Growing up playing soccer, it is always a dream to go and play division 1 college soccer or even play professional soccer one day. Like a lot of kids, Joe Gutierrez had this dream. Unfortunately, because of some circumstances, he was not able to play division 1 college soccer.

Gutierrez, a 20-year-old student at Moorpark College, played on the soccer team here for the past two seasons. Out of high school, he was unable to attend to San Diego State University because of academic reasons.

Gutierrez was a standout at Royal High School in Simi Valley and also a standout at Moorpark these past two seasons. When asked about why he went to Moorpark College, he said he "couldn't get into schools because of my SATs."

Gutierrez's problem is similar to many other student athletes and the junior college way is not that bad of a way to go if you're an athlete. When asked if he was happy at Moorpark, Gutierrez replied, "Yes ... because it was cheaper and I got my act together."

Many of the top schools soccer schools on the West Coast are after Gutierrez, the likes of San Diego State University, University of California Santa Barbara, University of San Francisco, University of California Irvine and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Gutierrez's top choice, though, is San Diego State University because "that was the school that I was going to go to straight out of high school if it weren't for my grades - and it's good for my major," said Gutierrez.

I was able to ask a couple of his teammates why Gutierrez was so special and Rei Stern said, "He is just a complete player and he is so much more dominating physically that he will excel in the college game."

Gutierrez believes, though, his greatest talent is "my ability to read the game and know what the opponent is going to do."

With that said, Gutierrez is just one of many fine prospects Moorpark College has and will be a strong division 1 college player for the next two years.

For more information, call Josh Lee at (818) 268-1455.