By Pete Pelegrin

The seeds for FIU's 1984 men's soccer NCAA national championship team were planted long before the 15 Sunblazers stepped on pitch at FIU. Eleven of the 15 members of the 1984 FIU national championship team had either played on the same teams or against each other growing up in South Florida.

"I think that was a key difference, that we were a very close team," said midfielder Bobby Pinto. "In 1983 we probably had a more talented team but we didn't win it all because maybe that team was a little divided. The 1984 team was a close knit team. We are still great friends."

Those great friends will get together once again when they are honored Saturday at halftime of the FIU/Rice football game on the 30^th anniversary of the 1984 FIU national championship season.

After winning the school's first national championship in 1982, the 1983 FIU men's soccer team posted a 17-3-1 record but lost in the second round of the NCAA South Regional. For the 1984 season FIU had only five returning players from the talented 1983 team so the outlook for the '84 season was murky with such little experience returning.

But experience was overrated when it came to the 1984 Sunblazers soccer team. FIU won its first seven matches of the 1984 season before adversity struck.

FIU lost its starting goalkeeper Marc Wolff to injury before the Clemson Invitational Tournament midway through the season. Normally, an injury to the goalkeeper would not be such an issue because a team usually has a backup goalkeeper. Except FIU did not have a backup goalkeeper because he quit the team earlier in the season.

So the Sunblazers had to employ field players to play goalie while Wolff nursed his injury. Midfielder George Maysonet and defender Louis Marcantonio, both of who had never played goalkeeper before filled in for Wolff. The duo did an admirable job as FIU went 2-1-1 in Wolff's absence. Later on that season FIU would go on to defeat Seattle-Pacific 1-0 in the NCAA National Championship game.

"Maysonet was just an all-around athlete and the team's enforcer who you didn't want to mess with," Pinto recalled. "Maysonet and Marcantonio really stepped up for us in goal. We fought for each other. We played for ourselves. There was and there still is a very strong bond among players on that team."

That bond exists to this day. Until recently, many former FIU soccer players played in the Soccer Locker men's adult league. Members of the 1984 Sunblazers soccer team get together often and even play alumni games with other FIU soccer alums that are organized by FIU soccer alums. However, there had never been an official gathering of the 1984 FIU national championship team until the idea was kicked around late last year before the 30^th anniversary.

"[Former FIU forward and coach] Munga [Eketebi] talked about doing something in December just for our team," Pinto said. "[FIU men's soccer] Coach Scott Calabrese talked with Munga about the 30-year anniversary and asked if we were doing anything at FIU. Calabrese looked into it and helped us do something with it. Coach Calabrese is very nice to do this. We always felt proud to be part of FIU. We go to several FIU games and try to stay active with the program. "

Pinto, who is now the club director of the South Kendall Sunblazers (yes, he took the old FIU nickname and adopted it for his club team), will be joined by about nine to 10 other members of the 1984 FIU national championship team on Saturday to relive the glorious 1984 season.

"You can't achieve that ultimate goal of winning a national championship unless you are a unified group," Calabrese said. "We want to make sure they are properly honored and that we as a program remain connected to the alumni. I think this also helps our current players because they need to understand the significant achievements and history that is associated with our soccer program."