Cougars Celebrate 25th Anniversary Of 1994 NCAA Elite Eight Season
8/30/2019 4:00:00 PM | Men's Soccer
Photo Credit: Mic Smith / The Post & Courier (From Newspaper Archives: Nov. 21, 1994)
NICK VLATTAS
CofCSports.com
College of Charleston Men's Soccer had reason to be optimistic entering the 1994 campaign, head coach Ralph Lundy's eighth at the helm, and just the program's fourth as a NCAA Division I member.
The Cougars returned a wealth of talent and veteran experience from a 1993 team, which championed the Trans America Athletic Conference (TAAC), but was denied an invite to the NCAA Tournament.
Leading up to the season, the entire roster returned to Charleston early in order to help administer Lundy's youth soccer camps, which inspired youngsters to take up the game and grow their skills. The teaching and bonding experience brought the team closer together and unified them towards a common goal.
Also in the months leading up to the 1994 season, the team painstakingly raised enough funds to sponsor an overseas team trip to The Netherlands. The players made T-shirts and posters, which they sold around campus, igniting a tradition which would send Charleston Men's Soccer abroad once every four years—ensuring all graduating players had the opportunity.
The team returned from The Netherlands united, energized and ready to start the 1994 campaign. Ready to prove themselves after being excluded from NCAAs a year prior, and galvanized by an offseason of bonding, CofC entered the season with a chip on its shoulder.
The Cougars identified as a blue-collar unit and labored through a preseason-training regimen, which matched that identity. Lundy, seeking to prepare his squads for the demands of the upcoming arduous schedule, led a rigorous training circuit focused on fitness and stamina. The team responded by pouring everything they had into each session, resulting in a war-tested unit, which couldn't wait to compete.
"Entering the season, I knew we had a team that wanted to compete above all else," said Lundy, who recalls routinely breaking up scuffles in practice.
But these were not the type of scuffles, which would indicate dissension or aversion among the ranks. These were competitive displays of desire, which proved one thing: no one wanted to lose.
"Every scrimmage, every one-on-one drill, every sprint across the field … no one wanted to lose," Lundy said.
"The competitive nature of that team was undeniable," said former midfielder Jamie Guyan ('98), who would eventually return to the CofC sidelines as an assistant coach under Lundy after graduation. "It didn't matter what it came down to. If there was a way to measure who did something better, we were competing. That year, EA Sports came out with the video game NHL '94, and Josh Farrar and I would stay up all night going back and forth. If you lost, you insisted upon a rematch. Losing wasn't an option."
With a relentless work ethic and tireless dedication to putting forth quality, the team was set to start the campaign.
The season began auspiciously, with the Cougars claiming victories in nine of their first 11 matches, despite verifiably stout competition.
Following a pair of setbacks to William & Mary and NC State, the players rallied together and taught themselves a key lesson: they were better than their recent results indicated.
From there, the Cougars returned to their winning ways. They won seven of their last nine including an unblemished record in TAAC regular-season play and an overtime victory over Florida International to claim their second conference crown.
Despite their successes and another conference championship to boast, the Cougars would still have to earn their keep, and they drew an NCAA Tournament play-in game at Miami (Ohio). CofC was one of six teams vying for the last three tickets to The Big Dance.
"That play-in game was all we needed," said former goalkeeper Brian Cherry ('97), who was named to the 1994 TAAC All-Tournament Team along with Chad Carithers, Alvaro Betancur, Farrar, Kester Lendor and Javier Vivanco.
"We knew we couldn't be beat. Coach Lundy was so confident and excited. As we were boarding the bus to the game, he pointed at a lake next to our hotel and said he'd jump in if we won. It was probably 40 degrees out. The camaraderie we shared on the bus, and in that locker room, was unlike anything I ever experienced."
On a frigid November night in Oxford, Ohio, the Cougars withstood a barrage of offensive attack, led by one of the nation's most prolific scorers in Miami's Dan Creech.
Despite a lopsided possession advantage favoring Miami, Cherry kept his defensive line organized and his team in the game.
Against the run of play, and late in a scoreless game, then sophomore Aaron Olitsky—for whom CofC's annual season-opening tournament is now named in memory of—spurred a moment of his characteristic opportunism, which jolted the Cougars to life.
Olitsky ran onto the end of a long, high-arching ball, which soared over the top of the opposing team's defense. He skillfully one-touched it over Miami's charging keeper, and shepherded it into the waiting net for the game winner.
The win berthed the Cougars into the 32-team NCAA Tournament field, and, not surprisingly, Lundy was true to his word and swam out to the middle of a nearly frozen pond.
The celebration was short lived, however, as looming in the opening round was a match against Charlotte (then UNC Charlotte), the No. 1 seed in the South.
