UC Irvine soccer began in 1984, and it was a winner out of the gate winning 12 games and beating ranked schools in just its first season with as many as eight freshmen in the starting XI. The Anteater family is tied back from that 1984 team through the turn of the century and even to today as former team captain, Cameron Beaulac, tells us.

"Yossi's a very good man. He was just a very good person, very honest with our kids, I was very excited when he got the UCI job. He's a proven winner that cares about the kids, not just on the soccer field, but with academics. Myself, I'm an educator and have been teaching for over 30 years."

Cameron Beaulac has been connected to UCI for nearly 40 years. He knew of UC Irvine from his second cousin who attended and played on the club rugby team, and had obviously gotten attached to the Anteater. Initially, he set to go to Long Beach State having grown up in Long Beach and played his club soccer there. With LBSU's department unsure if the soccer program would continue in the future, Beaulac relished the idea of UCI's soccer team now in the picture.

"Coach Lawther had me out to campus after seeing me play a strong game one day, gave me an application, and offered me a roster spot. I hadn't applied to UCI earlier in the year, but after talking it over with my parents, the opportunity to compete and play, get a quality education, getting away and living in Orange County, it all came together."

Beaulac applied and later that week he had been accepted to the school. There was still a lot to wade through since UCI was a fledgling program that was still forming. On top of that, Beaulac was brand new himself from Long Beach into this new world of Orange County. He noted he was the first player from the city to play four years of Division I soccer when it was all said on done.

"It was brand new. Here's this new program and usually when a program starts, people look down on it. Our first year, we were quite successful – we had a winning record, double-digits in wins, we'd beat some strong opponents. I remember CSUN being one of them that was considered to be very good and ranked top 10 in the nation. There was a high percentage of freshmen on the team. Some transfers like Kevin Shane and Colin Graham, and there were kids that were already at school that came out, but the high majority was freshman. If I'm not mistaken, eight of us freshmen started. Our assistant coach at that time was Martin McGrogan followed by Bob O'Leary a couple years later, and both were great for us. I learned a lot from them both as a player and a person."

Like many of his teammates, Beaulac came in as more of an "athletic student" over a "student-athlete". He had to learn how to balance the student and athlete parts of his life, and learned quickly that being an athlete can help someone like him flourish in this environment.



"It helps when you play athletics, it provides a structure. You're provided a schedule and you know when you have to go to class, when you're going to train, and there's only a certain amount of hours in the day that you have to allot some time for studying. You make a schedule and stick to it. When you're not an athlete, you have a lot more free time and you'll get to it later or you'll study later on. For me, when you take certain classes, they may be more difficult, but that just means you have to apply your focus and stick to your schedule."

Beaulac came to the school set on a psychology degree interested in working with people and kids and becoming a therapist. By his second year, there was a lot more science and medical courses and postgraduate work than he anticipated in subjects he was not as strong with. His focus switched recalling the route a lot of his family members had taken.

"I thought about teaching then. My mother was a teacher, both my grandmothers were teachers, multiple people on my father's side were teachers, and I had already started coaching kids at that time and working with youth. I thought being a teacher would be the right avenue for me. I went in during sophomore year and met with the teachers' education program at Irvine."

Beaulac recalled it being a little scary at first.

"In order to apply, you needed a minimum of a 3.0 GPA. My first two years, I was eligible to play, but I wasn't the student I needed to be and wasn't taking my academics serious enough to be at that level. I told them my circumstance and they let me know it's based off your junior and senior years, so if you can get GPA of 3.0 or higher, you will be admitted."

The program was ripe for Beaulac needing to fill teaching roles that not many males or athletes were interested in. Again, the athletics side of student-athlete helped Beaulac forge on helping with his focus and turn around his rough beginning. It's something he still preaches today to his students and players – even if you stumble at the beginning, you can still gather your focus and have success. Beaulac turned his wake-up call into All-Academic honors and Dean's honor roll.

Beaulac's athletics and academics were blossoming as an Anteater, and the shy kid that entered the college scene didn't stay that way either. He spent a lot of time with other student-athletes including the baseball team with two baseball players were his roommates for a time.

"I hung out with the baseball team more than the soccer team, to be honest. A lot of the soccer team was in fraternities, but that wasn't really my thing. The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee started during my last two years with the program. Myself and another soccer player, Kevin Peterson, were approached by the athletic director wanting to have athletes from all different sports get to know each other better, hang out, and we had this budget to put together some events and bring the student-athletes together. So I became the Vice President and Peterson was the President."

An institution within the department that is still going strong, and the reserved Beaulac was becoming anything but that by the time his college career was ending. Beaulac was on the fast track graduating in four years and sights set on UCI's teaching program considered one of the top programs west of the Mississippi. His senior season, he hit a bump with an injury in the third game of the season. A medical redshirt gave him a second chance and allowed him to play while working his way toward a teaching credential.

The Beaulac family was another piece preparing him for his next step. His father was already coaching soccer, and Cameron would return while in college and while still helping with camps at UCI.

"Sometimes they were weeklong camps, and he would fly in his coaching staff from Europe with me as the only American. So that was good for me, being able to train and learn things from the coaches that flew in."

His coaching experience continued to grow. One of his dearest professors, Raul Fernandez, asked if he'd be interested in volunteering to coach a team in Laguna Beach early in his time at UCI which led to coaching at various high schools as a junior and senior. He was soon a frosh/soph. coach at nearby University High School. Following that season, the varsity coach was moving on and liked what Cameron had done and how he had conducted himself.

