They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. It looks like someone will be cutting a juicy piece of kangaroo for men’s soccer player, Dylan Murphy.

“I do like kangaroo,” said Murphy. “It tastes like a chewy steak.”

The 5’ll down-under defender was born in Newcastle, Australia. Besides kangaroo, Murphy (No. 5) said there are things about home that he enjoys.

“People are really laid back and it’s just a really good quality of life over there,” he said.

As a kid, Murphy said he was fond of playing soccer because of its popularity in Australia.

“It’s the kind of sport everyone plays,” he said. “I just enjoyed it.”

It’s clear that he still enjoys soccer having scored three goals this season, two of which sparked the Vaquero’s win against Moorpark in October.

Murphy wasn’t always a goal-scoring Vaquero.

UCSB picked up Murphy on a partial soccer scholarship right out of Australia, but the out-of-state costs, on top of tuition payments, proved to be too high.

After a friend told him about the University of Kentucky, Murphy made his way East.

“They had a great athletic program, but it was quite different from the West Coast,” he said.

Murphy made his way back to sunny California. He had heard good things from some previous Vaqueros about head soccer coach, John Sisterson, so he decided to give it a shot.

As he joined the City College squad, Murphy’s preconceived notions about Sisterson came to life and found that he fit in with the team and coaching style.

The feeling was mutual according to Adam Colton (No. 4), team captain.

“His skills and attributes have helped the team on numerous occasions this season,” said Colton.

One of those attributes is Murphy’s versatile nature.

“He’s able to play a number of positions and not look out of place in any of them,” Colton said.

His versatility follows him off the field and into the classroom as he hopes to double major in political science and communication.

Murphy said the political system in Australia is very different than the one in the United States. The differentiation intrigued him and sparked an interest in the representation of politics in the media.

“How the media portrays political events is really interesting to me,” said Murphy.

He plans to transfer back to UCSB to graduate and continue on to law school.

As for his soccer aspirations, Murphy said he would like to play somewhere he hasn’t been and use his passion for soccer to travel and one-day coach the sport.

“I think he’ll make a terrific coach after his playing career,” said Colton. “He’s a coach in the making.”