During a day off from training on Monday, Cal Poly men’s soccer junior-to-be Justin Dhillon spoke with me over the phone. Dhillon’s first two years at Cal Poly have certainly been interesting. The highest-ranked soccer recruit (and maybe recruit in any sport?) Cal Poly has ever landed, Dhillon came in with a freshman class that joined a team with big expectations.

Justin Dhillon scored the game-winning goal for PSA Elite a few weeks ago to get them into Wednesday’s US Open Cup match against the LA Galaxy. By Owen Main

At the end of his sophomore school year, though, Dhillon and his teammates have had three coaches at Cal Poly. I talked to Dhillon about what stability Steve Sampson brings to the program, what summer club soccer is like for a player of his caliber, and how his club team, PSA Elite (which also includes Cal Poly goalkeeper Wade Hamilton), got themselves into a fourth round US Open Cup match against the LA Galaxy on Wednesday night.

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Fansmanship: How was the the end of the school year?

Justin Dhillon: Good, finals were a little stressful but got through all of them and really excited to be home for summer.

F: Can you give me an idea about your spring quarter schedule and how that rolls into what you’re doing into the summer and beyond?

JD: In spring, we started the quarter with some baseline testing and fitness lifting. We went through our training cycle and did a lot of extra fitness work and lifting and stayed on a complete regimen. At the end of the quarter we retested and saw our improvements on things like vertical, power lifts, and fitness mile time.

F: So the goal is for you to stay fit year-round then?

JD: Definitely. Winter quarter we went a little lower on the fitness and more lifting and then spring quarter we slowly worked our way up with the fitness and now in the summer it’s kind of our own job to maintain and to grow with the fitness. One of our team goals is to be one of the most fit teams in the country.

F: That was something your team dealt with a lot last year with depth and guys getting hurt. How much are you looking forward to having a healthy team next school year?

JD: It was a little tough last year with all of our injuries. There was myself and a couple other guys who played in every single game and because we had very little subs we really didn’t get much time to rest but I’m hoping that for our whole team to come together from a starting fitness point. With more depth on our roster this year, we hope to maintain a strong performance throughout the year.

F: Club soccer is something that a lot of guys go play in the offseason. Tell me how that works in terms of planning. How does that all go down as the school year progresses.

JD: It’s a little bit different for everyone individually, but basically wherever you’re planning on staying for the summer usually you can contact the coach and say, “I go to Cal Poly and I’m looking to continue training.” Sometimes the coaches set them up. I know some of the guys on our team are going to Costa Rica over the summer to train. With regards to myself, PSA has been around Orange County for a while and I do know the head coach, so he contacted a group of college players who are from Orange County. In addition I’ll be attending the Galaxy because that’s where I grew up playing.

F: Tell me about what that’s like when you’re a member of a team’s (LA Galaxy’s) academy and what kind of influence that has on you as a player?

JD: For the academy, they’ve done a really good job of staying in touch with a lot of the college guys. I feel like moving past the academy, even though you might graduate from the program you’re still not done necessarily there because every year in the summer they’ll invite some people back to continue training. Last year we trained with LA Galaxy II and we got to do their whole summer training program. It was all the same equipment they use, we were in their locker room with a complete professional environment. I haven’t been there yet this summer, but I’m assuming it will be something similar to that. It’s really good training to be practicing with the first team guys and all the Galaxy II players in a professional environment to help all of us college guys prepare for the next season.

F: You mentioned LA Galaxy II. A former teammate of yours, Ari Lassiter, is currently playing with them and playing well, scoring a lot of goals and getting a lot of time. How much do you stay in touch with former teammates like him and Mackenzie Pridham? Is that a road map for you to play professionally in the future?

JD: Ari was actually my roommate last year and we’re still very very good friends. I’ve been texting him letting him know I’m going to be coming up there and playing with them. He’s been doing well. He actually played against Mac yesterday and he scored a penalty, so that’s pretty cool to see both the Cal Poly guys out there again. As far as a road map for us, it’s definitely what we want to achieve. It’s a big advantage to have the opportunity to be put in front of first team and Galaxy II coaching staff over the summer and training with them, so it’s pretty advantageous. Ultimately, that is a road map that I hopefully can achieve — being able to go play with the team I grew up with. It’s always been a dream of mine. Hopefully one day it can work out.

F: With Steve Sampson as your college coach now, do you feel like you’re getting more exposure or a level of preparation from a guy who has coached in a World Cup? How does having a coach like him prepare you guys (Cal Poly players) to play professionally if that’s something you want to pursue?

JD: I respect all my coaches I’ve had. We’ve seen dramatic changes ultimately for the better. He’s definitely harder on us, but he’s also so much more professional. He’s giving us all the tools we need to be successful with any other coach. He’s made it clear to us that he’s well respected at the next level and if we can continue to improve and show that that’s something we want to do and fight for it then we 100% have his support in the future. I think it’s a huge motivation even for recruits to come to our school because nobody else in the country has a coach like Steve Sampson with his resume and his connections.

F: Tell me about going to play at StubHub Center (with PSA Elite). Have you ever played there before? How does it feel to go back to play against the team you trained with when you were younger.

JD: I have played in that stadium for a scrimmage. Just playing in that stadium even back then without the fans was something really spectacular. Having the opportunity to play against the first team in the Open Cup, that’s pretty unbelievable for an amateur team in college to have an opportunity to essentially be playing in a professional game. I’m a little bit torn, being a supporter of the Galaxy and playing for them growing up and now ultimately having to play against them and wanting my team to move on to the next round. It’s a little change of heart, but ultimately I do want PSA to win and my team to be a part of the next round.

F: Do you think you have another upset in you? It would be the biggest upset in US Open Cup history…

JD: It would be a HUGE upset and obviously the Galaxy is one of the best teams in the MLS. For a team like us to be able to challenge them and play against them is an upset in itself. From the guys I know on PSA, some of them were on the Galaxy with me and some were on the (junior) national team with me, so it’s going to be an interesting game. We obviously have something to prove. Obviously (the Galaxy) are not going to take us lightly, they’re professionals, but it’s going to be a real fun test.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 at StubHub Center on Wednesday night. General admission tickets are just $10. 

A little like college baseball players who go away to play in summer leagues, college soccer players who are good enough often play for clubs during the offseason.

On Wednesday evening in Ventura, Justin Dhillon entered the game in the 79th minute of a tie US Open Cup third round match. Less than 30 seconds later, he had a game winning goal that will send his team, PSA Elite, into the fourth round to play the LA Galaxy at the StubHub Center.

Justin Dhillon will be an upperclassman on a talented Cal Poly soccer team next season. By Owen Main

Dhillon’s strike came off a long free kick that his teammate was able to settle and feed to him. After one quick touch, the winger from Tesoro high school popped a left footed shot into the back of the net. Dhillon, who will be a junior at Cal Poly next season, slotted the game-winner past incoming UCSB goalkeeper Justin Vom Steeg of the Ventura County Fusion for the game winner.

In the second round, Cal Poly midfielder Matt LaGrassa’s strike placed the Fusion on the winning side against the USL’s LA Galaxy II, a professional side that included former Mustang Ari Lassiter. On Wednesday, it was his teammate Dhillon who ended Ventura County’s US Open Cup run.

Also on the PSA Elite side that will play against the LA Galaxy is Cal Poly keeper Wade Hamilton. Hamilton made a few diving saves during the game to help keep PSA Elite in the match.