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You may be No. 3 in Division I, but you are No. 1 in our book.

That sentiment was printed across two columns in the Dec. 8, 1981, edition of The Daily Eastern News, one day after the Eastern men’s soccer team returned home from Palo Alto, Calif., after competing in the men’s Final Four.

It was Eastern’s first season in D-I but the team, led by head coach Schellas Hyndman, finished third in the nation with a 19-2-2 record.

Sophomore striker Damien Kelly racked up 21 goals, still the Eastern record for a single season. Kelly and mid-fielder Agyeman Prempeh gave the Panthers two first team All-Americans; the only school with two members on the ’81 team and Hyndman was awarded coach of the year honors.

“It was the best team Eastern athletics has ever had,” said current men’s soccer head coach Adam Howarth.

Members of the 1981 team will be back in Charleston on Saturday to play a reunion game at Lakeside Field and relive the great moments from Eastern’s only Division I Final Four appearance for any sport.

The miraculous season started at home against Illinois State on Sept. 16 at Lakeside Field and ended with a 4-2 victory against Philadelphia Textile in the consolation game of the Final Four at Stanford Stadium on Dec. 6.

In that three-month span the Panthers shut out 19 teams and played a handful of gut wrenching games, perhaps none more so than their opening round playoff game against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.

Road to the Final Four

Down 1-0 with only minutes remaining and the game appearing out of reach, and the SIU-E fans were letting the “Cinderella” Panthers know all about it.

“The fans were beginning to chant ‘swan song’,” said Guy Callipari, remembering the game 25 years later. “But then Prempeh elevates and knocks (the ball) into the top corner. We were elated.”

Prempeh’s goal forced the game into overtime, and with SIU-E missing a player after a red card late in the second half, the Panthers finally had the advantage.

Freshman midfielder Graham Whitehead quickly capitalized, scoring only two minutes into the extra period and sending Eastern to the second round of the Midwest regional.

“I told our players we had all overtime to score one goal against 10 players, and be patient,” Hyndman told The Daily Eastern News in 1981 after the game. “I’ll be darned if Graham didn’t score right away.”

The SIU-E victory set the Panthers up for a home game against St. Louis in the second round.

More than 3,000 fans showed up to watch the grinding 1-0 Eastern victory that included 74 total fouls.

“We we’re like the Cinderella team,” Hyndman said. “We had a lot of campus support. Everyone wanted to be a part of that special year.”

Co-captain Vince DiBella’s goal against St. Louis pushed Eastern into the third round against West region champion San Diego State, who defeated San Francisco in penalty kicks.

“Vince came to me before the game and said to me, ‘I had a dream last night and God told me that I would score a goal today,'” Hyndman said. “He didn’t play much, but how was I supposed to go against that? So 20 minutes in, he scores a rocket goal.”

DiBella’s goal might have been fate, but the Panthers game against SDSU was not destined to happen.

A bit of revenge by San Francisco gave Eastern a free pass when the Dons revealed a player on the SDSU team was playing while ineligible, a fact the San Francisco team knew all along and waited to use in the event that they lost.

San Francisco coaches hoped the information would overrule their loss to SDSU and advance them to play the Panthers. But the NCAA did not agree with their tactics and a bye was granted.

Even though the Panthers were ranked in the top 10 all season, they were deemed the underdog in the “David vs. Goliath” match-up against top seeded Connecticut.

Callipari said he also recalled the lead article in Sports Illustrated that week pitted UConn as America’s team against Eastern’s foreign heavy roster.

“We could have been considered international,” Hyndman said. “Our recruiting pipelines at the time were Canada and Ghana. But really, only 30 to 40 percent of our team was international.”

With soccer powerhouses like St. Louis, Indiana and Notre Dame in the Midwest, Hyndman said it was tough to recruit American players.

Hyndman said Alabama A&M, who defeated Philadelphia Textile in the first round of the tournament, had a completely African starting line-up.

However, America’s team Connecticut, reigned supreme and defeated the Panthers 2-1 in the semifinals setting Eastern up for the 4-2 consolation victory and third place finish.

The silver anniversary

“It’s still a great memory in my mind,” Hyndman said. “Our soccer team always was a national contender in Division II but it was such a difficult challenge in Division I. But doggone it, we made it to the Final Four.”

Hyndman, a 10th degree black belt, will be back on campus to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the amazing season. But that was hardly the only successful year for Hyndman.

Hyndman left Eastern after the 1983 season to take over at Southern Methodist University.

Still the head coach at SMU today, his Mustangs won the Conference USA championship in 2006 and advanced to the College Cup in 2005.

In 2002 the Mustangs undefeated season ended in the College Cup and the team finished the season with a 21-1 record.

His .772 winning percentage is second amongst all active head coaches in Division I and he has never had a losing season in his coaching career.

Earlier this year, Kelly was selected to the Eastern athletics hall of fame and Prempeh will receive the honor next year.

But this Saturday, the reunion game is in honor of Hyndman and all the members of the 1981 team.

Callipari, who is currently the head soccer coach at Wheaton-Warrenville South High School near Chicago and is organizing the event, said between 10 to 15 members of the team will be back on campus either Friday or Saturday morning.

Team members will be flying in from Brazil, New York, England, Texas and Colorado.

After the team won the consolation game and the Panthers finished third in the nation, Callipari, then just a freshmen midfielder, recapped the season.

“We wanted to win third real bad for our seniors,” Callipari said. “And since we had a winning season, we felt it was only fitting that we went out winners. We are all happy with third place for Eastern.”

Calling the 1981 season “winning” was an understatement.

More than 25 years later, the players on that team, while scattered around the world now, can look back and remember the greatest season in the history of Eastern athletics.