As a soccer player, UC Irvine midfielder Brandon Tario knows about juggling.

But soccer is only one of many things he is balancing. As a member of two highly competitive programs — the No. 26 Anteaters and the school's engineering school — Tario always has something going on.

UC Irvine coach George Kuntz said the engineering program is as "competitive as soccer to the normal student.

"He's juggling more than I can even explain. We've had professors tell students if they miss a test (for a road trip or game), they won't get the grade."

Tario, a 2003 Kamehameha graduate, is tied for the team lead with five assists, and at one point in the season was in the top 13 in the nation in assists per game. The senior has started all but one game this season.

"His role, he slices and dices, he's like a potato peeler," Kuntz said. "He's very good at beating people and serving it up."

Balancing the demands of two time-guzzling activities is "pretty tough," Tario said. "I can tell you that Sunday night I had a homework assignment with eight problems, and it took me five hours."

Former teammate Scott Shiraishi, an 'Iolani graduate, decided not to play soccer this season because of the time constraints of doing both.

"After he stopped, he told me I had no idea how much time soccer takes up until you stop playing," Tario said.

Demands on Tario were high even before he got to UCI. On his recruiting trip, Kuntz spoke to Tario and his mother, Colleen — Kuntz called her a "great mentor who really raised him well" — about what playing for the Anteaters would entail.

Kuntz, the Hawai'i Youth Soccer Association Olympic Development Program's Director of Coaching/Technical Director, is familiar with what successful Hawai'i college players mean for the soccer community.

"I told him when you come here, you're representing Hawai'i as a state," Kuntz said. "How you do will determine a lot for other players at other schools. You have to do well academically, in the community, and on the field.

"And he has done all that and more."

Tario is active in community service, helping out with soccer camps for underprivileged children, or those with cancer, "always with a smile on his face," Kuntz said.

Tario has been a part of the emergence of UCI. Last season it set a record for the most wins in the Big West Conference with seven, and Kuntz said the Anteaters are on their way to matching that or beating it this season.

"Since my first year, we've grown leaps and bounds," Tario said. "I just knew coming in we had so much potential. We had 13 players in our recruiting class, and I knew if we all stuck together for the three or four years, by the end, we'd be legit. You can see the team just growing every day at practice."

Tario recorded three assists last season when he played in 17 games with 14 starts. It was the most significant amount of playing time he had in his time at Irvine before this season.

"At the beginning, college soccer was so much faster," he said. "My freshman year, I didn't get a lot of playing time, but the games I did, it was nerve-racking. It was faster than anything I'd played before."

Tario is a civil engineering major and would like to work in structural engineering. That means part of the work he would do is ensuring buildings are able to withstand earthquakes.

Tario said he heard about Sunday's earthquake because a friend called him, and he immediately began calling home, "but all of the lines were down, and I couldn't get through to my mom and family. She finally called and said, 'You didn't even try to call? What a good son.' "