Oct. 14, 2003

At men's home soccer games, Wake Forest's Dennie Spry Stadium is filled with the sounds of chants, songs and beating drums. There are fans dressed in unusual costumes acting in unusual ways. That's a typical atmosphere at soccer stadiums around the world, but here in the United States, and especially at college soccer matches, it's a bit atypical. Nevertheless, a taste of a traditional soccer atmosphere exists at Wake Forest because of perhaps the most reserved player on the 2003 Wake Forest squad, senior Vicente Bastidas.

Bastidas isn't a player that stands out. He isn't a prolific goal scorer or even the fastest player on the team. He needs seven assists this season to tie for the all-time school record, but he's not a player for which one can spout off a list of gaudy statistics. He is a very skilled player with the ability to fill many roles, and a cognitive player that fans may not appreciate as much as coaches. But Wake Forest soccer fans have grown to love Bastidas for his blue collar contributions, and ironically his cult following is "the" thing to be a part of at Wake Forest soccer matches. Although American born, Bastidas' roots are from Ecuador. The national flag of Ecuador is waved at every home game in his honor. Born in Philadelphia, Pa., to Trujano and Tammy Bastidas, Vicente grew up in the small community of Catasauqua, Pa., a suburb of Allentown. His father grew up playing soccer in the streets in Ecuador, and later moved to Florida as an early teen. Trujano played college soccer at the University of Penn. So soccer is in Vicente's blood.

"My dad definitely introduced me to the sport, and I just grew to love it," Bastidas said. "My parents have a picture of me at age one with a soccer ball at my feet, so they tell me as soon as I could walk I was kicking soccer balls."

"There's soccer in Vinny's blood," Coach Jay Vidovich of Wake Forest said. "There's no doubt about that. But I've always appreciated Vinny's brain. He has a great brain for the game of soccer, an innate ability to read the game, get a sense for the game that a lot of people will never have. He's kind of like the cement between the bricks. He just kind of fills in, complements everybody and holds the whole thing together."

Bastidas was part of a strong recruiting class that has helped strengthen the men's soccer program during the past four seasons. He played for FC Delco, one of the top junior teams in the country and helped lead FC Delco to an U19 National Championship. Bastidas was a major college recruit by the time he had finished his high school career, and his interest turned toward playing in the ACC, the collegiate league he feels is the best in the country. Wake Forest was the university he first officially visited on a recruiting trip, and he felt comfortable immediately.

"I was like, oh my gosh, this place is beautiful," Bastidas said. "The coaches seemed to have everything in order. At that time, Wake Forest was just starting to put itself on the map in soccer and was recruiting a lot of top players trying to take the program to the next level. They were like, hey your class can be the one to take us to the absolute next level, and that was tough to pass up."

Bastidas ultimately chose to become a Demon Deacon over the University of Virginia, South Carolina and James Madison, citing not only his interest in wanting to help bring soccer prominence to Wake Forest but also the connections he had with other players he knew were being recruited by Wake. "I don't how we were able to attract Vicente," Vidovich said. "He was a regional team player and off one of the top teams in the country. For some reason, he liked the way we played and felt he could add to it and have an impact with us. He and I hit it off, and he was one of many people who came here at that time like Brian Carroll, Will Hesmer, Kelvin Jones, Jere White - they were all regional team players. I think what it was that he wanted to go to a place where he could play soccer and express himself and be given opportunity. He's not the greatest athlete in the world, or the fastest, but I respected what his abilities were and what he could add to our program." Not so surprising are the things Vidovich saw in Bastidas, but quite surprising is the fact the Wake Forest fans know just how important Bastidas is to the 2003 team and honor that with raucous support at each home game.