"He asked if I would take the position there. It all kind of fell into place because I ended up doing my student teaching at University High School also. I even hired a couple of UCI players, Rob Wynner and Jimmy Turner, as the JV and frosh/soph. coaches."

After the first year, Beaulac was asked to stay, but he was looking for a full-time teaching position. Fountain Valley High School had a head coaching position where he applied, and was a resident substitute teacher for two years.

"Athletics helps you tremendously in the professional world when you go out. Teamwork, how to work with other people, when to lead, when to follow, how to speak. If you have a different thought, it helps with how you present it. Scheduling of time, there's so many positives you get from being on an athletic team, any athletic team. Soccer was helping me get my foot in the door at things. After a few years, there still wasn't anything full-time open, but I got along with Long Beach Poly's head coach. We had played each other a bunch, and he said he didn't want to coach anymore, but he would like me to take over the program."

That led Beaulac to a meeting with their Principal, and when the position came open, it was for a coach and social science teacher. Beaulac fit the mold, and that led to 29 years of where he is now.

Beaulac excelled as Long Beach Poly's head coach with winning seasons, three league titles, and a CIF championship in his 13 years. Later in his tenure, he added head coach for Long Beach City College to his resume making his calendar an endless slate of soccer. From the junior college season in the fall, high school season starting in November and running to February when the college offseason would pick up again, and then finishing it off with high school summer league, while extremely convenient, it was a constant grind for the fresh face getting into the workplace.

"All of that and I was coaching club, too. Three years of it and I realized I wanted to spend more time with my wife and two young daughters so I stopped coaching at the high school. They still wanted to keep me involved so I became and still am the Director of Soccer for the boys program where I oversee it and handle different things on the academic side like running study halls."

He's continued to teach at the school while still with an eye on the high school program, and his coaching is spent at LBCC. The Vikings have become a formidable force in his 17 seasons reaching 11 regional playoffs, two conference championships, and five Coach of the Year honors from the South Coast Conference.

The program has vaulted at least 85 players to four-year universities, and from there he began his connection with Coach Raz. A Viking alum ended up on Raz's team at Cal Poly Pomona scoring a goal in the national semifinals to put them through in overtime. He's seen alums of his programs do great things at UC Irvine; names like P.J. Polowski, Patrick Lee, Kevin Smith, Chris Ruiz all have left their mark with the program and in the record books right alongside Beaulac who is still etched in there with the program's first three-assist game back in 1985.



Beaulac has his hand in everywhere in the soccer community. He was involved in the club soccer scene right out of college joining up with North Huntington Beach club boosting them to club titles. He is currently the Director of Coaching for a club called FC Premier where they have over 40 teams, and Beaulac is overseeing the coaching and curriculum. His success all across Southern California caught the eye of the four-year universities early on like Cal State Fullerton and even UC Irvine.

"I just didn't want to work at a four-year college. The grind of recruiting, coaching, a lot of time on the weekends was taken up and I didn't want to be away from my family, and I'm very happy for that."

A family that holds his top priority and has been with him at every turn. UC Irvine even played a part in meeting his wife with more impeccable timing.

"Probably the best thing that ever happened from UC Irvine was my very last day living in Newport Beach. I lived down there while going to school, and the day before we were to move out, I met the girl that we'll be celebrating 29 years together this June. I even had some of my teammates in my wedding."

UCI connections dotting Beaulac's personal life and soccer life. It was UCI again that connected Beaulac back to a place like Cal State Fullerton. George Kuntz had not even started as UC Irvine's head coach before he and Beaulac were linked. The pair worked camps in the early 90s, and they would connect along with Chris Volk at alumni functions, and still connects with them.

"So many contacts I've created from college roommates, soccer players, baseball players, and even George. Enrique Cardenas is one where we were not near the same class at UCI, but when he became the head coach at College of the Desert, he called me up and it was like 'hey, we're Anteater alums.' I was able to help and guide him with a lot of different things he was handling on the junior college level. Now he's an assistant at Cal State Fullerton where George is. There's someone I didn't play with, never hung out with, but just because we were part of the family, we made that connection."

The Anteater blood courses through his veins at every turn. He's very connected to UC Irvine to this day, and especially through the soccer program with Yossi Raz prior to and still through the COVID shutdown.

"I'm very much of the mindset you can always be learning. Yossi is more willing to share his knowledge and I appreciate that. It's nice when I can be there and visit, the door is always open, but I know I can always call him. I want to get more involved to support him and the program. I know what he's done with one of my own players in the past, and that young man has nothing but great respect when he talks about him. Coaches that work with him have the same things to say. You always want to surround yourself with positive people and also knowledgeable people."

Beaulac is constantly reminded of how thankful he is to still be associated with the game of soccer and the UC Irvine soccer program. He reminds his students everyday with teaching tools through things he learned along the way at UC Irvine where he says has been one of the biggest impacts of his life.

"UC Irvine was a great experience for me to learn more about myself and to grow as a person. The two biggest parts of my working career are teaching in school and soccer. Both of those are things I started when I was at UC Irvine, and I've continued on until now. A lot of very enjoyable times and learning moments on the field and off the field that I'll remember for the rest of my life."