Berin Boracic returned to Orlando over the holiday break, making the first visit to his family’s new home before returning to school in North Carolina. It’s been nearly a decade since they escaped to Central Florida and started anew after living amongst a war that was right at their doorstep.

Berin Boracic

Boracic is nearing the end of his senior year at Lees-McRae College in the tiny mountain town of Banner Elk, N.C, where he helped lead the Bobcats soccer program to the Division II title game a month ago at Tampa University Pepin Stadium.

The Bobcats lost that game, 1-0, in the final 12 minutes against Fort Lewis. Such a finish to an otherwise extraordinary season has proved to be a tough memory to shake off for Boracic, considering the way it ended. Despite working his way through the opposition throughout the match, seemingly at will, his final shot on goal clanged off the far post late in the game before time eventually expired.

“Just getting the opportunity to play (in college) and then to get to the championship game was a great experience,” said Boracic. “But of course everyone wants to win, so it was really tough losing.”

As tough as that was, it’s nothing compared to the kind of adversity he’s already had to face from such an early age. Not to mention the lofty goals he’s already set for himself once his final year of college is officially in the books.

Before landing on his feet in Orlando nearly a decade ago, Boracic was growing up in a world of violence and poverty, where tens of thousands of people were killed and his father was held prisoner during the Bosnian War in the mid-to-late 1990s.

Then as a young teen in 2002 his family was offered a new start abroad by the Bosnian government. That’s when along with his parents, younger brother and sister they were granted the opportunity to come to the United States and leave the smoldering post-war conflict behind them.

Berin Boracic

But while his mom and dad struggled to provide for the family, Boracic found the transition to be quite a challenge as a freshman at Oak Ridge High School.

“But everything kind of fell into place,” he remembers.

It’s not hard to imagine they eventually would. In Bosnia he was a victim of war after having suffered projectile wounds during the infighting back in those days. At Oak Ridge he built lasting relationships through athletics before graduating with a diploma in 2005.

And despite the shrapnel still lodged in his lower back and in each one of his legs, Boracic excelled in soccer and as a placekicker on the Pioneers football team.

It was through the relationships and camaraderie he forged in those days, with teammates and coaches such as Scott Fisher and Marc Jackson, which he says made the move that much easier as time went on while his parents continued to also get acclimated.

“Everybody really stuck together over there,” said Boracic of his time at Oak Ridge. “All the coaches and players, we were really close and would go support each other at different events.”

Many of those ties remain intact. He’s since followed the career of former football teammate Joe Joseph at the University of Miami and recently got the chance to play in front of both Fisher and Jackson when they made their way over to the Division II tournament in Tampa.

Berin Boracic

Boracic closed out his senior season as the Conference Carolinas Player of the Year (for the second time) after returning from an anterior cruciate ligament tear in his right knee, suffered while competing in the Premier Development League. The injury kept him on the sideline in 2008 after being named a collegiate All-American in 2007 and helping guide the Bobcats to the Elite Eight.

He returned to lead Lees-McRae to an 18-3-2 record in 2009 – the best overall season in school and conference history – with 15 goals (five game-winners) and nine assists for 39 points through 23 games. With a performance such as this, he reclaimed his All-American status among a number of other honors.

Now he’s scheduled to graduate with a degree in sports management and business, and is eyeing an opportunity to have his name entered into this year’s Major League Soccer draft before fulfilling his dream of playing professionally in Europe.

Not bad for a kid claiming to have been a bit of an underachiever in the classroom while at Oak Ridge.

“I wanted to fulfill my mom’s goals,” Boracic said. “She’s always been about academics.”

She’s also proof, along with his dad, that the American Dream is indeed possible should one decide to ever set sail for it.