The stage was set – November 21, 2013, Omaha, sub-freezing temperatures, and the snow was starting to fall. The Seattle University men’s soccer team had everything to gain and nothing to lose as they faced perennial powerhouse Creighton on their home field in the First Round of the NCAA Division I tournament.
A first for the Redhawks, the Bluejays had advanced to the previous two Final Fours and expected to make another run in 2013. Flash back just three months, and it was amazing to see the progress Seattle U had made over the season.
“I remember in the first game when UMBC scored their first goal and it was pretty early in the game and I’m like ‘Oh shoot, is this going to be just another one of those seasons?’” remembers Jeff Rose, a redshirt freshman just a year ago.
The Redhawks opened up 2013 with their first six games on the road, starting 0-6-1, and could have easily given up on hope for the rest of the season.
“It started to get really frustrating and then something just turned,” Rose continues. “I think it was San Jose State when we won like 4-0 and all of a sudden, we started to just believe. It’s funny what confidence can do; it changed the whole team. Once you start winning, it just becomes a habit I think.”
“I think the biggest thing was that we took each game just one at a time instead of looking at the schedule and saying, ‘Oh we lost two, we need to win this one for sure’,” said Renato Bandeira, a recently graduated senior from last season’s conference championship squad. “Of course we always wanted to win, but I think we focused on each game individually and I think that’s what really helped us turn it around.”
Brady Ballew, a 2013 captain, added, “I feel like we looked at each game as a learning experience and you build off of those experiences. I think eventually those losses started turning into ties and victories and then victories on victories. It’s not just looking at them as losses; it’s looking at them as an experience to build off of.”
Justin Duerksen, a rising sophomore, agrees, “Once we won a few games, you feel like you’re on a roll. You just keep doing what you did the game before. [Head coach] Pete [Fewing] always stayed positive, so I think his mentality kind of helped us.”
“Every game we lost, Pete would always tell us afterwards that we played alright but that we had one little thing that made us lose,” Michael Roberts remembers. “And just to keep our head up and work hard and that we would do it. Even though we were losing, everyone was still working really hard and then when we started to win, our confidence was really boosted and after that, we just couldn’t be stopped.”
REDHAWKS ON THE RISE
There may have been benchmarks that led to the winning streak, but there was not necessarily one moment that defined the preseason. Each player agreed that it was a gradual process of improvement each and every day.
“I think it was important how much [the coaches] helped us and put confidence in us,” said reigning Western Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year, Miguel Gonzalez. “Even though it was a rocky start, we were still playing well and losing to some good teams. I think we saw in ourselves that we could play at a better level and once we started getting those wins, we got that confidence and brought it into the next game.”
Bandeira remembers, “You’d see the guys after every game and nobody was defeated, even after six games losing. Everyone was hungrier and hungrier and they knew there were a lot of opportunities. A lot of the young guys pushed us older guys as well, which was much needed and something we really appreciated. These young guys, it’s almost a good thing they didn’t know any better, so they really made an impact.”
After earning their first win of the season at home versus Florida Gulf Coast on Sept. 22, the Redhawks would earn their first shutout in their conference opener at San Jose State on Oct. 5.
After losing to No. 3 Washington at home on Oct. 8 in their first game “under the lights”, Seattle U would not lose another game until, as fate would have it, the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament at No. 2 Washington on Nov. 24.
AN UNDEFEATED UNDERTAKING
The Redhawks would go on to record a 7-0-3 record in league play in their first year in the Western Athletic Conference and would go to overtime eight times over the season, coming from behind to win five times.
Going undefeated in conference play, the Redhawks received a first round bye in the league tournament, defeating Air Force and San Jose State en route to a WAC tournament championship. They would come from behind again in the championship game, receiving the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, a first for the program.
“We started out down in the [championship] game against San Jose State and it was kind of like the whole season flashed before your eyes,” Roberts looks back. “We had won or tied every conference game up until that point and we were undefeated and now we were losing. It was scary to feel like that and once we started to gain our momentum back in that game, I knew we were going to win and we did.”
Ballew, looking at Bandeira, admits, “He cried.”