The Cougars, who had been out-muscled by Charlotte in a 5-2 loss during the regular season, knew that this time – they were good enough. After another scoreless affair spanned into double overtime, Kester Lendor ('95), then a senior midfielder for the Cougars, had his back to goal as he received a ball on his chest in the scoring area. He masterfully bicycle kicked it into the upper corner of the net, securing the 1-0 sudden-death victory.
The next day, Lendor's play was featured as a Top Play on ESPN—a rarity for collegiate soccer in that day and age.
The road would not get easier for the Cougars, as the ensuing round included a trip to NC State, the ACC regular-season champion, which hadn't lost a match at home all season. The Wolfpack had also dealt CofC a 2-0 shutout earlier in the year.
Despite a driving rain, the NC State faithful came out in droves, creating a raucous, unrelenting atmosphere. The play on the field matched the atmosphere in the stands, as the teams battled back-and-forth through sloppy conditions, ultimately knotting at 4-4 at the end of regulation.
The Cougars marched into their fifth overtime match of the season, and did so confidently, having arisen victorious in each of their previous four opportunities—a nod to the fitness regimen in the offseason.
The fifth would be no different, as—in the final minutes of the first overtime—then junior midfielder Javier Vivanco ('96) muscled in a corner kick sent into the box by freshman Billy Dwyer, avenging another loss and propelling Charleston to the national quarterfinals.
"This time around, we were the difference," said defender Andrew Dickson after the game to The Post & Courier. "The weather was the same this time. Everything was the same. Sure, we got some breaks, but we just wanted it (more)."
By this point, ESPN wasn't the only media outlet looking to feature the Cougars. Lundy's phone rang off the hook as pundits from national outlets like The New York Times and USA TODAY wanted to learn more about the fourth-year Division I program which was now one of eight teams standing.
"This is one of the happiest things that's ever happened to me," Lundy told The Post and Courier at the time. "I was almost overwhelmed at the (celebration) ceremony The College gave us. I'm humbled. It's so gratifying to see this support for our players."
From there, the Cougars headed to the West Coast for a quarterfinal date with perennial powerhouse UCLA.
The blue-collar Cougars arrived in Los Angeles focused on the task at hand. They weren't phased by the media circus surrounding the O.J. Simpson trials taking place blocks away. They weren't drawn to the lures of Venice Beach or Century City. They were there for one thing.
"We came here to play football," said Lendor before the match. "We're not a bunch of guys lost in a big city. We're treating this just like it is any other game. This is a time of dreams, yes, but our minds are on the game."
Following a scoreless first half, UCLA found the net in the 60th minute to post a short-lived 1-0 lead. Minutes later, the Bruins' goalkeeper drew a red card for slapping a ball outside the box. Ten minutes after that, a second UCLA defender was dismissed with a red card for playing a ball with his hand at the goal line. This infraction drew a penalty kick, which CofC's Carithers buried to tie the match.
Three minutes after the equalizer, Charleston pulled out in front when Vivanco elevated above a crowd in the box to head a Courtney Murray corner kick into the back of the net, lifting the Cougars to a 2-1 lead.
Holding a one-goal lead and a two-man advantage with under 10 minutes to play, it seemed the Cougars' dream season was destined to continue.
"We were confident," Carithers said after the match. "We thought we would score again."
But fate had other ideas. In the final 10 minutes, UCLA managed to ricochet a pair of long-range free kicks across the CofC goal line, the second ultimately, becoming the game winner with 1:12 remaining in the match.
"Charleston was a very difficult opponent," said UCLA Head Coach Sigi Schmid, who had won two of his eventual three national championships for the Bruins at that time. "They have outstanding players, they're well coached and they play their hearts out. What we had to do with two men down was try to get corner kicks and draw fouls because we knew those would be the majority of our opportunities. We took advantage of our chances to score."
Despite its abrupt and unsparing conclusion, the 1994 season was a landmark season which put CofC Soccer on the map.
It saw the Cougars accumulate a program-record 19 wins. It saw Charleston win its second conference championship in just four years of Division I participation. It saw Carithers score 20 goals and notch 14 assists, finishing just two points shy of a national scoring title. It ignited a growth of soccer popularity in The Lowcountry, a growth Lundy ceaselessly continues to cultivate.
It ingrained a sense of unity and determination in the team which still exists today. Many of the players from that roster have also experienced vast success in life, becoming physicians, attorneys, executives, business owners, and beyond, and many attribute their success to the soccer-transcending lessons they learned from Lundy in 1994.
Editor's Note: The College of Charleston men's soccer program hosts CofC Alumni Weekend in conjunction with its season-opening Under Armour/Aaron Olitsky Memorial Soccer Classic on Aug. 30 and Sept. 1 at Patriots Point in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. The 1994 NCAA Elite Eight squad will be honored at halftime at tonight's game between CofC and Stetson beginning at 7:30 p.m. The 1993, 1995 and 1996 TAAC Championship squads, which also earned a NCAA Tournament berth during their respective seasons, will join those team members as well as many other soccer alums.
