This week in history: USD salutes McFadden in win over UCLA

Men’s soccer capped “Seamus McFadden Night” with 3-1 triumph in 2017

Eric Boose / Sports Editor

In 1979, Seamus McFadden took the helm of the University of San Diego’s brand-new men’s soccer team. After 39 seasons, the only head coach the Toreros had known announced 2017 would be his last year in charge. On Oct. 22 of that year, his team helped send him off in style, beating UCLA 3-1 as the university honored the Irishman’s tenure.

On the field, San Diego honored their head coach with a commanding performance to take down a UCLA team that plays a significant role in the history of Torero soccer. 

USD started fast, forcing Bruin goalkeeper Kevin Silva to make a pair of saves in the first 10 minutes, and the hosts continued creating chances throughout the first half, managing two more shots on target, while the visitors from Los Angeles only troubled Torero keeper Thomas Olsen once. 

With halftime looming, San Diego finally turned their chances into a goal. Off a corner kick, the ball fell to first-year defender Aaron Frey, who fired it into the top corner for his first collegiate goal. At halftime, with the Toreros leading 1-0, a group of USD soccer alumni helped honor their coach — part of the festivities celebrating McFadden in his penultimate home game as head coach. 

Ceremony over, McFadden’s team started just as hot in the second half as they had in the first. Only five minutes into the second half, forward Miguel Berry drove through the Bruin defense before cutting the ball back to tee up midfielder Djordje Babic, who thumped home the Toreros’ second. In the 59th minute, with UCLA still struggling to create shots, let alone put them on target, San Diego added their third goal to ice the game. Midfielder Freddy Polzer created space for himself to shoot, and although Silva made the initial save, the rebound ricocheted off a Bruin defender and into the back of the net. 

The Bruins did put up a fight, but their shots rarely troubled Olsen, with the USD defenders either blocking them or watching them fly high or wide. UCLA’s Blayne Martinez did put home a rebound in the 89th minute, but it was nothing more than consolation. The final whistle blew, and the Toreros were 3-1 winners.

It would have been a special victory no matter the opponent — it would end up as McFadden’s final victory as a head coach — but UCLA is not just any opponent. Without a doubt, the San Diego State Aztecs are the Toreros’ primary rival, but it is arguable that, when it comes to men’s soccer, the Bruins are San Diego’s second-biggest rival.

There is, of course, the long-standing rivalry between San Diego and Los Angeles sports teams, but the clashes between USD and UCLA’s soccer teams tend to carry more weight than just regional bragging rights. The teams have met eight times in the NCAA tournament, with each team winning four of those meetings. Since 2003, McFadden’s Toreros were 3-8-2 against the Bruins. However, one of those wins knocked the Bruins out of the NCAA tournament, and the most recent win came in 2014, when UCLA was the top-ranked team in the country — the fourth time McFadden beat a No. 1-ranked team, and his 11th and final win over a top-10 team. It was a somewhat fitting end then, for McFadden’s final win to come against a team so intertwined with the story of his tenure at USD. That tenure came to an end after nine West Coast Conference championships, 14 trips to the NCAA tournament, a run to the Elite Eight in 2012, and an appearance in the 1992 National Championship game. 

Rather, it mostly came to an end. After stepping down as head coach, McFadden has remained with the program, serving as an assistant coach under new head coach Brian Quinn — who had served as an assistant coach under McFadden for a decade. 

Seamus McFadden shaped USD men’s soccer into what it is today. His influence still lingers around the team. On Oct. 22, 2017, the university celebrated him for all of his work, and his team sent him off with a last hurrah over their familiar foe from up north.