Godwin Odiye

Class

1982
Honors

Men's Soccer (1978)

A native of Lagos, Nigeria, Odiye graduated in Communications in 1982.
For more than 40 years, soccer aficionados from every continent, save Antarctica, have been kicking off every Saturday in the Fillmore, a weekly tradition started by international students from the University of San Francisco. Over the years, the games have become about more than soccer.

Godwin Odiye 1982 was a member of the Nigerian National soccer team when he was recruited to play for USF in 1978. He remembers when he found the neighborhood game.

“I started playing with them every weekend,” Odiye says. “It was fun. I really welcomed it. Because back home I could never do that, because of being on the national team.”

Odiye, who was an Olympian who played for the Nigerian team in the 1980 Moscow games, continued to play in the Saturday pickups long after graduating from USF, stopping only because of the pandemic in 2020. He is a teacher and soccer Coach at College Preparatory School in Oakland.

The Dons midfield is very strong although manned by three sophomores; Roar Anderson, Godwyn Odiye and Eric Visser. Odiye is the most spectacular of the three. Last year he went on a seven- game scoring tear before being sidelined with a fractured sternum. If he can recapture his tremendous ability to move forward through the defense and maintain it through the season, he may become the best player in the nation.

The University of San Francisco soccer Dons got three goals from freshman sensation Godwyn Odiye, as they defeated a pesky Fresno State team 4-2 last Wednesday afternoon at Ulrich Field. It was the third consecutive victory for the Dons at home.The game was also their second Pacific Soccer Conference game, having defeated Pacific in the first one last month. After numerous missed opportunities, the Dons got their first goal at 11:31 as Odiye outfought Fresno State defender Tony Gonzales for the ball and rifled the first of his three goals past goalkeeper Kurt Schermer. "I saw the defender was right with me", explained Odiye, "but I was off balance and I could not dribble so I shot it." Shot it he did, and USF had a 1-0 lead. However Gonzales got his revenge as he scored at 21:10 tying it up for Fresno State. Amazingly Gonzales's shot was the only one Fresno managed to get off the entire first half. At halftime, the score remained tied at one apiece. In the second half the Dons were able to break the tie at 54:47. Odiye penetrated deep into Fresno State territory, and worked a perfect give and go with Tony Gray to set up his second goal of the afternoon (TheFoghorn).

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