NICK VLATTAS
CofCSports.com
College of Charleston Men's Soccer had reason to be optimistic entering the 1994 campaign, head coach Ralph Lundy's eighth at the helm, and just the program's fourth as a NCAA Division I member.
The Cougars returned a wealth of talent and veteran experience from a 1993 team, which championed the Trans America Athletic Conference (TAAC), but was denied an invite to the NCAA Tournament.
Leading up to the season, the entire roster returned to Charleston early in order to help administer Lundy's youth soccer camps, which inspired youngsters to take up the game and grow their skills. The teaching and bonding experience brought the team closer together and unified them towards a common goal.
Also in the months leading up to the 1994 season, the team painstakingly raised enough funds to sponsor an overseas team trip to The Netherlands. The players made T-shirts and posters, which they sold around campus, igniting a tradition which would send Charleston Men's Soccer abroad once every four years—ensuring all graduating players had the opportunity.
The team returned from The Netherlands united, energized and ready to start the 1994 campaign. Ready to prove themselves after being excluded from NCAAs a year prior, and galvanized by an offseason of bonding, CofC entered the season with a chip on its shoulder.
The Cougars identified as a blue-collar unit and labored through a preseason-training regimen, which matched that identity. Lundy, seeking to prepare his squads for the demands of the upcoming arduous schedule, led a rigorous training circuit focused on fitness and stamina. The team responded by pouring everything they had into each session, resulting in a war-tested unit, which couldn't wait to compete.
"Entering the season, I knew we had a team that wanted to compete above all else," said Lundy, who recalls routinely breaking up scuffles in practice.
But these were not the type of scuffles, which would indicate dissension or aversion among the ranks. These were competitive displays of desire, which proved one thing: no one wanted to lose.
"Every scrimmage, every one-on-one drill, every sprint across the field … no one wanted to lose," Lundy said.
"The competitive nature of that team was undeniable," said former midfielder Jamie Guyan ('98), who would eventually return to the CofC sidelines as an assistant coach under Lundy after graduation. "It didn't matter what it came down to. If there was a way to measure who did something better, we were competing. That year, EA Sports came out with the video game NHL '94, and Josh Farrar and I would stay up all night going back and forth. If you lost, you insisted upon a rematch. Losing wasn't an option."
With a relentless work ethic and tireless dedication to putting forth quality, the team was set to start the campaign.
The season began auspiciously, with the Cougars claiming victories in nine of their first 11 matches, despite verifiably stout competition.
Following a pair of setbacks to William & Mary and NC State, the players rallied together and taught themselves a key lesson: they were better than their recent results indicated.
From there, the Cougars returned to their winning ways. They won seven of their last nine including an unblemished record in TAAC regular-season play and an overtime victory over Florida International to claim their second conference crown.
Despite their successes and another conference championship to boast, the Cougars would still have to earn their keep, and they drew an NCAA Tournament play-in game at Miami (Ohio). CofC was one of six teams vying for the last three tickets to The Big Dance.
"That play-in game was all we needed," said former goalkeeper Brian Cherry ('97), who was named to the 1994 TAAC All-Tournament Team along with Chad Carithers, Alvaro Betancur, Farrar, Kester Lendor and Javier Vivanco.
"We knew we couldn't be beat. Coach Lundy was so confident and excited. As we were boarding the bus to the game, he pointed at a lake next to our hotel and said he'd jump in if we won. It was probably 40 degrees out. The camaraderie we shared on the bus, and in that locker room, was unlike anything I ever experienced."
On a frigid November night in Oxford, Ohio, the Cougars withstood a barrage of offensive attack, led by one of the nation's most prolific scorers in Miami's Dan Creech.
Despite a lopsided possession advantage favoring Miami, Cherry kept his defensive line organized and his team in the game.
Against the run of play, and late in a scoreless game, then sophomore Aaron Olitsky—for whom CofC's annual season-opening tournament is now named in memory of—spurred a moment of his characteristic opportunism, which jolted the Cougars to life.
Olitsky ran onto the end of a long, high-arching ball, which soared over the top of the opposing team's defense. He skillfully one-touched it over Miami's charging keeper, and shepherded it into the waiting net for the game winner.
The win berthed the Cougars into the 32-team NCAA Tournament field, and, not surprisingly, Lundy was true to his word and swam out to the middle of a nearly frozen pond.
The celebration was short lived, however, as looming in the opening round was a match against Charlotte (then UNC Charlotte), the No. 1 seed in the South.
