Jochen Graf had imagined his debut for the Ventura County Fusion going differently.

But reality topped even the most vivid of imaginations when his opportunity finally arrived.

"It was a crazy weekend," said Graf.

The 21-year-old Dallas, Tex. native and Bradley University junior, who had never put on goalkeeping gloves before, picked up the win as the emergency goalkeeper in the Fusion's 2-1 win Thursday at the BYU Cougars. Two days later, back in his natural striker position, Graf scored twice in the 4-1 win at the Ogden Outlaws Saturday.

"It's something that I'll never forget," said Graf. "When you're a reserve, all you want to do is help the team win. The important thing is that we got the three points."

Graf's heroic weekend, which earned him Premier Development League Player of the Week honors Thursday, enabled the Fusion (8-0-4) to sweep its annual Utah road trip for the first time and move back atop the Southwest Division.

"That's got to be the most unusual one they've had in a while," said Graf Thursday of his Player of the Week award.

Graf was expected to make his debut up front in the second half Thursday. But those plans changed when Sam Hayden, the Fusion's only goalkeeper on the road trip, was injured in an early collision.

"Sam usually pops right back up," said Graf. "When he stayed down, everyone started talking (on the bench), 'Has anyone played keeper?' " Attacker Danny Barrera encouraged Graf to "just go for it."

"So I went for it," said Graf. "It was a little nerve wracking at first, but it worked out OK. Your instincts kick in and you just play."

Graf said he performed his best "goalkeeper impersonation."

"I've literally never put gloves on before," said Graf. "It feels like you're playing a different game. It's the complete opposite of what you're used to doing... My job was to not let anything past me."

After a childhood spent studying goalkeepers, in order to defeat them, it was a strange sensation.

"You take on the persona of your enemy," said Graf. "You have to go be the thing that you try to beat."

BYU was credited with 11 shots and seven corner kicks, but Graf wasn't troubled much until he conceded an equalizer with 10 minutes to play.

Despite making the initial save on the rebound goal, Graf felt he let the team down. Until defender Daniel Steres, a Calabasas High product who now plays for San Diego State, headed home a Fusion winner in second half stoppage time.

"That was a different feeling," said Graf. "When you're a striker, you're always looking to score goals. Winning a game when you're in goal is a different feeling entirely."

That said, when he saw his name in the starting lineup in his preferred position Saturday, Graf was happy to be home.

"I was thinking, 'Jeez, I never want to put on the gloves again," said Graf. "Time to get back to what I'm supposed to do."

He credited his poached goals Saturday to his teammate. He finished the first off a flick by midfielder Jake Hustedt and converted the second from strike partner Gyasi Zardes' rebounded shot.

"I was minding the ball off of great work from the other forwards and the midfield," said Graf, 21, who has been training with the Fusion off-and-on for about a year. "When that first goal went in, that was a moment for me. I've been waiting for it all last summer, building up to that moment."

Sam Hayden, the UC Santa Barbara goalkeeper who has allowed 0.382 goals per game and made 24 saves in six appearances this season, suffered a concussion Thursday and has yet to be cleared medically for the Fusion's trip to play the Los Angeles Blues at Palisades High.

Not to be confused with the club's professional side, which knocked the Fusion out of the U.S. Open Cup last month, the Blues PDL team is 3-6-2 and sits in fifth place in the Southwestern Division.

The Fusion have already taken four points from the Blues, winning 4-0 at home May 13 and drawing 1-1 on the road June 2.

Oaks Christian product J.J. Koval, who will be a sophomore at Stanford this fall, has joined the Fusion. The Camarillo native made one appearance for the Chicago Fire Under-23s earlier this season.

The New Zealand Under-20 team will prepare for the Under-20 World Cup in with a training camp at Oxnard College from July 18-25.

The "Junior All-Whites" will face the Fusion in a friendly July 20 at 12:30 p.m. Entrance will be free at Oxnard College.

The New Zealand roster includes Chris Wood, who was on the full New Zealand team from last summer's World Cup in South America, and several players who currently play in NCAA Division I. It opens Group B play July 30 against Cameroon.

Wood is also a forward for English Premier League club West Bromwich Albion, who will train at Oxnard College July 10-19 and play the Fusion July 17 at Oxnard College.

The United States failed to qualify for the finals, having lost a qualifier to Guatemala.

Will Thurston may not have been on a sideline for the past 11 years, but it didn't mean his impact wasn't being felt on a gridiron somewhere.

