In the beginning, Marcos Mercado had the task of replacing a defender who was the equivalent of a brick wall.

In the end, he had to lay the foundation, the bricks and sculpt a backline made up of players, which had never pulled a Hornet jersey over their head.

Last season Hjalti Kristjannsson, a second-team Mountain Pacific Sports Federation selection, was the centerback anchoring the backline while Mercado was a marking back.

But with Kristjansson’s departure after his senior season, Mercado prepared to fill the roll as the last line of defense.

“I actually like pressure,” Mercado said. “I don’t feel it’s a deterrent toward our success or my doing well. I’ve kind of asked for it as long as I can remember.”

What Kristjannsson had last year was an experienced defense except for one freshman, Utodi Madu, who ended the season with an MPSF honorable mention.

But by the time the 2003 fall season began, the memorable faces from 2002 had dispersed and Mercado was no longer replacing one man, but organizing a class of rookies that could have been the downfall of a team trying to make a postseason tournament they were hosting.

“Last spring we kind of cleaned house,” Mercado said. “Some guys took off, some guys got kicked off; it just all collapsed at one time. But during the spring we picked up some elements – guys that are there for the team not for themselves.”

The defense has played musical chairs this season with Mercado and junior transfer Juan Carlos Cortez, Jr. remaining the two consistent players standing in the back.

The rest of the lineup has consisted at times of freshmen Eric Ortiz and Ismael Echeverria, junior transfer Ryan Pierni and senior Ben Delsol, who had a four-year layoff from the soccer field before returning for his last year of eligibility.

“The new guys aren’t as vocal,” Mercado said. “They’re not used to everything yet so with my experience I’ve already seen it and I’m used to it so I can share knowledge. If I can organize and be more vocal, it will be beneficial to our team.”

On Thursday the Hornets will play in the first round of the MPSF tournament. It will be Mercado organizing the back and Mercado making the final tackle before the goalkeeper may have to flee his box to stop an incoming San Diego State Aztec.

It will be Mercado who will bear the burden of whether his team plays on Friday in the second round – a burden he welcomes.

“If I make a mistake and a goal is scored I’ll be the first one to admit it,” Mercado said. The Hornets have had their moments on both sides of the field this season. Experiencing a 6-1 loss to MPSF first place finisher San Jose State and two games later a 6-0 loss to the University of San Francisco. A young team with 14 new players was struggling to find its identity while a first-year captain and first-year centerback was trying to teach 14 freshmen to play with the shape of a team in just a matter of weeks.

“Too many times we end up relying on positions to do their jobs, rather than the whole team taking the task at hand,” Mercado said.

“The whole unity thing on the field is what has been killing us – putting too much emphasis on what position you play than the whole team getting the job done.”

Sure enough, at times this team has looked out of sync, failing to make the final pass, failing to see an open Sam Sneed along the right side or imagining an open Sneed along the right side. Failing to take the shot – making one pass too many.

Failing to find the crown of Patrick Nelle’s head on corner kicks, and at times, failing to clear dangerous balls out of the penalty area.

But what the team didn’t fail to do was qualify for the postseason tournament. What the team didn’t fail to do was get a 2-1 win over Air Force and they didn’t fail to get a 3-2 win over UNLV. And most importantly, they didn’t fail to hold on to a 1-1 tie with San Diego State under constant sheets of rain and a messy field.

And behind them, not failing to instruct them, not failing to guide them, not failing to make the sliding tackle, not failing to pull up on an offside call, not failing to captain them, has been Mercado.

The young man who spent every Sunday following his father around a soccer field when he was a boy, spent his summers playing for the River City Rush and spent his high school years playing for Jesuit High School – the best program in the Sacramento-area, a program that is currently the best program in the nation.

The test that awaits Mercado and the rest of the team this weekend is a lot like building a brick wall. Laying the foundation is the first step, finding bricks that will fit together is the next, while the last step will be getting the cement that will hold the wall together through any possible disaster.