“I did,” Bandeira confesses. “I did cry. It kind of goes back to everything we’ve been through and that there was a lot on the line. It was just a whirlwind of emotions but afterwards, I just poured it out. It was just pure happiness.”
Ballew adds, “You put in so much time and you invest so much heart and emotion into it and when something truly good comes out of it, nothing matters and everything is just poured out. Your shoulders kind of fall down a little bit and I don’t think there’s a sweeter feeling.”
A day later, back in Seattle, they would gather with a group of friends, family, and supporters to watch the NCAA Division I Tournament selection show to learn their tournament destiny.
“It’s pretty intense just waiting,” Gonzalez remembers. “We weren’t sure who we were going to play and then we saw Creighton and it was just like ‘Wow’. They are a good team and we knew how good they had been in the past, so it was going to be a good challenge. Personally, I was ready to go play and, as a senior, I didn’t want to be done yet.”
Bandeira adds, “It was unreal. In the past, we’ve watched it from the sidelines like ‘Who’s going to play who?’ and I thought the funniest thing was our name coming up last in the announcement. It was surreal and then as soon as our name was called, we knew we had to get back to work and practice hard that week. We had to get right back at it and show Creighton what we’re all about.”
“That’s the fun part,” Ballew admits. “You see on TV where you’re going and then you go there and that’s what you hear so many schools talk about in their experience. To have that feeling like ‘Oh, we’re leaving in two days’. I think that’s what collegiate sports is all about when you get there – that anticipation and build up. You don’t care that they’ve won however many championships or have been in the Final Four, you just get another opportunity to play soccer. And because it’s on a bigger stage, yeah, it’s a little bit more fun.”
UNEXPLAINABLE CONFIDENCE AND A SERIES OF FIRSTS
Two days following the selection show, Seattle U would fly from Seattle to Omaha, Neb. to train at historic Morrison Stadium that evening and acclimate themselves to the bitter cold of Nebraska winters. The next night, just as the Redhawks took the field, the snow would start to fall, picturesque, almost like the kind of stories that iconic sports movies are made for.
Duerksen says, looking back, “There’s no reason why we should’ve felt confident like that, because of the past seasons we’d had and they’d had but there was something about that day. We definitely went into it with confidence.”
Rose agreed, “No one expected us to win so we really had no pressure going into that game. So it’s like ‘Let’s just go and beat this team’. And the snow made it kind of special. At least for me, I’m from California, so I’ve barely seen snow in my life and to get to play in it was pretty cool.”
Reigning WAC Coach of the Year Pete Fewing seconds his team, “We walked into Creighton to win the game. We didn’t walk in saying ‘Gosh, we’re in the NCAA Tournament, isn’t this neat?’ There was no pressure on us and yet, if we were to gamble on it, we would be the only ones who believed we were going to win that game, but we sincerely believed we were going to win.”
“Honestly, I felt like we could win,” Gonzalez said. “I had a lot of confidence in our team. Something about that day, honestly, it felt like we could have won. Even when we started playing and they were pressuring us and attacking and dominating, I still never felt like we could lose that game. I just had that feeling.”
“Oh, we definitely thought we had a chance to win it,” Bandeira admitted. “We were super sharp that week in practice and everybody was just so excited. Of course there was a little bit of nerves before it, just like in any other game, but it was little more because it’s such a huge stadium and so many fans there.”
Ballew: “No there weren’t.”
Bandeira: “No, there weren’t. But it sounded like it.”
Ballew: “It did. It was loud, though, it was loud.”
You can’t blame the Creighton faithful for staying home that bitterly cold night, assuming that they would be advancing to face Washington later that weekend in Seattle.
Creighton indeed scored first as Seattle U would again have to come from behind if they were to see their season continue. Their now not-so-secret weapon, Gonzalez, the conference’s leading scorer, apparently was less known to those in the Midwest. He would go on to score both goals for the Redhawks in the 2-1 victory.
The win was another first for the program, and a first for Seattle U. It was the first NCAA Division I tournament win since men’s basketball completed the feat in Mar. 1964. But to the team, as exciting as it was, it was just simply doing what they love.
“When it comes down to it, it’s just a bunch of 20 year old guys chasing a ball,” Bandeira quips.
