Sias at the center of UCI’s renovation

Arguably the most unassuming person on the UC Irvine men’s soccer team grew tired of waiting for others to assume ultimate responsibility.

Somewhere in the middle of the Anteaters’ star-crossed 2007 campaign, when a 5-0 start somehow veered as sharply as a hooking corner kick toward a 1-8-3 Big West Conference record and a last-place finish, David Sias made a personal vow that he would help things change in 2008.

Just as he gleans entertainment from making repairs and renovations to the house in which he resides, the four-year starter at center defender figured the Anteaters were broken and needed fixing.

“He’s Mr. Fix It these days,” UCI Coach George Kuntz said of Sias’ household hobby, not realizing he was also describing how Sias had affected the Anteaters.

With the Big West Defensive Player of the Year anchoring the back line and embodying accountability on and off the field, UCI has forged a historic season. The Anteaters won their first regular-season conference crown, the inaugural Big West Tournament, and gained the first NCAA Tournament berth in the program’s history.

UCI (14-1-6), the No. 14 seed in the NCAA Tournament which received a first-round bye, plays host to conference rival Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (11-5-6) in a second-round contest tonight at 7 at Anteater Stadium.

“I think leadership is something that comes upon you,” said Sias, whose soft-spoken, workmanlike approach might be considered as antithetical to authority as his aggressiveness and savvy are to the scoring chances of opponents. “When you’re the guy who has been there for so many games [he’ll make his 69th career start tonight], everyone starts to look up to you. In my experience, you have a choice of looking up to the guy who always showed up early to practice and worked the hardest every day, or the guy who was yelling at everybody. I was always inclined to look at the guy who was doing things right and was working hard, so that’s who I needed to be.”

Sias, who not so coincidentally did not play during the Anteaters’ lone loss this season [a controversial red card assessed after a freak collision against UC Davis mandated a one-game suspension when UCI fell to UC Santa Barbara, 2-1, on Oct. 4], also set the bar high when it came to game performance.

“Coach gave us all a piece of paper and asked us to write down our goals for this season,” Sias said. “I wrote that I wanted to be Defensive Player of the Year in the Big West. It’s hard to think of that on every sprint, but all through the toughest off-season we’ve had since I’ve been here, I had it in my mind that that was what I was working for. It wasn’t for myself, but I figured if I was that type of player, my team would respond and it would help us be successful. My parents are very happy [about the individual recognition], but if I’m not seen, or known, I’m fine with that. If I’m not doing interviews, I’m absolutely fine with that. As long as we win, that’s all I care about, and that’s all the guys on the back line care about.”

It is, Kuntz believes, Sias’ unyielding displays of how much he cares that have made him so inspirational to his teammates and so respected by those in and around the UCI program, as well as players and coaches from opposing teams.

“He is such a genuine person,” Kuntz said of his senior captain. “He used to come to our [summer camps] and I was sold on him when I first began recruiting him. He was to his [Wolfpack] club team and to Fountain Valley High School what he has been to our team. He’s a rock at the back and a serious, no-nonsense leader; a real meat-and-potatoes, no-glory guy who is just happy for the team.”

Humility is another admirable quality in Sias, who attributed the trait to some painful lessons administered by opposing goal-scorers.

“I always think it’s funny when they tell the forwards to forget the shots they miss,” said Sias, who was a goal-scoring phenom himself in his initial days of youth soccer, before settling in on defense as a sophomore at Fountain Valley. “I always tried to remember the ones I missed. And, as a defender, I try to memorize every goal that is scored against me, because I don’t want it to happen again. I’m always thinking ‘This is what I’m going to do differently the next time.’ What good is experience, if you don’t try to use it?”

Sias’ determination, combined with his vast experience and an ample skill set, have helped UCI blank five opponents and hold foes to one goal 12 times this season.

Senior center defender Kyle Schmid, senior left back Shane Westbrook, sophomore right back Corey Attaway and goalkeeper Andrew Fontein, the Big West Co-Freshman of the Year who earned MVP honors in the conference tournament, are also big reasons for UCI’s consistently stingy play.

“I think Dave is a great player,” Schmid said. “He brings a lot of emotion and intensity when he plays. He is great at winning the ball in the air, he’s a great tackler and a great defender. He has been really fun to play with, because he is always someone I can count on to give me cover. It’s just nice having that comfort of being able to see him when I look over my shoulder.”

Sias said shouldering the responsibility as a last-line defender provides constant motivation.

“I feel like any ball in the air, I can win,” he said. “I think my opponents would say speed is my weakness, but I feel like I can use my brain to get where I need to be on the field. And, one vs. one, I think I can take anybody on, once they come at me.”

Sias said he and his teammates were eager to take on the challenge of avenging ’07.

“We weren’t a last-place team last year,” he said. “That’s how it worked out, but that’s not how we felt. Something didn’t work last year so, as a program, we thought about it, talked about it and we changed it. When it was broken, we fixed it.

“You can say we were young last year, but that’s all excuses. When you’re accountable and you put in the work, you don’t have to make excuses.”

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at barry.faulkner@latimes.com.