"Will Thurston taught me more about the running back position than anyone," said former Moorpark College and Atlanta Falcons running back Jamal Anderson last fall. "There are drills that that he taught me that I absolutely despised, but I still take my guys through them when I'm working out guys."

A whole new generation of Moorpark College running backs will be put through those memorable paces now that Thurston, a fixture on the Raiders coaching staff for two decades, has returned to the Moorpark College football team as running backs coach and special teams coordinator.

"I'm back," said Thurston, who was back on a field this week with the start of the team's summer class. "I'm kind of going full circle."

Thurston was the offensive coordinator when Moorpark's current offensive coordinator, Jimmy Bittner, was in the Raiders backfield in 1985.

"There's a good level of communication that's been established," said Thurston.

Thurston also coached one of the great backfields in community college history in 1989, when the Raiders had tailback Freddie Bradley and fullback Anderson.

"That was fun," said Thurston. "We had more people, more scouts watch pregame warm-ups. It was real intense because everybody was so competitive."

Since being hired as a 22-year-old by head coach Jim Bittner in 1979, Thurston has spent time as Raiders' running backs coach (1979-84), special teams coordinator (1985-99), offensive coordinator (1985-93), outside linebacker coach (1994-98) and defensive coordinator (1999).

"I'm glad he's still around," said Thurston of head coach Bittner. "He still interacts so well with the players. He's got some young coaches with him. They've got a lot of vigor to be real good."

Formerly the school's golf coach, Thurston will remain the Moorpark College softball coach.

Ventura College hired former San Jose Christian College head coach Matt Micek earlier this month as its men's basketball assistant coach.

Micek, a former Concordia, Cal Poly Pomona and Biola assistant, joins first-year head coach Joey Ramirez, who was promoted to head coach earlier this year. The pair previously worked together at Oak Park High.

"I look forward to assisting the Pirates in their return to the premier community college program on the West Coast," said Micek in the release.

Micek played four years at Colorado Christian University and played professionally in the Philippines.

Both Moorpark College and Ventura College are looking for new head coaches for their track and field programs.

Linda Boyan, who spent the last two seasons as the Moorpark men's track and field coach, will not return, according to athletic director Howard Davis.

Tony Veney, the head coach of the Ventura College track and field and cross country programs, will return to the NCAA Division I level next month at North Carolina A&T.

The former UCLA and Oregon assistant accepted the Greensboro, N.C. school's director of track and field programs position last week.

"It was not an easy decision," said Veney while driving through Little Rock, Ark. Wednesday. "It was very difficult for me to leave the young people who are coming back. We've had a good year. The program had a great year recruiting. Some of the coaches in the area were really buying into what we were doing.

"Unfortunately, this whole California budget thing put Ventura and myself between a rock and a hard place."

The highlights of Veney's brief tenure include Teddy Elsenbaumer's Southern California decathlon title and the rare home dual meet sweep over Moorpark, Cuesta and Canyons April 1.

"Ventura College is deeply indebted to Tony for his two years of service," said Ventura athletic director Will Cowen. "I really think he had our programs on the verge of something really special. He was an excellent teacher and excellent motivator. We wish him all the best."

Coming off its first competitive loss of the season, the Ventura County Fusion has no time to lick its wounds.

One day after being knocked out of the U.S. Open Cup with a 1-0 loss to the professional Los Angeles Blues, the Fusion left for the airport and its toughest road trip of the season.

The Fusion will play both of the Southwest Division's two Utah teams over the next three nights, visiting the BYU Cougars tonight in Provo, Utah and the Ogden Outlaws Saturday.

"Going as far as you can in the cup is one thing, but staying on top of the division is another top priority," said coach Ole Mikkelsen. "We'll get our focus back on the league."

The trip outside the state hasn't been easy for the Fusion, which has followed the same pattern over the past two years by dropping points in the first match only to recover by winning the second.

"It has been a mixed bag for us," said Mikkelsen of the trips to the Beehive State. "It tests the depth of the team every year."

Last year, the Fusion fell 2-1 to last place Ogden before responding with a 2-1 win at BYU behind goals by Sam Myerson and Jacob Hustedt. In 2009, it followed a 2-2 draw at BYU with a 3-1 win at Ogden.

"We occasionally play down to their level," said Mikkelsen. "Last year at Ogden, the team didn't play well at all. But they turned around and beat BYU the next match and went on a healthy run of wins to close out the season."

Trailing first-place Fresno (7-0-3) by two points, the Fusion (6-0-4) can't afford to drop any more points considering the Southwest Division includes two of the five unbeaten teams remaining in the 64-team Premier Development League.

