In college sports, if you can't be the No. 1 team, the next best thing is to beat the No. 1 team.

Gonzaga University's men's soccer team — with three starters from Hawai'i — did just that, beating No. 1-ranked and defending national champion UC-Santa Barbara, 1-0, at Santa Barbara this month.

The season got sweeter for the Zags five days later when they beat hated cross-state rival and then 15th-ranked University of Washington, 2-1, for the first time in 20 years.

Senior goalkeeper Vito Higgins (Pac-Five/Academy of the Pacific '03 of Kailua) registered the ninth career shutout in the victory over UCSB, and senior defender Daniel Scott (King Kekaulike '03 of Kula) cleared a ball that was spinning along the goal line in the final minutes to prevent a Gaucho rally.

Sophomore Tye Perdido (Seabury Hall '06 of Kula) also started for the Zags, earning his midfield position "through sheer determination," coach Einar Thorarinsson said.

True freshman Nick Love (Punahou '07 of Kailua) made the Gonzaga travel team and although he has not played in a game yet, Thorarinsson says, "I see Love contributing a lot; he has the potential" to be an effective attacker.

"Those two games were historical," Higgins said, "the Christmas present hiding behind the tree." He called the victory over UCSB "my best game," but added, "after we scored, it felt like the longest 8 1/2 minutes of my entire life."

On the ensuing possession, UCSB slipped a pass through Gonzaga's backline to a streaking attacker, who shot from two yards left of the goal box.

"Vito came out and made a really good diving save," Scott said.

"But the ball ricocheted off my right calf," Higgins said. "It was spinning toward the net and I was on the ground and couldn't reach it. I knew somebody was going to run onto it."

Fortunately, that somebody was Scott. "It was rolling along the goal line. I was scared, but I cleared it out of bounds," he said.

"Afterward," Scott said, "I thought, 'Geez, I could have kicked it into our own goal.' "

But, he didn't. Higgins made three of his five saves in the second half, and Gonzaga got the biggest win in program history.

"It felt amazing," Higgins said, "to shut out the national champions on their field. We are finally over the hump of learning how to close (a victory)."

Gonzaga climbed to 12th in the Soccer America magazine poll after the two upset victories but fell back after splitting two games in a tournament at Milwaukee, Wis., last weekend to fall to 3-2.

Scott was chosen to the all-tournament team at Milwaukee.

Thorarinsson has had nearly 30 players from Hawai'i on his teams at Whitworth (also in Spokane, Wash.) and Gonzaga the past 22 years.

"I like the Hawai'i kids," Thorarinsson said. "They are great kids to coach, very eager to play the game and learn and just so fresh in the game. They enjoy it.

"They are usually very athletic, and their approach to the game and to life is so welcoming to me."

The starting goalkeepers at Gonzaga have been from Hawai'i — specifically from Kailua — for 10 of Thorarinsson's 13 years as head coach there. Before Higgins there was Josh Fouts (1996-98), who holds the school record for shutouts with 19, and Mike McCarthy (1999-2002), who ranks second with 13.

Fouts and McCarthy are both Kalaheo High graduates; Fouts is now a medical school student at the University of Hawai'i.

Higgins, third in career shutouts with nine, holds the school record in saves with 235. Fouts, who played three years for the Zags, is second with 224 and McCarthy fourth with 202.

Fouts (0.83 average), McCarthy (1.16) and Higgins (1.53) are 1-2-3 in least career goals allowed per game.

Both Scott and Higgins hope to play professionally next year, joining two other Gonzaga alumni from Hawai'i, Brian Ching and Scott's brother, Zach. Ching plays for the Houston Dynamo in Major League Soccer and Zach Scott plays for the Seattle Sounders in the A-League.

Ching, a Kamehameha graduate from Hale'iwa, is the Gonzaga record holder in assists with 23. He ranks second in points (91) and third in goals (34), playing in the 1996 to 2000 seasons.