For the first time in eight years, USC Aiken Head Coach Ike Ofoje was able to coach just one college soccer team in a season. Entering his 11th season as the head men’s soccer coach, Ofoje begins his second with just coaching one squad.

Ofoje started the women’s program at USC Aiken in 1997 and served as its head coach for eight seasons, compiling a record of 51-77-10. In 2005, however, Susan Vodicka was hired as the program’s first full-time women’s soccer coach.

With the addition of Vodicka, Ofoje did take on the role of Director of Soccer Operations.
In his 10 seasons at the helm of the Pacers, he has a 49-121-11 overall record.

Even though the 2005 USC Aiken men’s soccer team finished 2-13-2, the Pacers continue to show improvement. After a winless season in 2003 at 0-11-0, the 2004 edition went 5-11-2. Last year, the Pacers dropped nine matches by one goal and nearly pulled upsets against #6 Clayton State (lost 3-2 in OT) and at #18 USC Upstate in the Peach Belt Conference Tournament (lost 3-1 late).

The 2001 campaign, in which the Pacers finished 10-9-0 in Ofoje’s sixth season on the USCA sideline, marked the program’s first winning season since 1994 and only its second winning record since joining the NCAA Division II in 1990.

Ofoje’s 2002 team reached another milestone. The Pacers entered that year’s Peach Belt Conference Tournament as the seventh seed, but Andre Joseph’s game winner with four minutes to play lifted USCA to a stunning 2-1 upset over eighth-ranked, and second seeded North Florida and gave the program its first-ever PBC Tournament victory.

On the women’s side, after struggling through a 1-14-1 inaugural season in 1997, Ofoje led the Lady Pacers to a 45-39-7 record over the next five seasons.

In 2002 the Lady Pacers scored the program’s first-ever win over a top 10 team, a 2-1 overtime victory over ninth ranked Francis Marion University.

Ofoje, a 1991 graduate of New Hampshire College, was a two-time NCAA Division II All-American and was named Most Valuable Player for his 1989 NCAA National Championship team.

As a player at New Hampshire College, Ofoje led his teams to a 72-15-4 record and four NCAA Tournament appearances. He totaled 58 goals, 36 assists, and 152 points in 75 career matches. He owns the school record for most career points, is tied for most career assists and is a member of the New Hampshire College Hall of Fame.

After graduation, Ofoje played professionally in the United Systems of Independent Soccer Leagues for the Boston Storm for two seasons.

Ofoje also played on his native country of Nigeria’s junior and senior national teams.

While coaching at St. Joseph’s High School in Huntington, W.Va., Ofoje earned his Master’s degree in Sports Management at Marshall University.

Ofoje, who holds a USSF “A” coaching license, served as assistant women’s soccer coach at Illinois State University before arriving at USC Aiken.