When Georgia soccer laces up their cleats tonight for a match against Alabama and again on Sunday at Auburn, the team will be playing to make up ground in the tough SEC East, where they currently sit in third place at 12-3-1 (5-3-0 SEC).

However, with wins in both tonight’s and Sunday’s matches, the Bulldogs could also ink head coach Patrick Baker’s name into the Georgia soccer record books.

With three regular season matches remaining in his fifth season at the helm, Baker needs just two wins to join former Georgia coach Bill Barker, who amassed a record of 65-30-8 from 1995 to 1999 at the university, as the program’s winningest coach.

“I’m pleased because if you look back at Coach Barker’s tenure, I mean they won and they won consistently,” said Baker.

Consistency is something that Baker too has achieved in his time in Athens, leading the Bulldogs to double digit wins in each of his first five seasons. However, when Baker took the reins in 2005, Georgia soccer was hardly the perennial SEC and national contender it is today.

Let’s rewind the clock to 2005, Baker’s first season in Athens.

Baker came to Athens after six seasons in Tallahassee, Florida, where he led Florida State to five straight NCAA tournaments from 2000-04, to take over a Georgia team that had just completed a forgettable 4-9-5 2004 season under then head Coach Sue Patberg.

Tasked with revamping a struggling Georgia program that had become a doormat in the always competitive SEC East, Baker admits the process hasn’t been a cake walk, particularly from a recruiting standpoint.

“I think the biggest thing was not getting our staff to believe it could happen, but it was to try and find players that were willing to take a step of faith to help change the complexion of the program and then ultimately share the vision of ‘This is what we want to do on the field, off the field and in the classroom,’” said Baker.

Remarkably, the Bulldogs pulled a 180 turn faster than perhaps even Baker expected. In his first season (2005), Baker led the Bulldogs to a 12-6-2 record, good enough for the second-biggest single season turn around in SEC history.

In the years since, the Bulldogs have continued to improve, making back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2007 and 2008, and as of today, currently sit at #9 in the RPI (Ratings Percentage Index). The credit for that success, Baker insists, goes to his players.

“I look at what our players are doing, have done, and there’s been so many firsts here in the last five years,” said Baker. “A lot of that credit goes to our current senior class because they’re the ones that took that step of faith.”

Two of those seniors, captains Michelle Betos and Carrie Patterson, who will be on the field tonight trying to earn Baker his 64th win at Georgia, weighed in on the coach and how he has turned Georgia into one of the elite soccer programs in both the SEC and nation.

“He knows how to turn around a program,” said Betos. “He knows what personalities it takes, what kind of players it takes, what kind of talent it takes. I think he has a really good grasp on the right kind of people to bring in and how to motivate those people and find the best in them.”

Patterson, herself a Georgia native, thinks Baker’s success lies in his ability to keep bringing the state of Georgia’s top-notch soccer talent coming to Athens, year in and year out.

“Georgia, the state itself, has a lot of good soccer and he’s done a great job to keep a lot of the good players in-state,” said Patterson. “Just bringing in the talent that he has, has brought the program to a whole new level.”

Asked what he’s most proud of about the program he has helped mold in Athens, Baker’s answer is simple: “Our Players.”

“I’m most proud of our players because they are doing it in the classroom and having a high level of success, and they’re doing it on the soccer field,” said Baker.