Christopher James "Chris" or "CJ" Carenza is a retired American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

defender who played professionally in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

College

Carenza, son of

Hall of Famer A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

Joe Carenza, Sr. and brother of John Carenza, graduated from St. Mary's High School in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

in 1970. He attended

Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) is a public university in Edwardsville, Illinois, United States. Located within the Metro East of Greater St. Louis, SIUE was established in 1957 as an extension of Southern Illinois University Ca ...

where he played on the men's soccer team from 1971 to 1974. In 1972, he led the team in scoring and scored the winning goal in the

NCAA Men's Division II Soccer Championship The NCAA Division II men's soccer tournament (formerly the NCAA College Division soccer tournament) is an annual event organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to determine the national champions of men's collegiate socc ...

. He was also a 1974 Honorable Mention All American. In 2005, SIUE inducted Carenza into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the St. Louis Soccer Hall of Fame in 2004.

Professional

In 1975, Carenza signed with the San Antonio Thunder of the

. In 1977, the Thunder moved to Hawaii to become

Team Hawaii Team Hawaii was a soccer team based out of Honolulu that played in the NASL for one season, 1977. Their home field was Aloha Stadium. After two unsuccessful years as the San Antonio Thunder, the franchise moved to Hawai'i in time for the ...

. Carenza played that season, then left the league. Carenza spent a few months beginning in October 1978 with London Football League side Leyton Orient. In December 1978, after seven reserve outings and an appearance against Sweden's IFK Goteborg in a friendly he was offered a professional contract. However, he tore his groin in a training session, and had to return home. Once recovered he signed for Team Hawaii in 1978, but retired from the game soon after and went into coaching.Neilson N. Kaufman, historian to Leyton Orient Football Club In later year years he became an Assistant Attorney General in Missouri and in March 2012 he was appointed the executive director of the Vehicle Protection Association, a position he still held in July 2013.

References

External links

NASL stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carenza, Chris Living people Soccer players from St. Louis North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players San Antonio Thunder players Team Hawaii players SIU Edwardsville Cougars men's soccer players 1952 births American men's soccer players Men's association football defenders 20th-century American sportsmen