GREENSBORO, N.C. – In the afterglow of Theo Collomb being drafted by the Vancouver Whitecaps earlier this week, I thought it would be cool to list his top nine moments as a Spartan to celebrate his sacred blue-and-gold No. 9 jersey.
 
Of course, this is just one man's opinion since I had a front-row seat to Collomb's consistent excellence during his career.
 
Collomb and I spoke on the eve of the draft. He revealed part of his inspiration as a UNCG student-athlete. He had examples of greatness that motivated him.
 
"I think getting drafted is something big for the school," Collomb admitted to me. "I mean with Isaiah Miller last year for basketball and Kayla White for volleyball being named players of the year, it is proving that UNCG have a bunch of great athletes. They were two sources of inspiration for me because it was two athletes who led their teams to success and that was something I aspired to do as well. They were just outstanding every time on the court and seeing them compete at that level was something that pushed me do give my best each time I was out there on the pitch."
 
Without further ado, here are the top nine moments listed in no order.
 

• February 17, 2021: Collomb scored his first career collegiate goal and registered his first assist during a 4-1 victory over Belmont-Abbey.

 

• March 27, 2021: He scored the game-winning goal in overtime to help UNCG beat Belmont, 3-2, in a classic. Collomb headed in a golden goal off a superb pass from Daniel Mangarov with 1:11 left in the first overtime period. "It was a release after so much frustration. I missed chances that I don't like to miss, and I was starting to get frustrated with my performance, even though I caused the penalty at the very end (of regulation) to put me back in my game. It was a great relief and a great joy to convert the work of the whole team into a great victory."

 

• March 30, 2021: Collomb scored the game-winning goal in the 57th minute in a 1-0 victory over Wofford.

 

• April 29, 2021: He scored UNCG's first goal in its NCAA Tournament contest in the 71st minute NCAA Tournament against Omaha.

 

• September 3, 2021: Enjoyed his first career multi-goal scoring game when he scored twice during a 3-2 win over Stetson.

 

• September 11, 2021: Had a five-point night with two goals and an assist during a 6-0 road victory over Winthrop. Both of his goals were scored during a seven-minute span of the second half.

 

• September 21, 2021: Scored two goals to lead UNCG to one of its best wins in program history, a 3-1 conquest over national champion Clemson, which was ranked No. 2 in the country at the time of the match. "We were ready before the kickoff. I told the team before kickoff that we knew who we were and we knew where we wanted to be. To be a great team, we have to beat great teams. We did everything we could to win this game. The thing was to be efficient in the two box. We brought everything and finished the game with 17 shots. Clemson is a very good team. We defended great. It was our night."

 

• September 25, 2021: Notched his first career hat-trick against VMI in a 7-0 win. He ended the week with five goals, which resulted in a barrage and clean sweep of national Player of the Week honors.

 

• October 26, 2021: During a 68-second stretch of the second half, Collomb scored a goal and had an assist during a come-from-behind 3-1 victory over Longwood.

 
Hope you enjoyed our stroll down memory lane.