Against All Odds: Turning a 7-6 Record into a National Championship Title

Imagine being a senior captain in college, dropping to a 7-6 record, and having your coach say, “one more loss and we are going to finish the year using Freshmen players, prepping for next season.”

How would you react and what would you change?

This was my reality in 2006, my senior year at UC Santa Barbara. Little did we know that this "very bad, very no good" season would transform our unranked college team into NCAA Division 1 National Champions.

Here's how we defied the odds and achieved the impossible!

A little background. I moved to the US from Ireland in 2003, to play college soccer at UC Santa Barbara. To be honest, I didn’t know a whole lot about where I was actually going or what to expect. My freshman year was rough; I struggled to adjust to college life in the US and everything that went along with living so far away from home. There was a moment when the UCSB coaches were going to pull my scholarship and send me home - my performance level was low. But I wanted to be there and I wanted to make an impact on the program, so we agreed that if I won EVERY sprint in Winter/Spring workouts, they would let me stay for another season. I won EVERY sprint. My sophomore year, we went to the National Championship game, losing a heartbreaking game on PKs vs Indiana. The group of seniors that season were incredible, all players who had come to UCSB with chips on their shoulder, having not been selected by bigger colleges. They left an invaluable mark on the program and set the standard for future teams.

Two years later, I was captain and ready (or so I thought) to lead a team to a college title. And that is where we pick up this incredible story.

Our record just dropped to 7-6 after losing 1-0 to bottom of the conference team UC Riverside. We are getting on the bus in a sense of shock, everyone silent, knowing how disastrous the loss was to our season. And it got even worse. As the bus was pulling out of the parking lot, the driver cut his angle and got lodged on a drainage ditch, front wheels of the bus left spinning in air. We are stuck – and the only available tow truck that could get the bus back on the road was two hours away. Coach Vom Steeg called the seniors to the front of the bus for a conversation, and he made it clear that we are in a bad spot.

One more loss and it would be time to cut the seniors and start playing the freshman, allowing him the opportunity to give players experience and prepare his roster for next season.

Kyle Reynish, Jeff Murphy, Eric Frimpong, and I found ourselves on the brink of a premature end to our college careers. In that heart-stopping moment when you hear those words, it felt as if the lifeblood drained from our bodies. The urgency of the situation demanded a more profound discussion, prompting the seniors and co-captain Andy Iro to unite and craft a plan. What we had to determine was the nature of that plan. Our first move was to jump off the bus and embark as a team on a two mile walk to get dinner. It was during this pivotal journey that everything changed. Raw and candid conversations emerged, fueled by the realization that our season was hanging by a thread. These discussions, coupled with a growth mindset, shaped our collective decision on the path we would take as a team.

We Rallied The Young Players

Some of our best players were freshman and sophomore players, players who had come in after the seeing the success coach Vom Steeg had in 2004. As much as we had made them feel a part of the team, we had never relayed to them just how important they were. Eric Avila, Bongomin Otii, Chris Pontius, David Walker; players who were incredibly talented, yet we had never told them just how talented they were. Now, we were telling them that we couldn’t be successful without them, we needed them to be even better and help extend our college careers.

But it wasn’t just those players. We made sure that the squad players knew that they had a role to play too. We needed them to push us every day in practice, they needed to hold us accountable and make sure we weren’t cheating. Some of these players didn’t get much playing time that season, but they had such an incredible impact on what we ended up achieving. Jordan Kaplan, Drew Gleason, Guillermo Jalomo; just a few of the names that challenged us and put in the work behind the scenes that others never got to see.

We Embraced Unity as a Team

Up to this point of the season, we hadn’t done a lot together as a team. Being a senior captain, I tried to set an example by not going out to parties and I didn’t spend a lot of time with players outside of practice or the locker room. In my eyes, it was my way of telling players to follow example and stay focused on soccer.

In conversations, the younger players saw it as me avoiding the team, and taking everything too seriously. They saw it as their captain drifting away, not caring about spending time with players off the pitch. They wanted to enjoy time as student athletes, to have more experiences than just soccer. This realization was eye-opening for me personally, prompting a conscious effort to change my approach. I began spending evenings with the guys in their freshman dorm rooms, and both juniors and seniors started joining them in study hall. As a senior, I hadn't felt the need to spend much time at study hall, as it was mainly required for the freshman and sophomore players. However, these simple changes made a significant difference, fostering a better connection and camaraderie among all team members.

We Adapted A New Mindset - One Game At A Time

Our next game after falling to 7-6 was away at our local rivals, Cal Poly SLO. One of the seniors, Senior defender Jeff Murphy, called a group meeting on the field and let the team know it was now or never, one game at a time starting that night. Our focus was on that game, and nothing else, we needed to win. He called on the freshmen to lead the way. And they did, scoring both goals to secure our first win.

From there, our motto became “win or go home.”

It was the mantra we lived by, and we went into every game with the same high intensity. Instead of focusing on the future and what we couldn’t change, we set our mind to the present and the one thing we could impact. Around the same time, Coach Vom Steeg in a team meeting reminded us that no matter where we had been, we were only going to be remembered by our last. And that also stuck with us mentally, we had the opportunity to carve out our own destiny, and in a "win or go home" environment, the reminder that you are only remembered by your last game was an extremely powerful message.

We Became A Cohesive Team

By the time we reached the NCAA tournament, our record was at 12-7, with 5 shutouts in 6 games. Our new mindset was set in place as we started playing in the tournament, it was “win or go home” and "you are only as good as your last game." Every game was an opportunity to take a step further on the journey, and stay together as a group. What made this transformation even more remarkable was the emergence of different players stepping forward and shining in each game. Finally, we had become a true team, finding our stride and making our way back to another shot at the college cup.

We Overcame Adversity Together

When we arrived in Missouri for the final 4, we were provided with every excuse we ever needed not to win. A huge winter storm had hit St Louis that weekend. Our Friday night semi-final was switched to Saturday afternoon. There were huge weather delays, so a lot of family and friends were not able to make the game. We were playing one of the best teams in the nation at the time, Wake Forest. Somehow, we managed to survive and onslaught of attacks in that game, and it finished 0-0. In the penalty shootout, we had a freshman (Eric Avila) step up last to score the winning PK. The journey continued.

In the final, we played UCLA, a team who had beaten us 3-1 in the regular season at our stadium. I’ll save the story of that epic game for another day, but the most important part is that we found a way to win 2-1, this time Nick Perera (aka Belgium) stepping up to lead the team, securing only the second D1 National Championship in UC Santa Barbara history!

What is the moral of the story? Never give up – when things get tough, you need to have a growth mindset and open up to ideas that could help take your team forward. Don’t take on all the responsibility; open up to teammates and see what they need in order to buy in. Every player wants to find success and be part of the journey. Your job is to give them a reason to come along for the ride! Recognize that unity is paramount to resurgence, especially for soccer teams.

Success is not solely determined by individual talent or a single leader. It is achieved by embracing mental adversity, fostering unity, and giving each player a sense of purpose and belonging. As you navigate your own challenges, remember that the path to triumph lies in never giving up, cultivating a growth mindset, and empowering your team to come together for an extraordinary ride of resilience and success.

Gaucho Proud,
Bryan

PS. One of the greatest moments after winning the championship was sitting in a bar in St Louis celebrating our win, and receiving a call to let us know UCSB students had taken the goals from the stadium, walked them through Isla Vista and down Del Playa, before throwing them over the cliff into the ocean. Check the video below if you want to see if for yourself.