Alberto O. Cruz (born July 10, 1971) was an American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who earned one cap with the U.S. national team and played professionally in the

Continental Indoor Soccer League The Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL) was a professional indoor soccer league that played from 1993 to 1997. History In the summer of 1989 Dr Jerry Buss, the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and California Sports, told his executive Vice Pre ...

and

USISL United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues currently organized are the ...

Player

Youth

Cruz graduated from

Archbishop Riordan High School Archbishop Riordan High School is a diocesan, co-ed Catholic high school established by the Society of Mary in San Francisco, California. It is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco. It opened in fall 1949 as Riordan High Schoo ...

in 1989. He was the 1989 West Catholic Athletic League Offensive Player of the Year. and was inducted into the Riordan Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006. He also played with the San Francisco United Soccer Club. After graduating from Riordan, he entered

Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university's campus surrounds the historic Mis ...

where he played on the men's soccer team from 1989 to 1991. In 1989, the Broncos shared the NCAA Men's Division I Soccer Championship with the

Virginia Cavaliers The Virginia Cavaliers, also known as ''Wahoos'' or ''Hoos'', are the athletic teams representing the University of Virginia, located in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers compete at the NCAA Division I level ( FBS for football), in the Atlantic C ...

and finished runner-up in 1991. Cruz holds a number of school records and league honors.
/sup> He graduated with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1994.

Club

While still in high school, Cruz spent the 1988 Western Soccer Alliance season with the

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

. He was a first team All Star. In 1994, he played for the San Jose Grizzlies in the

, with the

San Jose Oaks The San Jose Oaks are a semi-professional soccer club from San Jose, California with affiliations to the California Soccer Association and the USSF. History The Oaks were founded in 1974 as an amateur side. The team has participated in the Calif ...

and the San Francisco All Blacks. In 1996, he played for the

Sacramento Scorpions The Sacramento Scorpions was a USISL American soccer team that played in Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize ...

. Cruz played semi-professional soccer in the San Francisco Soccer Football League in 2000 and 2001 with Mezcala and 2003 with San Francisco A.C.

International

Cruz earned one cap with the U.S. national team in a 1-0 win over

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

on September 14, 1991. He came on for

Jorge Acosta Jorge Acosta (born May 29, 1964) is a Colombian-born American retired soccer forward. He spent most of his career in the lower U.S. divisions, as well as four in the Colombian first division. He also earned twelve caps with the U.S. national te ...

at halftime.USA – Details of International Matches 1990–1994

Other careers

In 1996, Cruz became a program manager with the

San Francisco International Airport San Francisco International Airport is an international airport in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County, south of Downtown San Francisco. It has flights to points throughout North America and is a major gateway to Europe, the Middle E ...

. In December 2006, he moved to Mead and Hunt as an airport engineer. He now works as an airport engineer at the Bob Hope Airport. In September 1998, Cruz became the head coach of the Archbishop Riordan High School's soccer team. He held that position until March 2002. In May 2007, he became a coach with the Petaluma Youth Soccer League.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cruz, Alberto 1971 births Living people American soccer players United States men's international soccer players Continental Indoor Soccer League players Sacramento Scorpions players Santa Clara Broncos men's soccer players San Francisco United All Blacks players San Jose Earthquakes (1974–1988) players San Jose Oaks players USISL players San Francisco Soccer Football League players Western Soccer Alliance players Association football midfielders Soccer players from California