle is majoring in criminal justice at R-N, with the hope of eventually either going to a Police Academy or perhaps pursuing a career in the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“It will definitely be something in law enforcement,” Valle said. “That’s the ultimate goal.”
But before then, his main goal is being a defensive force and inspirational leader for the Scarlet Raiders this season.
“I really believe that this is going to be a good year,” Valle said. “The team is really motivated to go really far. I’m glad I came here to go to school. I have no regrets at all. Everything is going great.”
