At West Virginia Wesleyan College, the men’s soccer program is a source of pride for everyone involved. Since its inception in 1959, no school in the WVIAC has had more success than the Bobcats. That success has included 20 conference championships and five NAIA national championships.
This weekend, April 16th through the 18th, the proud members of Wesleyan’s great teams will venture back to Buckhannon to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the school’s first national championship team in 1984. This all-year’s reunion also marks the year in which another national championship team, that of 1985, received recognition and transcended history by being inducted into the Wesleyan’s Sports Hall of Fame.
The 1984 championship squad put together a spectacular regular season and entered the national tournament in Fresno, CA as the number one ranked team in the nation. Wesleyan opened up the tournament with wins over Concordia (NY) and King College (TN) to set-up a semi-final bout with Warner Pacific. After falling behind 2-0 in the first half, the Bobcats exploded for five unanswered goals to win the game 5-3 and keep their run alive. In a championship thriller, Wesleyan again overcame a 2-0 deficit and survived three overtimes to beat the host school, Fresno Pacific by a final count of 3-2. The victory concluded the Bobcats magical run, as Wesleyan finished the season with 21 victories.
Despite losing seven players from their 1984 team, the 1985 team cruised through the regular season with a record of 17-3-1. The Bobcats kicked off the national tournament in style, beating Midwestern State 7-0. The momentum continued into the next two games, as Wesleyan shut out Warner Pacific 1-0 and Boca Raton 3-0 to advance to the title game. Heading into a championship game rematch with Fresno Pacific, the Bobcats had tallied an eight game shut-out streak. The title game was anything but easy though, as Wesleyan was forced to hold-off a relentless attack to win the game 4-3 and successfully defend their national championship. The win also gave the Bobcats back-to-back 21 win seasons.
Members from each of the five national championship teams (1984, 1985, 1989, 1990, and 1994) will be in attendance at the event, including Wesleyan graduates from as early as 1965 and many of the current players. The Bobcats will be proud to usher some of its greatest players back through its doors as well, with All-Americans: Rune Thuestad (2000), Wilco Ravestijn(1997), Ian Burgess (1995), Colin Rocke (1993), Atle Nesheim (1993), Michael Thompson (1992), Paul Willis (1988), Les Farr (1986), Stewart Thomasos (1985), Derrick Leeson (1987), Mario Garcia (1987), Jeff Cook (1993), and Thomas Ulbraten (1996) currently planning to attend this weekend’s festivities.
In addition to the Bobcat’s returning players, several of the school’s former coaches will also be in attendance. Dr. George Klebez, who coached from 1971-1977 and again from 1986-1988, was also Wesleyan’s athletic director until retiring two years ago. Another coach, Tom Martin, was part of the recent Hall of Fame inductee class, coaching from 1978-1986 and winning two national championships. A former player and coach, Derrick Leeson, led the Bobcats from the sidelines for only two years, yet during his short stint the Bobcats claimed two more national championships. Finally, the Bobcat’s current coach, Gavin Donaldson (pictured), who claimed the Wesleyan’s fifth national championship in 1994, will begin his 20th season at the helm of the Bobcat’s this fall.
Donaldson, a Brandon, Vermont, native and a Northland College alumnus (1981), has done nothing but build upon the legacy that is Bobcat soccer. In his tenure at Wesleyan, he has become the most successful coach in the school’s prestigious history and accumulated an impressive number of individual and team awards. He has won the WVIAC Coach of the Year award seven times, in 1992, ’94, ’96, ’97, 2001, ’02, and ’06. In addition to his conference accomplishment in 1994, he was also named National Coach of the year at the helm of the Bobcat’s national championship team.
Donaldson led the Bobcats deep into two NAIA National Championship tournaments, winning in 1994 and finishing in the top four in 1992 following an impressive 21-0-2 regular season. Donaldson’s legacy reflects strongly in the conference as well, for of the record 20 conference titles that Wesleyan owns, Donaldson is responsible for 11 of them, a statistic that will likely grow before the end of his impressive career. Entering the 2009 season, Donaldson’s 277 career wins ranked him 9th on the active list of most wins by a Division II coach.
Although it would be impossible to list the accolades the excellent student-athletes of the numerous Bobcat soccer teams have accumulated on and off the field during their lives, it is safe to say that every young many who has donned a Bobcat jersey has impacted the school in a big way. Whether those plays led the team in scoring or played only minimally in their careers, each and every player has been a huge part of making the history of the Bobcat soccer teams a long and proud one. No matter what the players pursue following graduation; whether it be professional soccer, graduate school, or some other path, every single player will always be a Bobcat.