It was quite a welcome home for the Ohio Wesleyan men's soccer team on Monday after they brought back the NCAA division 3 national title.
"The first emotion is relief," said Dr. Jay Martin, Ohio Wesleyan soccer Coach. "Believe it or not it's just like a sigh of thank goodness."
The celebration was also for Coach Martin who scored his 608th career victory. His team beat Calvin 2-1 Saturday night and set a record for the most wins by any coach at any level in college men's soccer, ONN's Denise Alex reported.
"The number 608 who cares," Martin said. "But to average 17 and a half wins a year over 35 years I think is a testament to the program and to the players."
The cheers of the day didn't come easy.
"We had lunch for about 30 minutes or so and came back out and the vans were broken into," said soccer player Jacob Eganhouse.
Fifteen laptops, wallets, practice gear, soccer shoes, uniforms and jerseys were all gone. The incident happened Wednesday after the team arrived in San. Antonio.
"Some of the guys had to get jerseys flown down and we had to borrow cleats and stuff," Eganhouse said.
"I just had a sinking feeling in my stomach. It's not what they needed. It's not what they deserved," said Dr. Rock Jones, Ohio Wesleyan President.
Many of the stolen laptops had the player's school papers and projects on them.
Next week is finals and the students know that it's a long shot to get any of the stuff back, Alex reported.
Jones said that the team scores an "A" for beating out 394 teams to be number 1.
The student athletes know that hard work pays off in the classroom and on the field.
San Antonio police are still investigating the theft that happened in broad daylight at a Panera restaurant parking lot.
Ohio Wesleyan said that the host school for the championship loaned players shoes, soccer balls and cones for practice.
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