The Big 4 of high school boys soccer in 2010 was more like the BIG FOUR.
Catalina Foothills’ Julie Walters had coached the Falcons to 2006 and 2008 state championships. Rincon/University’s Roxanne Taylor was in her prime, guiding the Rangers to 2007 and 2009 state titles. Sabino’s Jon Pearlman won it all in 2005 and came within one disputed play of getting to the ‘09 championship game.
And, of course, there was Salpointe Catholic’s ironic Wolfgang Weber, whose Lancers seemed to either win the state championship every year or come this close.
There seemed to be no room for a newbie.
Canyon del Oro, whose sports reputation had been founded on baseball and later became a state power in softball and football, seemed an unlikely breakthrough soccer program. But everything changed with first-year coach Joshua Marshall, himself a former Dorados soccer standout, a recent graduate of NAU, was hired to coach his alma mater for the 2008 season.
CDO won 2009 and 2010 state championships, a perfect 30-0 against Tucson competition, and, looking back 22 years later, it wasn’t a fluke.
The Dorados of 2009 and 2010 deployed two of the top boys soccer players in Tucson history: Nick Marshall, the coach’s younger brother who would become a standout at UNLV, and Donny Toia, who would go on to play in the MLS and is now, after a decade in pro soccer, is part of the FC Tucson roster.
After Marshall graduated in ‘09, Toia took charge. He scored 55 goals in his final two CDO seasons, became the Star’s player of the year and subsequently became an All-ACCAC player as a freshman for Pima College Dave Cosgrove before signing with Real Salt Lake’s developmental squad. (Toia played nearly a decade in Major League Soccer before signing with FC Tucson earlier this month).
“Toia is a special player,” said Marshall. “He’s amazing on the field. When he gets the ball to his feet, he’s incredible with it. He’s a leader both on and off the field.”
By the end of his CDO days, Toia was mentioned in the same group with the elite boys soccer players in Tucson history, such as Trong Nguyen, Jeff Rogers, Minh Vu, Scott Leber, Vince Bianchi and Fernando Gauna.
In the 2010 state championship game, Toia scored four goals in the first half of a victory over Sahuaro. He had plenty of quality help from Josh King, Kyle Cornell and Caleb Cristia, among others.
“We have talented players at key positions,” Marshall said. “And when you have a team that passes like ours and is as unselfish as ours, it’s hard to beat.”
It would be incomplete not to mention that Marshall inherited a good situation when he arrived on the CDO campus from his NAU days. Previous coach Pedram Mahinpey had coached the Dorados to the 2007 state championship game, losing to Rincon/University. But Mahinpey resigned after seven years and Marshall, the rookie coach, took it to a higher level.
The CDO soccer juggernaut has been unable to continue at the highest level of Arizona prep soccer.
Canyon del Oro forward Donny Toia was named the Star's boys soccer player of the year in 2010.
Joshua Marshall chose to resume his education and moved to Colorado. He graduated from the Sturm College of Law at Denver University and today operates his own family law firm in Tucson. He has three young children and is coaching youth soccer. He also co-owns a Tucson construction company with his brother, Nick, who returned to Tucson after his college soccer career at UNLV.
