By MARK MOSCHETTI
Seattle Pacific Sports Information
 
SEATTLE – As they headed to Florida for the 1983 NCAA Division II men's soccer championship game, the Seattle Pacific Falcons had heard all the talk.
 
They didn't belong there. … It wasn't going to be close. … The host and top-ranked University of Tampa Spartans could start celebrating even before the opening kickoff.
 
But by the time the final whistle sounded inside Tampa's Pepin-Rood Stadium, the Falcons' actions had drowned out all of those words.
 
"I expected to win. I honestly expected to win," midfielder Brad Elmenhurst said. "I didn't expect to come there to lose."
 
 

Winning is precisely what Elmenhurst and his teammates did.
 
Elmenhurst intercepted a pass at midfield, went streaking toward the Tampa goal, pushed a through-ball ahead to Gerard McGlynn, and McGlynn's off-balance, falling-to-the-ground shot rolled into the net. Turns out that as all SPU needed for a 1-0 victory and the program's second national championship.
 
"From my perspective, I didn't have an underdog or a 'you-can't-beat-us' type of attitude," Elmenhurst said. "It was really (a case of) every game, we knew we had to play our best – and more importantly, we had to play to beat the team that we were playing against."
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Elmenhurst, now retired after 33 years with Boeing, and the rest of the 1983 team will be part of this coming Saturday's Legacy Night at Interbay Stadium when the Falcons take on Colorado School of Mines, Kickoff is at 5:00 p.m.
 
Along with the 40th anniversary of the 1983 title team, other recognitions will honor the 45th anniversary of the 1978 team that won Seattle Pacific's first national soccer, crown, the 30^th anniversary of the 1993 team, and the 55th anniversary of the Falcons program, which took its first kick in 1986.
 
A TEAM IN THE TRUEST SENSE
Even now, almost 40 years later, the thing that still stands out to Elmenhurst about the 1983 squad that went 16-4-1 on the way to the title, was that everyone was in it together.
 
"My first three years, I played on teams that were probably more talented.. I think we had an ego and thought we deserved to win," Elmenhurst said. "I played with some of the best players in the United States. In all my years of playing for Seattle Pacific, I can say the '83 team was not the rack-and-stack of the best players.

 

"But it was players who could win a national championship."
 
Elmenhurst had a lot to do with that. In the semifinals against Oakland University of Michigan, he scored the only goal as the Falcons prevailed, 1-0.
 
Then in the final against Tampa, it was Elmenhurst who got himself into the right position to gain control of the ball and find McGlynn for what became the title winner, just nine minutes into the game.
 
"Cliff (McCrath, SPU's legendary head coach) had talked about how their defender liked to find this big center forward. So when (that defender) got the ball on the outside right, I was looking at the forward and in a sense, jumped the passing line as soon as (the defender) started to kick the ball. Cliff said that's what he was going to do.
 
"So I got the ball, and the transition turned into a goal."
 
SHARING THE GLORY
On that particular team, it could have been anyone making the pass. Or it could have been anyone scoring the goal. Altogether, 10 different SPU players scored during the season, led by Peter Hattrup's 18 and McGlynn's 17. A total of 12 Falcons picked up at least one assist, freshman Scott Cairns leading the way in that department with 10.
 
 

"That was a team that supported each other," said Elmenhurst, whose son, Nate, followed in his father's footsteps and played for SPU from 2004-07, even wearing the same No. 29. "Everyone from the starters to key sub players to even other players who came and were just relief players.
 
"An example I always remember  was when (defender) Kevin O'Keefe came in and I was going out. His comment was something to the effect of, 'You rest and I'm going to tire them out, so when you come back in, you can tear them apart.'"
 
That kind of mindset worked both ways.
 
"The flip side of that is we were all very competitive," Elmenhurst said. "There was arguing … but it was all around being the best each person could be and challenging people to do better."
 
And when the odds – not to mention the general mindset of anyone not wearing a Seattle Pacific jersey – were stacked against them, it's hard to do better than winning it all.
 
"I just refused to buy into the body politic that said we didn't belong on the field," McCrath said. "We baptized Pepin-Rood Stadium – that was the first soccer game in the stadium. The readerboard had the message when we went onto the field that said, 'the Champagne is cooled; let the celebration begin.'"
 
It eventually began, all right … but not for the team for whom the message was intended.
 
Instead, that celebration began for Seattle Pacific.