“And committing to each other,” Ballew says. “There was a lot of commitment and you have all this confidence in one of the best players in the country in Jake Feener and your other teammates backing him up. So when he stopped three shots in a row, it’s like ‘He can do one more’.”
Bandeira: “Yeah, we believed in each other. That’s the biggest part of that game, we trusted each other. During that whole play, I was inside the goal like ‘I’m probably not even going to need to be here, Feener’s going to save these.”
Ballew: “Just unconscious trust.”
RETURNING HOME FOR A CROSSTOWN SHOWDOWN
The Redhawks returned to their home city to once again face crosstown rival Washington in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament.
“It was crazy to see how much support we had back home,” Bandeira remembers. “Coming back home, there was a video circulating from a viewing party at the Bistro and it was really cool to see people’s reactions to the game. And then I got a bunch of texts from friends and family back home. There was a lot of support and we really do owe it to everyone who stuck with us through the roller coaster of a year.”
“It’s funny how much support you get when you win,” Ballew adds.
Bandeira agrees, “You become a lot more popular.”
The crowd for the Washington game would be vastly different than that for the Creighton game. In a Husky Soccer Stadium that seats around 1700, a sellout crowd of 3100 would flood into the gates.
Ballew says it’s one of the “coolest soccer memories I’ll ever have”, but not for the reason you might think.
“UW scored and their player had to go shush his own home crowd because our fans were so much louder than theirs. It might be kind of sad that one of my fondest soccer memories is getting scored on, but I think the culture of this school is what made that game special. That’s just a huge thank you to the fans.”
Bandeira looks back, “It was incredible. I thought the UW fans would be there in full force and there wouldn’t be that many Seattle U people, but the whole middle section was all in red. That was easily the biggest crowd I’ve ever played in front of over the past few years. It was incredible.”
“I feel like the important thing was that after the game, we felt like we had given our all,” Rose remembers. “I think there’s a sense that we can do better and we’re not done. We’re going to keep trying to improve and get better and hopefully get further than that next year. I think everyone is not satisfied, especially now that we’ve had a taste of it.”
MAKING PROGRESS BUT NOT SATISFIED
The team feels honored, with all of the great competitions throughout the 2013-14 year, to have won the Competition of the Year Award from their athletics department.
“Last year, we didn’t win anything and this year, to win Competition of the Year felt really cool to be looked up to by some of the other teams. They want to be in our position, so that’s cool,” Roberts says.
“It seemed to us like the stadium was virtually empty, pouring down snow, and then come home and win Competition of the Year, and you realize how big of a deal that was,” Ballew says, graciously. “In the moment, it’s just another soccer game, just 20 year old guys playing against 20 year old guys. To win Competition of the Year playing a game we love, how cool is that?”
For the upperclassmen, it made the experience and the success of the season that much sweeter since they had experienced the highs and lows of their collegiate career.
Ballew says, “I think the lows were really low and it was just a matter of getting out of that comfort zone, which I think the younger guys were really instrumental in getting us out of. They helped us start to realize where our ceiling is, but I don’t think we’ve found it yet.”
“Coming into this season, I think we kind of owed it to ourselves,” Bandeira admitted. “I think it was three less than desirable seasons and I think we were really hungrier than ever and I think we really wanted to turn this whole thing around. We went into this new conference and really wanted to prove ourselves and I think we put it on ourselves to get the most out of this last season for us [seniors].”
“What better way was there to finish my career here than to have the season like we did,” Gonzalez said with a smile.
For the 2014 squad, the mindset has certainly changed after the historic 2013 season.
“You can see it translates into every aspect throughout this team,” says Ballew. “You have to turn it into a year round thing, no matter if it’s in the weight room, on a run, or in practice and I think it’s very noticeable. It makes it more fun when guys are working hard for each other.”
Bandeira adds, “The younger guys got a little taste of [success] in their first year at Seattle U and I think that will be huge for the team next year because everyone knows what it’s like to get there. So I think that’ll really drive the rest of the team and keep trickling down that culture to the new guys coming in.”
Fewing concludes, “It’s definitely something that’s motivating all the guys and I think they have a confidence and a belief that that’s possible. I think that’s our culture in the men’s soccer program. We expect to have done what we did last year and we expect to go further next year.”