August 12, 2015
BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com
MADISON, Wis. -- Duke or Wisconsin? That was the crossroads for Mike Gentile at the end of the recruiting process. At one point, the 5-foot-10, 160-pound Gentile was leaning toward playing for the Blue Devils, maybe more of a sure thing to some in the college soccer world than the Badgers.
Gentile was a first-team prep All-American during his senior year at Churchill High School in Livonia, Michigan, a western suburb of Detroit. "In picking a college," he said, "obviously the dream is to always go on and win a championship. I think that's every kid's dream to do that."
Ultimately, he opted for Wisconsin. "I was excited about the (recruiting) class that we had coming in that freshman year," he said of the Class of 1992. "I also knew Jeff Gold and some of the other players on the team. So I felt very comfortable being on a team that I was kind of familiar with."
Because of his Michigan roots, he liked the "Midwest mentality" the Badgers offered. Beyond that, one of Gentile's high school teammates, Scott Lamphear, also signed with Wisconsin, and so had one of his prep rivals from Livonia, Travis Roy from Stevenson High School, a Mr. Soccer his senior year.
When the UW athletic department cut five sports in 1991, the result of a budget crisis, men's soccer was a beneficiary -- jumping from 2.2 scholarships to 9.9 overall. Head coach Jim Launder scored big in his first class with expanded recruiting resources by landing Gentile, Lamphear and Roy.
As seniors, they would become the core of an NCAA championship team.
Reflecting on the historic 1995 season, Gentile said, "We had all matured as college athletes and we had some really good young players. You can't put it into words when something like that happens (winning a national title, the first in men's soccer at Wisconsin).
"When you finally realize what you've accomplished and how many teams in the NCAA are all vying for that spot, the feeling is just overwhelming. It really doesn't set in what you've done until a little bit later. But it was definitely one of the proudest and best moments of my career."
Maybe it was fitting, too, at least for Gentile, who the Badgers beat in the championship game.
They beat Duke.
Not that he needed validation, because he felt like he made the right decision all along.
Now, twenty years later, Gentile will be inducted into the Wisconsin Athletics Hall of Fame.
"I thought I was being pranked when I got the call because I've been known to pull a prank or two on my friends," said Gentile. "But I'm very honored with the caliber of athletes that are in there (HOF). I'm over the moon excited and appreciative and everything that goes along with it."
That would also include taking part in a 20th anniversary reunion of the '95 Badgers that will be the centerpiece of a weekend featuring a Sept. 27 home match with Maryland. Gentile hasn't been back to Madison since 1997. After graduation, he played seven years of professional soccer with the Milwaukee Rampage and Minnesota Thunder.
"I wasn't able to make the last one (2005 reunion) so I'm excited to go back and see the campus and some of the old guys," said Gentile, now living in a Minneapolis suburb. "My son is playing soccer now and my daughter played the last couple of years. It's still in my blood. I still have a passion for it."
Does it seem like two decades ago that he was the leading scorer on a national champion?
"In my mind, no," Gentile said, "In my mind, I've got practice tomorrow."
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The Badgers slowly began to draw some regional attention in 1991 when they went 5-0 in the Big Ten and won the regular season title. In their first NCAA appearance in 10 years, they defeated Evansville before falling in a second round game to Indiana on the Hoosiers' turf in Bloomington.
After failing to make the NCAA tournament in 1992, they put themselves on the national radar in 1993 by advancing to the Sweet 16 on the strength of wins over Notre Dame, 3-1, and top-seeded Indiana, 1-0. That was a shocker, though the Badgers lost 3-0 to eventual national champ Virginia.
In 1994, Launder knew that his team could no longer sneak up on opponents after reaching the quarterfinals. With 14 returning letterwinners and seven starters, he admitted as much. But the Badgers fell short of post-season expectations, losing a first-round NCAA game to SMU in Dallas.
That set the stage for 1995, especially since the Badgers were anchored by eight seniors and returned four of their top five scorers.
"We had a core group of players that played well together," said Gentile. "Sometimes you can have the best players in the league on your team and it just doesn't jell. That's always the difficult part -- finding a team that jells together and that's what we were able to do."
