sentences:  He began a soccer program across the river from St. Louis in Granite City, Illinois becoming a pioneer in an area which later produced national team defender Steve Trittschuh, a former player under Mendoza.By the mid-1970s, Mendoza could claim with some accuracy that nearly every soccer player from Granite City had been either coached by him personally or by a coach trained by Mendoza.His club teams won the Illinois State Cup each year throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.