Wren rocks Trojans soccer program
There have been other successful boys soccer coaches at Northwestern High School, but none quite like Dom Wren.
The Herald's All-Area Boys Soccer Coach of the Year is like a rock star to his players and the large fan base that would follow the Trojans to the ends of the earth. It's not just his British accent and the soccer terms he uses.
It's his presence.
Everyone he meets is his friend. And his players say they couldn't imagine anyone else other than Wren being their coach.
Since being promoted to head coach five seasons ago, Wren has rocked the soccer world at varying levels.
Wren's record is 154-10. He has led the Trojans to five straight Class AAAA state championship games, winning four, including the last three. Northwestern was 25-0 in 2009, won the state championship, and was named the national champion by two soccer organizations.
The 2010 team ended the season at 27-2, setting the school record for most victories in a single season.
"Of the four state championships, this one was very special,'' Wren said. "When you consider the players we graduated and that people were saying we'd never make it to the championship, it was very satisfying to go and to win it.
"This group did not have the talent we've had in the past, but they were determined and worked hard. We lost our entire back line, our top scorer and had a different keeper this year. Our guys were blue collar. They decided what they wanted and went to work to get it.''
Wren, who is from England and played at Winthrop, kept the bar set high this year even after graduating several of the state's top seniors from the 2009 team, including record-setting forward Enzo Martinez (182 career goals); Shawn Ferguson; scrapper Zack Clark and defender Robbie Benson.
Early this season, the Trojans had shaken off two early-season losses and were rolling to what ended up being another stellar season. But a couple of weeks before the playoffs, and with several key region games left, co-captain Dennis Moore went down with a knee injury.
Ricardo Garbanzo, another team leader, also was missing at the same time because he was playing in an Olympic Development League in England.
But senior Alex Martinez, Enzo's brother, took up the slack and helped keep the Trojans' winning streak growing until his mates returned.
The Trojans went 4-0 with Moore and Garbanzo out, including a win over rival Fort Mill.
"I didn't do anything they (Garbanzo and Moore) wouldn't have done if I had been out,'' said Martinez, The Herald's All-Area Boys Soccer Player of the Year. "The thing about our team is we enjoy playing together. We are very close and we love each other. It makes our team stronger.
"And another thing is we wanted it, wanted to show the people who counted us out that they didn't know us well. Last year when we beat Irmo, we were the favorite. This year we were the underdogs. It was awesome to beat them (4-2) and prove we could do it.''
Martinez signed to play soccer at High Point (N.C.) University of the Big South Conference.
Playing for the Panthers will allow him to come home for games against league-member Winthrop.
He scored 31 goals and had 18 assists this season. Wren had no qualms about describing Martinez as the heart and soul of this year's team.
"Alex was our vocal leader and got everyone ready to play,'' Wren said. "He and several of our seniors knew it was their time to be in the spotlight and they went out and performed.
"What people didn't see was the leadership of our captains, Alex, Ryan (Foster) and Dennis (Moore). Dennis was the steadying force, led by example and stayed calm. Ryan was my coach on the field. We got everything we asked for from those three outstanding young men.''
This story was originally published June 15, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Wren rocks Trojans soccer program."