"How many people have their own supporters club in college soccer," Vidovich of Wake Forest said. "That just doesn't happen, so that's a little bit of fun there. I think what happened was Ricky Kozell was a guy on the team who appreciated Vinny and what he did as a player. When he (Kozell) left the team they just stayed tremendous friends. I think, in Vinny, there's this guy who is underappreciated by the fans and the media. In Ricky, here's a former player who respects what he does, and he got all the friends in the dorm and created this following to support Vinny. It definitely creates an atmosphere and we enjoy it. I know the players enjoy it, and it's been a big part of creating a following here. The only problem is that we can't promise recruits that they will get their own fan club when they come."

"They're fantastic!" Bastidas said. "They come out and dress up, chant... They bring buckets and spatulas and beat on the buckets with the spatulas. They bring the Ecuadorian flag, which was a present mom got me one year for Christmas, and one of the guys wears the flag on their back. It's similar to soccer stadiums all over the world with people singing and chanting the whole game. That's what they're trying to bring here, that whole atmosphere of a true soccer game. It's cool. They're funny and do their best to give us a little rise."

Bastidas has continued to provide steady play as the 10th-ranked Deacons have worked their way to a 6-3 record. Although not the record for which they hoped, Wake's losses have come at the hands of perennial power Virginia, sixth-ranked Old Dominion and Maryland, the No. 1 team in the nation. All three losses were on the road. With 7 of 10 games to be played at Spry Stadium to finish the regular season, Wake Forest feels that the schedule now tilts in their favor and perhaps can lead to the successful defense of their regular season ACC title.

According to Vidovich, Bastidas' role will be to continue his high level of play, and then go beyond that role and assume a more active leadership position. It's a role Bastidas may not naturally fill, but one he feels he's earned over the past three seasons.

"Going into to me senior year coach was asking me to step up my leadership role a little bit more, and I guess more verbally than anything," Bastidas said. "Last year I was more of a silent leader, who did my part, but now he wants me to step in and be considered a leader on this team. He brought that to me, and I liked it. Having come in and been through my freshman, sophomore and junior years, I think I've earned a lot of respect from the players and the coaches. I think they look up to certain players, and I think I'm one of those players."

"Vinny's been great," Vidovich said. "He's played several different positions for us. When he was very sick against Old Dominion he was able to play a full 90 minutes and gave us a great effort there, and he's done whatever we've asked him to do with a smile. He's a quiet unassuming young man, not a cheerleader or anything like that, but people respect him because he's there for the team. We want him to step up and take control of the game for longer periods of time. He's ready to play his role, but he can have a bigger impact on the game, so we want him to demand the ball more. It's gone from just doing his job to going beyond your job and having a bigger impact on the game." "I feel pretty good about my play," Bastidas said. "I feel like I've been steady and done what I need to do for the team. As a team, we've been through a bumpy part of the schedule being away for like a month. Now we're going to be home for almost a month, which will be beautiful because we like playing on this field and play very well at home. It's a great feeling coming home knowing you're going to have 3,000 fans in the stands cheering for you."

Even as Bastidas completes his collegiate soccer career this season, the national flag of Ecuador can continue to fly inside Spry Stadium for at least another three. Vicente's brother, Chris, is a freshman on the Wake Forest soccer team. While Chris may not have the impact his brother has on creating a unique home field advantage for the Demon Deacons, he can certainly continue the tradition. Vidovich knows he has two uniquely different players in Vicente and Chris, but there are some basic premises he hopes Vicente will pass down to his brother.

"Vinny has grown as a person and a player, he's a guy other players respect and want to play with, he's able to cement personal relationships with his teammates on a one-to-one basis to create a family situation on the team," Vidovich said. "He's never been told he's going to start. In fact, he's been told a lot of times for us to be really good he'd have to come off the bench. But he always starts and finds a way to survive and to get the job done for us. He risen to every challenge we've put in front of him.

"My assistant coach says he's a product of his environment. He comes from a tremendous family. I can't say enough about Mr. And Mrs. Bastidas. They're just great people. We like to surround ourselves with good people. We like to say winning people make winning players, and winning players make winning teams. That's where Vicente Bastidas comes in."