Tonight's road match in Provo, Utah will be televised by BYUtv, which can be found on DirecTV channel 374, Dish Network channel 9403 and Verizon Fios channel 290.

The Fusion are used to being broadcast. Its home matches are presented on the Internet by http://www.HomeFieldSports.com (radio) and http://www.KADytv.com (video).

Because of school commitments, the Fusion will be missing its UCLA contingent of midfielder Andy Rose, forward Reed Williams, fullback Shawn Singh and fullback Matt Weit for its Utah trip. Winger David Walker was also unable to make the trip because of work.

Those holes will create opportunity. Defender Micky Daley could return to the side after recovering from a hamstring injury. Tall, speedy forward Gyasi Zardes, a Cal State Bakersfield sophomore who looked promising in a five-minute debut Tuesday, is also on the trip.

"He only played five minutes last night but he looked good," said Fusion general manager Ranbir Shergill. "He's going to be a good one."

Another newcomer is 18-year-old winger Marvin Morgan, a Jamaican international who has already scored twice for his country.

Fusion goalkeeper coach Bryan Hill was sent off in the second half Tuesday night for dissent. The joke on the sideline after the game was that the red card solidified Hill's position as a "true" member of the coaching staff, considering the staff's history.

Fusion fans will remember coach Graham Smith being sent off late in the 2009 PDL title game win over the Chicago Fire U-23s.

The Ventura County Fusion may be out of the U.S. Open Cup, but several Fusion alumni are still alive in the competition. The third-round match between the Wilmington (N.C.) Hammerheads and Real Salt Lake will feature a veritable Fusion reunion.

Wilmington features six Fusion alumni, including Thousand Oaks High graduates Diego Barrera and Dylan Riley. Former Fusion players Artur Aghasyan and Jean Alexandre feature for Real Salt Lake

Wilmington dug out of a 2-0 deficit Tuesday to top the Carolina Eagles, 3-2, after extra time. The equalizing goal featured an assist from former hardworking Fusion midfielder Hakop Avesyan.

The end of the school year is conflicting with the middle of the Premier Development League season, which is creating some hurdles for the Ventura County Fusion men's soccer team.

The Fusion (5-0-3) may have stretched its unbeaten start to eight games with a pair of 1-1 draws over the weekend, against the Los Angeles Blues at Palisades High Thursday and the visiting Southern California Seahorses Saturday.

But, missing several of its college contingent, the Fusion not only dropped four points, it dropped out of first place in the Southwestern Division. The Fresno Fuego (6-0-2), which host the Fusion in a top-of-the-table clash Saturday night at Chukchansi Park, now hold a two-point lead in the division table.

With finals at UCLA and Cal Poly, the Fusion were without goalkeeper Brian Rowe, midfielder Andy Rose, midfielder Jacob Husted and striker Reed Williams for much of the weekend.

The situation isn't improving for the matchup of the unbeatens Saturday in Fresno, as Rowe, Rose and fullback Shawn Singh will not make the trip because of UCLA graduation.

"It's going to be a big week," said Fusion general manager Ranbir Shergill. "It's unfortunate because we're going to missing players this week again because of graduation."

The Fusion will look for a few new faces to fill in the void.

"It's a bit unfortunate," said Shergill, "but in the long term, I think it'll be good because a couple new players are getting opportunities."

Oxnard College midfielder Ivan Mirkovic made his Fusion debut in Saturday's draw, starting in midfield and playing well.

"He took Andy's spot and played very well," said Shergill. "He really got involved."

Another pair of Oxnard College products, Gabriel Gonzalez and Emigdio Ramirez, also made substitute appearances.

The two score draws over the weekend couldn't have been more different.

At the L.A. Blues, Danny Barrera set up forward Callum Riley for a 36th-minute lead. But Carlos Aguilar equalized from the penalty spot three minutes into second half stoppage time.

"It didn't seem as those any contact was made," said Shergill. "We also had a lot of chances as well. Their goalkeeper (Chris Lara) made a lot of great saves and we missed a lot of chances. It's unfortunate to give up a late goal like that."

Two nights later, the Seahorses took the lead in the ninth minute as Billy Fellow headed home from a scramble off an early corner kick.

Once again, Barrera assisted on a Riley goal to even the score six minutes later, but the Fusion could not produce a winner.

"One thing about the Seahorses, they've always had a very organized team," said Shergill. "They got the early goal and they really tried to pack it in and make it difficult for us to play."

The two assists give Barrera nine in just seven games, which leads the entire 64-team PDL. The Westlake High product and UC Santa Barbara attacker is also third in points with 15.

