Learning from the champs

By Gabe Taylor

Twenty years ago, the Santa Clara men's soccer team accomplished a remarkable feat of capturing the university's first national championship. Today, members of that team are still impacting this generation of Santa Clara men's soccer players.

Head coach Cameron Rast, assistant coach Eric Yamamoto, and volunteer assistant coach Jeff Baicher are three of the former 1989 champions who are dedicating their time to continuing the tradition of success within Santa Clara soccer.

In the 1989 season, the Broncos ability dominate both sides of the field struck fear into opponents. Scoring a university record 79 goals in one season, Santa Clara finished with an undefeated record, 20-0-3.

"We had a really attacking, creative, exciting team back then," said Yamamoto. "We had devoted those fours years and sacrificed and spent a lot of time outside of regular practice. We didn't go on spring break, we trained during spring break."

After cruising through the early stages of the playoffs, Santa Clara faced its first elite opponent, the University of Indiana.

The Broncos trailed 2-0 early in the match but ignited their offense to tie the game before the half. Fueling their momentum, Santa Clara put two more goals in the back of the net to win 4-2 and advance to face the University of Virginia in the championship game.

With frigid temperatures, and a wind chill of ten degrees below zero, the Broncos were forced to battle it out in extreme weather. The game was as equally intense as the cold.

Down 1-0, Jeff Baicher and his teammates found the strength to prevail through the harsh weather. With the game clock ticking down the final seconds of first half play, Baicher struck the ball, which sailed past the goalkeeper to tie the game.

According to his teammates, the versatile Baicher was an elite player who was a formidable opponent at either goal.

"What really made him uniquely special was that he had all of those attacking pieces, but he was always willing to do his part on the defensive side," said Rast, commenting on Baicher's talent.

For the rest of the game, neither team was able to find the net, and the game dragged through four overtime periods. Due to the bitter cold weather, the game was called and Virginia and Santa Clara were declared co-National Champions.

The 1989 men's soccer team had cemented itself firmly in Broncos history, but two of its standouts did not walk away from Buck Shaw for long.

Following the 1989 championship, Rast was asked to come back to Santa Clara to help coach the team. He attributed his knowledge for coaching in part to his parents, who were both teachers.

"Coaching seemed like a natural fit to me," said Rast, mentioning that he feels his strengths reside in his understanding for the game. "Your makeup as a coach is largely due to your experience as a player, or if you hadn't had a playing career, it's really your understanding of sports."

In 1992, Yamamoto began coaching Santa Clara, first with the women's soccer team. One year later, he was coaching beside Rast with the men's team.

More recently, Baicher was drawn back to Santa Clara as a volunteer coach. Rast expressed his excitement to have Baicher on the staff.

"[Baicher] has an outstanding blend of a practical, pragmatic, approach," he said, adding that Baicher made sure not to only use a theoretical approach.

The three former teammates have worked to try and bring back the exciting game play of the 1989 Broncos.

"Some of the things we did then definitely have carried over to the way we coach the teams now," said Yamamoto, adding that they try to look for players with similar styles to the championship team.

Current Broncos captain Jalil Anibaba has confidence in Rast's job as an educator and a coach.

"When someone speaks from experience, you know they're telling the truth because [Rast has] been there, he's been where we're trying to get," Anibaba said. "It's easy to take advice from him and know what he's talking about."

However, Rast also understands that the game itself changes over time. "It's important to stay fresh in the game," said Rast.

When it comes to making use of the coaches' lessons and game plans, the players on the field are the ones who must take full responsibility added Anibaba.

Now, in 2009, the team once again looks to bring back the "attacking, creative, exciting team" of 1989.

Santa Clara plays host to No. 25 Brown University on Friday, September 25 at 7:30 p.m. at Buck Shaw Stadium.

Contact Gabe Taylor at (408) 551-1918 or gtaylor@scu.edu.