The feature below about Truman senior Fernando Mendez is sponsored by Booters Discount Soccer Store, 221 Second Street Pike, Southampton.
Keeper was the highlight of a down season for Truman
By Jarrad Saffren
In 2015, the Harry S. Truman boys soccer team won just one game. But, after each loss, opposing coaches voiced the same sentiment.
“We should have had more goals. The Truman keeper was terrific. He kept them in it,” said Council Rock South coach Alan Nicholl after the Hawks beat Truman 2-1 on Sept. 9.
“Some were point blank, some were diving. He’s very good. He basically stood on his head to keep them in the game,” said Bensalem coach Joe Leone after a 2-1 win over the Tigers on Sept. 21.
“Some of his saves were absolutely spectacular,” said Council Rock North coach Joe Stackhouse after a 3-2 win on Oct. 8.
Truman’s keeper also carried the Tigers to their lone win. On Oct. 15 against Bensalem, he stopped eight shots, including one on a breakaway with seven minutes left that kept the game tied. Truman scored with 12 seconds left to win 2-1.
His name is Fernando Mendez. 
“Fernando is irreplaceable,” said Truman coach Jack Kinloch after that game.
The Tigers lost six games by one goal. With an 88 percent save percentage, Mendez was unanimously selected to the All-SOL National First-Team. He had a season-high 17 saves in a 1-0 overtime loss to Kennett Square, 16 saves in a 4-0 loss to Pennsbury, and 10 or more in two other games.
The seeds for Mendez’s brilliant senior season were planted in 2014. The keeper was named to the All-SOL National Second Team, but the Tigers went just 4-12-1 overall and 2-11-1 against SOL National teams. It was a disappointing season for a veteran team with higher expectations.
“We had a great set of players. We were talented and deep,” Mendez said. “Everything was there for a good season. But we gave up unlucky goals, didn’t finish, and ended the season with our hopes down.”
Coach Bill O’Neill left Truman after the season to start a girls soccer program at Bryn Athyn College.
Mendez was not discouraged. He went to work in the offseason, waking up everyday at 7:30 a.m. and eating a “good breakfast of a banana or cereal.” Then, his friend Edgar Rodriguez, who plays on Bryn Athyn’s team, called Mendez, and the two met at Truman’s junior varsity field.
Mendez and Rodriguez trained for two hours, then Rodriguez shot on Mendez for another one or two hours.
“He drilled me with hard shots, low shots to the corner, shots high in the air,” said Mendez.
Rodriguez also attacked Mendez’s weaknesses.
“Claiming corners was a difficult thing of mine,” Mendez said. “And distribution. We worked on both.”
Mendez and Rodriguez were drenched in sweat by the end of each day.
“We always brought a gallon of water each,” said Mendez. “It was finished by the end of each training session.”
Mendez was tired by the end of the hot summer, but it was a good tired, an invigorated tired, a tired that makes you want to dive into your next project. For Mendez, that was the 2015 season with a new coach, a new system, and new standards.
In training camp, Kinloch knew his 14-man roster was short on scorers.
“Our goal is to be competitive in every game,” said Kinloch at the time. “If we get to halftime 0-0, there’s no reason we can’t get to 80 minutes 0-0. We are not going to play for ties but I’m not sure if we’re going to score many goals.”
To stay in games, Kinloch installed a two-three defensive system, two players in front, three in back.
“It’s almost like a double stopper,” the Tigers’ coach said. “It is like we have two extra mids.”
Truman’s two best field players—CJ Weed and Badr Faske—played the spots in front of the back three. Weed, Faske, and Mendez formed a wall early in the season. The Tigers allowed zero goals in the preseason and two or less in three of the first five games.
Kinloch also injected the program with new standards.
“Show up, be on time, be at every practice. The same standards that every other team in our league has for training and practice,” said Kinloch.
Two key players left the program in camp because they didn’t buy in. Other upperclassmen left once the Tigers started losing. Mendez stayed and became a role model for younger players.
“Every drill, every fitness thing we did, he’s among the first done,” said Kinloch. “He has talent and intangibles. That’s what makes him a special player. We lost some quality soccer players who didn’t have intangibles.”
Kinloch said Mendez has too much character to give up.
“He loves the game, loves to play, and is super competitive,” the Truman coach said. “He could have walked. He plays on a good club team. But he didn’t want to.”
The coach envisions a bright future for his star pupil, on the field and off.
“I told him, ‘Fernando you have no idea right now, but you’re going to be fine in life, you approach things the right way,’” Kiinloch said.
The next step is college. Mendez has one year of club eligibility left, which gives him more time to find a school. He is considering Drexel, Lehigh, and others. He does not have any offers, but he has attracted the attention of movers and shakers.
After Truman’s season-opening loss to William Tennent, Mike Barr, the director of Eastern PA Youth Soccer, and a member of the famous Barr family of college and NFL kickers, approached Kinloch. “He said, ‘Any school you want me to contact for him, email me, we’d be glad to help him out.’”
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