The Cougars, who had been out-muscled by Charlotte in a 5-2 loss during the regular season, knew that this time – they were good enough. After another scoreless affair spanned into double overtime, Kester Lendor ('95), then a senior midfielder for the Cougars, had his back to goal as he received a ball on his chest in the scoring area. He masterfully bicycle kicked it into the upper corner of the net, securing the 1-0 sudden-death victory.The next day, Lendor's play was featured as a Top Play on ESPN—a rarity for collegiate soccer in that day and age.
The road would not get easier for the Cougars, as the ensuing round included a trip to NC State, the ACC regular-season champion, which hadn't lost a match at home all season. The Wolfpack had also dealt CofC a 2-0 shutout earlier in the year.
Despite a driving rain, the NC State faithful came out in droves, creating a raucous, unrelenting atmosphere. The play on the field matched the atmosphere in the stands, as the teams battled back-and-forth through sloppy conditions, ultimately knotting at 4-4 at the end of regulation.
The Cougars marched into their fifth overtime match of the season, and did so confidently, having arisen victorious in each of their previous four opportunities—a nod to the fitness regimen in the offseason.
The fifth would be no different, as—in the final minutes of the first overtime—then junior midfielder Javier Vivanco ('96) muscled in a corner kick sent into the box by freshman Billy Dwyer, avenging another loss and propelling Charleston to the national quarterfinals.
"This time around, we were the difference," said defender Andrew Dickson after the game to The Post & Courier. "The weather was the same this time. Everything was the same. Sure, we got some breaks, but we just wanted it (more)."
By this point, ESPN wasn't the only media outlet looking to feature the Cougars. Lundy's phone rang off the hook as pundits from national outlets like The New York Times and USA TODAY wanted to learn more about the fourth-year Division I program which was now one of eight teams standing.
"This is one of the happiest things that's ever happened to me," Lundy told The Post and Courier at the time. "I was almost overwhelmed at the (celebration) ceremony The College gave us. I'm humbled. It's so gratifying to see this support for our players."
From there, the Cougars headed to the West Coast for a quarterfinal date with perennial powerhouse UCLA.
The blue-collar Cougars arrived in Los Angeles focused on the task at hand. They weren't phased by the media circus surrounding the O.J. Simpson trials taking place blocks away. They weren't drawn to the lures of Venice Beach or Century City. They were there for one thing.
"We came here to play football," said Lendor before the match. "We're not a bunch of guys lost in a big city. We're treating this just like it is any other game. This is a time of dreams, yes, but our minds are on the game."
Following a scoreless first half, UCLA found the net in the 60th minute to post a short-lived 1-0 lead. Minutes later, the Bruins' goalkeeper drew a red card for slapping a ball outside the box. Ten minutes after that, a second UCLA defender was dismissed with a red card for playing a ball with his hand at the goal line. This infraction drew a penalty kick, which CofC's Carithers buried to tie the match.
Three minutes after the equalizer, Charleston pulled out in front when Vivanco elevated above a crowd in the box to head a Courtney Murray corner kick into the back of the net, lifting the Cougars to a 2-1 lead.
Holding a one-goal lead and a two-man advantage with under 10 minutes to play, it seemed the Cougars' dream season was destined to continue.
"We were confident," Carithers said after the match. "We thought we would score again."
But fate had other ideas. In the final 10 minutes, UCLA managed to ricochet a pair of long-range free kicks across the CofC goal line, the second ultimately, becoming the game winner with 1:12 remaining in the match.
"Charleston was a very difficult opponent," said UCLA Head Coach Sigi Schmid, who had won two of his eventual three national championships for the Bruins at that time. "They have outstanding players, they're well coached and they play their hearts out. What we had to do with two men down was try to get corner kicks and draw fouls because we knew those would be the majority of our opportunities. We took advantage of our chances to score."
Despite its abrupt and unsparing conclusion, the 1994 season was a landmark season which put CofC Soccer on the map.
It saw the Cougars accumulate a program-record 19 wins. It saw Charleston win its second conference championship in just four years of Division I participation. It saw Carithers score 20 goals and notch 14 assists, finishing just two points shy of a national scoring title. It ignited a growth of soccer popularity in The Lowcountry, a growth Lundy ceaselessly continues to cultivate.
It ingrained a sense of unity and determination in the team which still exists today. Many of the players from that roster have also experienced vast success in life, becoming physicians, attorneys, executives, business owners, and beyond, and many attribute their success to the soccer-transcending lessons they learned from Lundy in 1994.
Editor's Note: The College of Charleston men's soccer program hosts CofC Alumni Weekend in conjunction with its season-opening Under Armour/Aaron Olitsky Memorial Soccer Classic on Aug. 30 and Sept. 1 at Patriots Point in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. The 1994 NCAA Elite Eight squad will be honored at halftime at tonight's game between CofC and Stetson beginning at 7:30 p.m. The 1993, 1995 and 1996 TAAC Championship squads, which also earned a NCAA Tournament berth during their respective seasons, will join those team members as well as many other soccer alums.
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