A pair of Fusion products made Major League Soccer news last week for Real Salt Lake.

Midfielder Jean Alexandre earned MLS Player of the Week honors by picking up a goal and an assist in Salt Lake's 2-0 win over the visiting Vancouver Whitecaps.

The Haitian international had been converted to forward because of a roster crunch created by injuries and international callups.

Former Fusion forward Arturo Aghasyan also came on for Salt Lake with three minutes to play.

"That was really good," said Shergill, "having a couple of the Fusion boys involved."

The Ventura County Fusion have local company in the fourth tier of the American soccer pyramid.

FC Hasental, based in the Conejo Valley, made the leap from the Gran Liga De Oxnard into the National Premier Soccer League this season.

The NPSL is a 38-team national league similar to the PDL with teams in 19 states from New Hampshire to Georgia, Minnesota to California.

"The league has seen some growth over the past few year," said Hasental general manager Briggs Palmer.

"Los Conejos," who play their matches at Calabasas High and Oxnard College, feature several local products on their roster, including Oxnard College products Jonny Martinez, Abel Pacheco and Alberto Anguiano, as well as Moorpark College products Luis Armondo Gutierrez and Jose Luis Garcia.

With 16 points from 10 matches, Hasental sits in fourth place in the Western Conference with four matches to play in the regular season.

A year ago, the goal was getting there.

This year, the Ventura County Fusion men's soccer team will be looking to do something with its berth in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

The Fusion will host adult amateur side Doxa Italia in the first round of the Open Cup June 14 at the Ventura College Sportsplex, U.S. Soccer announced Tuesday.

"One our goals at the beginning of last year was to qualify for the Open Cup," said Fusion coach Ole Mikklesen. "I certainly wasn't satisfied with departing in the first round on (penalty kicks)... This year, we want to go as far as we can."

Based in Southern California, Doxa Italia have several Fusion alumni on their roster, including winger Bryan Byrne, midfielder Andrew Villalobos and defender Marcus Watson.

"That'll be interesting," said Mikklesen. "That'll be fun."

Doxa also features Buena High and Moorpark College midfielder Devin Toohey, several former Major League Soccer players and Raul Palomares, a former U.S. youth international who scored for Kaiserslautern in Bundesliga play.

None of the 64 teams in the Premier Development League have started brighter the Fusion (5-0-1), who lead the continent in goals scored (23) and goal difference (plus 20). It is one of the nine unbeaten teams left in the PDL.

"I'm extremely pleased with the results and certainly the fashion in which we've been playing," said Mikklesen. "We're playing very attack-minded soccer and the defense has held up its end of the bargain as well.

"It'll be great to continue that form into the Open Cup."

The winner of the first-round tie will play either Hollywood United, who play in the National Premier Soccer League, or the Los Angeles Blues' USL PRO side in the second round. The second-round winner could be matched up against MLS opposition.

"That's our aim," said Mikkelsen.

There's another club with deep Fusion roots that is also in the cup field.

Six Fusion alumni are playing professionally for the Wilmington (N.C.) Hammerheads in United Soccer League's PRO league.

Thousand Oaks High products Dylan Riley and Diego Barrera highlight the sextet, which also includes midfielder Hakop Avesyan, defensive midfielder Manny Guzman, defender Jamie Scope, and defender Ivan Becerra, who is captaining the Hammerheads.

The Fusion management, including general manager Ranbir Shergill, have been watching as Wilmington (4-1-2) has opened the season strongly.

"We keep in touch," said Shergill. "I go online to USLlive.com and watch as much of the games as I can and during the week I talk to the boys.

"It's kind of like a family atmosphere with the lads. We keep in touch and everyone wants to see everybody do well."

Wilmington is in fourth place in the American Division behind Orlando, Richmond, Antigua and Charleston, but the Hammerheads have three matches in hand. They will host the PDL's Central Florida Kraze in the first round of the Open Cup

Bryan Hill, 33, who backstopped the Fusion to the 2009 PDL title, is adjusting to a new role this summer.

One of the original Fusion players, the veteran has become into the Fusion's goalkeeping coach, yielding the sticks to UCLA goalkeeper Brian Rowe and UC Santa Barbara goalkeeper Sam Hayden.

"There were a couple different factors," said Hill, who also coaches goalies at Oxnard College. "One was the talent that I knew we had coming in with Brian and Sam. Those two are tremendous goalkeepers."

Hill is still on call in case of injury, but the Oregon State product is focused on his coaching career.

"I can definitely still step in and play," said Hill. "But my stance form the beginning has been to let the college guys develop and get a chance to work towards a professional contract."