On their road to the title, the players had to deal with some regular season potholes. After knocking off No. 4 South Carolina, the Badgers vaulted from No. 17 to No. 9 in the Intercollegiate Soccer Association of America poll. But they turned around in their next game and lost to No. 18 Creighton.
That paled by comparison to a loss to unranked Butler which had followed impressive back-to-back victories over No. 12 Penn State and No. 16 Indiana. "You look at the losses," Gentile said, "and you obviously want them back. But at the same time it lets you know that you're beatable."
As such, they served as wake-up calls and motivation.
"We had conversations with players during the season," said Gentile, a two-year captain. "We talked about how we only have a few opportunities to get to where we want to be. Each game matters, each minute of each game matters, and you need to play it like it's the last game of the season."
The Badgers won the Big Ten regular-season crown with a 4-1 record. In a rain-shortened conference tournament, they were co-champs along with Indiana. Gentile, Roy and Shea Huston were named first-team All-Big Ten. Josh Provan, Alastair Steel and Lars Hanson were on the second team.
Launder was Coach of the Year, an honor that he shared with his assistants, Ian Barker and Bill Reddan. "Me getting coach of the year is silly," said Launder, who was culminating his 14th season at Wisconsin (he was hired five years after its inception as a varsity sport). "It's never one person."
So what was Launder's impact on the '95 team? "He was able to see the different pieces to the puzzle," Gentile said. "And he was able to get the right people in the right places. It was always his goal to build a team with cohesion and he'd say, `My job is to keep you focused.'"
Wisconsin's calling card was defense. After a late October loss to Michigan State, 2-1 in overtime, the Badgers didn't lose again, nor did they give up a goal over the next seven games. They opened NCAA play on the heels of shutout wins over Notre Dame and the Spartans in the rematch.
"Once we hit the playoffs, it was one of those things where the chemistry was just right and it all fell into place," said Gentile. "I always felt like we were a good team and we could play with anybody. But we were not going to lose in the playoffs. You can't explain it. The chemistry was just there."
The Badgers had to overcome a key injury, though. In a second-round playoff win over William & Mary, they lost their starting goalkeeper, Todd Wilson, to a dislocated elbow. Wilson was the best in the nation with a 0.49 goals-against-average. He had recorded 17 wins and 13 shutouts.
Replacing Wilson was junior Jon Belskis, a former walk-on. In his only two previous career appearances, both during the '95 season, he didn't have to make a save. "We stepped up our game for sure," Gentile said. "But Jon did a great job as well stepping into a role where now he's the No. 1 guy."
Defense continued to carry the Badgers, who blanked SMU, 2-0, to advance to the Final Four in Richmond, Virginia. Since 1984, Indiana had been the only team from the Midwest to win an NCAA title. So most of the soccer pundits viewed Wisconsin as an outsider, if not a fluke, despite their shutout string.
"But the coaches do their homework and they knew, `These guys are for real and they're here for a reason,'" suggested Gentile, a third-team All-American. `Maybe some people were saying, `Who are these guys? Wisconsin really hasn't done a whole lot.' But we knew that we were a good team."
And the Badgers went out and proved how good they truly were. In the national semifinals, they beat Portland, 1-0, on Hanson's goal. In the finals, they drew Duke, an upset winner over mighty Virginia, which had won the last four NCAA championships.
The Badgers didn't waste any time, either, taking a 1-0 lead on another Hanson goal in the 9th minute of the match. Chad Cole then scored his first goal of the season 17 minutes into the second half to seal the school's first national title.
A record-breaking crowd of 21,319 -- the most ever to watch a college soccer game and more than UW had drawn (20,915) for all of their home games combined that season -- watched the Badgers celebrate their seventh consecutive shutout.
"You need a solid defense," Gentile said. "That's the No. 1 priority any championship season."
In 25 games, the Badgers had 17 shutouts. They gave up only 11 goals all season.
"When you're tough to score on," added Gentile, "you're tough to beat."
You can't beat those memories. And Gentile will get a chance to relive them twice in September.
