1976 Men's Soccer National Champions

Head Coach: Steve Negoesco
Overall Record: 20-2-3    WCISC Record: 7-1-2
All-WCISC Team: Andy Atuegbu, Tom Trondstat
Most Goals: Anthony Gray (12)    Most Assists: Anthony Gray (10)
Most Points: Anthony Gray (34 – 12 goals, 10 assists)    Goals Against Average: Peter Arnautoff (.89)
USF Hall-of-Famers: Andy Atuegbu, Peter Arnautoff, John Brooks, Bjorn Dahl, Greg McKeown, Misak Pirinjian, Alex Nwosu, Mal Roche, Kjell Tvedt, Steve Negoesco

After winning a national championship, the single most difficult task is living up to an established reputation, and successfully defending that championship. That situation faced Coach Steve Negoesco and his Dons in 1976. Thus USF’s road to a second straight NCAA national title became a long and winding one that began one night in San Francisco and ended in the sub-freezing temperatures of Philadelphia’s Franklin Field.

The Dons arrived in Philadelphia for the Final Four as the underdog. Clemson at 18-0-1 was ranked number one in the country, while 17-0-1 Indiana was number two and Hartwick at 15-0-1 was ranked third in the country. The Dons at 18-2-3 were the only team amongst the finalists that had actually lost a game.  

The Dons employed a new 2-4-4 defensive alignment to shut off the finesse of the Clemson offense in the semifinals. The strategy paid off as USF went on to a 1-0 win over the Tigers, with John Brooks scoring the only goal of the game in the second half. The next day USF goalie Peter Arnautoff led the defense to another shutout, the fifth straight for the Dons, as USF successfully defended the national championship with a 1-0 victory.

As was the case in 1975, the most dominant player on the field was All-American Andy Atuegbu. In the 36th minute of the opening half, he took the ball at midfield and dribbled up the left side, then unleashed one if his cannonball shots perfectly into the top right corner. The 20-yard blast brought USF the 1976 NCAA Championship.  

The 1976 Dons led by their Hall of Fame coach, featured nine future Hilltop Hall-of-Famers and outscored their opponents 8-0 in four NCAA playoff games.

Did You Know? A brilliant strategic move by Coach Steve Negoesco paid off in the Dons championship win over Indiana. Negoesco put fullback John Brooks as a rover on Indiana’s explosive forward Angelo DiBernardo. “I told John, ‘Never let him have the ball. It’s a simple assignment. If he goes to the bathroom you go with him.’ And it worked,” said Negoesco after the win. The formidable DiBernardo was thoroughly frustrated and denied the ball all day by Brooks, who stuck to him like duct tape.

They Said It: “Let’s not celebrate yet,” Negoesco waved a finger at his ecstatic players in the locker room after the NCAA semifinal win over Clemson. “Don’t get a big head. If you do you’ll fall on your butt. Hartwick didn’t cover DiBernardo enough and he’ll be there tomorrow looking down your throats. You’ll have to shut him off and shut off his feeders.”