Hall of Fame
1949 Northern California Intercollegiate Soccer Conference Champions
Head Coach: Gus Donoghue
Overall Record: 10-0-1 NCISC Record: 6-0-0
All-NCISC Team: Dick Baptista, Angelo Carmassi, Charles Heredia, Robert Lee, Joe Matute, Steve Negoesco, Luis Ugarte
Most Goals: Dick Baptista (18) Goals Against Average: Angelo Carmassi (1.30)
USF Hall-of-Famers: Dick Baptista, Angelo Carmassi, Robert Lee, Steve Negoesco, Olifumni Osibogun, Benigno Toda, Gus Donaghue
The 1949 Dons completed the regular season at 9-0-0 and accepted an invitation to appear in the first Soccer Bowl. The postwar system of selecting a soccer champion was arbitrary at best as the Intercollegiate Soccer Federation declared the "mythical national champion" based on season records and the level of competition that the teams had faced during the regular season. This was a subjective judgment open to challenge, much like the modern college football polls. In an attempt to determine a true national champion team, the Soccer Bowl was created.
After the completion of the 1949 season, USF faced Penn State at the Inaugural Soccer Bowl on January 1, 1950 in St. Louis. The game ended in a 2-2 tie as Dick Batista scored both goals for the Dons, and USF ended sharing the National Title with the Nittany Lions.
The Dons opened the season against Santa Clara, and beat the Broncos 6-3. Wins over California and San Francisco City College followed, and then USF defeated UC Davis 9-1. The Dons beat San Francisco State 2-0 with starting goalie Angelo Carmassi, and easily handled Stanford to close out the Northern California Intercollegiate Soccer Conference slate at 6-0-0.
USF defeated UCLA 3-1 to capture the West Coast Collegiate Soccer Title. The following day the Dons played an exhibition contest against the leading professional team, the Los Angeles Aztecs and pulled off a surprising 2-2 tie. In the final game prior to the St. Louis, the Dons took on the NCIC All-Stars, composed of the best players from the other colleges in the conference. USF scored four goals in the first 10 minutes, then played 80 minutes of defensive ball to win 4-0.
Did You Know? Controversy surrounded the ending of the 1950 Soccer Bowl held in St. Louis. The Dons held a 2-1 lead as the 90th minute was completed. The referee then allowed the game to continue another 6½ minutes beyond regulation time. Coach Donaghue and team manager Joe Gumina had kept the time carefully on the sideline. At the end of regulation time Gumina yelled to the referee that time was up. After six minutes of extra time, the referee gave a penalty kick for a questionable handball call that went against USF in the penalty box. Several Dons players near the play said that no one had touched the ball with their hands. Penn State made the penalty shot to tie the game. The Dons bench erupted in protest demanding to know when the game would end. USF and Team Captain Steve Negoesco refused the referee’s request to continue play and the game ended in a 2-2 tie. At that point one referee said, “You’re lucky they tied it or you’d still be playing.” Many years later Coach Donaghue recalled, “The way that game ended still bothers me.”
They Said it: “We felt we were a special group, united as one. Individually we were average players, but when we played as a team, we were unbeatable,” said goalie Angelo Carmassi. Carmassi also recalled an incident before the championship game, “We arrived three days before the game and entered our hotel and went to dinner. The waiter refused to serve Olifumni Osibogun, our black Nigerian player. Coach called a meeting to explain that Olifumni could not eat or stay there, so we all decided to move to a different hotel.” Over the next few days, the team and coaches ate their meals at an East St. Louis restaurant that was not segregated. This was 1950 St. Louis with its Jim Crow laws.
