The pressure of a two-goal deficit within the opening 40 minutes was not apparent on Head Coach Michael “Mac” McBride this evening. The coach sat in his typical spot next to the bench. Cool and calm. Collected and focused on watching his team. Missed by the casual spectator was his passion, hidden by the calm exterior. Missed was the focus on success inside the 11-year Notre Dame Men’s Soccer coach.
His team opened the second half with a newfound drive, following a motivating halftime talk by McBride, to earn a 3-2 dramatic overtime victory at Oberlin (Ohio) on Sept. 28. The Blue & White’s narrow win marked McBride’s 150th career victory. But it was not celebrated heavily. No Gatorade shower, no players running across the field for a pile.
To say the team had hoped to win would be an understatement. It won its 27th consecutive regular season match and scored in its 72nd straight. But success didn’t always come this easy for McBride and his program, which began in 2001 when the college went co-ed.
“I remember going from one person saying to me, ‘You go to Notre Dame? Isn’t that a girls’ school?’ to the bottom of the pile after scoring the goal to win our conference in 2005,” former team captain Nick Jordan said about the evolution of the program under McBride.
Back in the fall of 2001, when Michael McBride started the Notre Dame men’s soccer program, there was nothing in place – no budget, no coaches’ office, and no phone. Nothing except a first-time head coach with passion and motivation.
“The team was special in many ways,” McBride noted about his inaugural squad, which went a modest 8-10-0 in NAIA competition. “We were beyond being an underdog. We were a new team, thrown into the largest soccer conference in the country.”
NDC opened that inaugural season falling 5-2 to Tiffin on Sept. 4, 2001, before heading south to Portsmouth, Ohio, to take on the undefeated Bears of Shawnee State, who anticipated an easy win over a winless new program.
However, what the Bears failed to realize at the time, McBride was starting a program with success and tradition in mind. Shawnee State would fall 3-0 to the Falcons for McBride’s first career win on Sept. 7, 2001.
Fast-forward 11 years and 216 games later and you find a program with the highest winning percentage (.726) among NDC’s 22 varsity sports, a program with a 150-52-15 record.
“I didn’t even know ‘till I looked at the website,” McBride said about the career mark.
After closing his inaugural season on a four-game losing streak, McBride and his team began to make waves in just their second year. They finished 7-0-1 in the AMC-North Division and 15-4-2 overall, earning McBride his first of six honors.
“Our second season was a dream,” the Blue & White skipper stated. “The lads didn’t disappoint and they beat Geneva (Pa.), in front of a home crowd to bring home our first ever championship trophy.”
That championship started a fast progression in a young program and coach. McBride led his teams to five American Mideast-North Division titles, two conference titles after the AMC restructured the league, and four national championship appearances including the final in 2010.
Jordan, then a sophomore captain, led the Falcons to their first NAIA National Tournament win, 2-1 OT, over No. 5 Simon Fraser (Calif.), on Nov. 18, 2005. NDC would lose its next match, 1-0, to Southern Nazarene (Okla.), but the tradition was building.
“Although it was my first year with the program, I was still honored to be a part of it and captain the side to an Elite Eight finish in Florida,” Jordan said. “That tournament helped put NDC in front of many prospective student-athletes’ eyes, whereas they may not have seen it before 2005.”
In 2008, McBride’s squad accomplished yet another first, defeating No. 4 University of Rio Grande, a national powerhouse, for the first time. Striker Steven Kane scored in the 99th minute to defeat Rio Grande, 2-1 in overtime at Korb Field. The Falcons would finish the season as the No. 2 team in the country, marking their highest ranking and a program best 19-2-1 record that included wins over four top-25 teams.
“Before I came to NDC all I knew how to do was run faster than anyone else,” Kane said. “Mac enhanced my game to a completely different level. Every year was something new and something for me to learn and accomplish. The possibilities are endless with Mac as your coach.”
Exemplifying these possibilities, 2009 marked a season of ups and downs for the Falcons. Coming off a 2-1 defeat to fifth-ranked Azusa Pacific (Calif.) at the University of Mobile Tournament, they faced No. 2 Concordia (Calif.) the next day. Notre Dame put in a performance that had the entire country talking.
“It was a sublime performance that served to reveal the inner strength of the 2009 team,” McBride said. “It was a whopper of a result.”
That result, a 5-2 victory, included two goals and an assist by freshman midfielder Tom Mellor and another goal and assist by sophomore striker Luke Holmes. Mellor and Holmes quickly became household names in the NAIA as they helped the Blue & White to an eighth place finish at the national tournament.
While the 2009 team stunned many, McBride’s 2010 squad was his finest. With a 23-1-0 record NDC marched its way to the NAIA National Championship Final on the backs of a stingy defense and two offensive First Team NAIA All-Americans, Mellor and Holmes.
Holmes was named the NAIA Men’s Soccer National Player of the Year, the NAIA Men’s Soccer National Tournament MVP, and the NSCAA NAIA National Player of the Year – all of which were firsts for the program – as he scored 24 goals and provided 10 assists. Mellor scored eight goals and provided a nation-leading 19 assists.
“We’re one big family,” Mellor said. “It’s like home from home. Mac always wants the lads involved. He doesn’t separate the starters from the others, he doesn’t split it up. Mac strives for that and I think that’s where the success comes from.”
For McBride, the successes at NDC have paved the way for four of his players to earn their wares in the professional ranks and countless others joining coaching ranks at the youth, high school and college ranks.
“One of the main things […] I learned from Mac is that you should be driven in anything you do in life,” said University of Pittsburgh Assistant Coach Chris Logan, who stood between the Falcons’ posts for the first four years. “That is one of the things I try to instill in my student-athletes, because Mac instilled it in me, and I think that is why we were so successful as a program at Notre Dame.”
The program has gone from strength to strength over the 217 games spanning 11 seasons. Going forward, there are expectations as Notre Dame embarks on a new frontier provided the college is fully accepted into the NCAA-II next year. The Falcons have had great successes over NCAA-II squads in previous seasons. Last year, McBride’s squad defeated the No. 15 team, Ashland, 6-1, and have beat the Eagles five of the last six times including 2009 when Ashland was ranked 19th. This season, it has defeated each DII opponent without conceding a goal. Those successes have built expectations to no longer just compete but rather challenge for the national title.
“There’s nothing that we can’t achieve. Why not go first year in DII and win it all,” Mellor said. “It’s definitely going places. People are going to be noticing Notre Dame.”
