New London – Surely, we know our miracles: Flutie to Phelan. The ’04 Sox. Lazarus. Miracles even have their own soundtrack, like that rhapsodic night in Lake Placid when Al Michaels asked the world if we believed in them.

And yet as miracles give us hope, even as they drive us to create reality out of possibility, their encores are rarely requested. Put it this way: Nobody at the wedding feast at Cana told Jesus, “Lord, can you do that water-into-wine thing again? I forgot to press record.”

Ah, but this is the difference between previous miracle men and Reuben Burk, who authored his own wowzer last season at Connecticut College, winning the first national championship in school history in any sport. Burk and the men’s soccer team are back to regular old water here in a new season, after going full, high end Cabernet last November.

“Probably the hardest thing to do in sports is repeat,” Burk was saying Monday afternoon as the campus bustled with returning students. “So I think we have to embrace that. We played last year with a point to prove that we could be one of the top teams in the nation. I think what we're trying to prove this year is that we're sustainable. We can control being the best versions of ourselves. I think that gives us a pretty good chance to be competitive.”

Burk says all this from his office, a hovel no bigger than most half-bathrooms. It takes a minute to find evidence of the national championship, what with the walls covered by the academic achievements of his players and some portraits of Harkness Green, the home field, on game days. Figure that, you know, Nick Saban’s workspace in Tuscaloosa may come with its own driveway.

But then, this is Burk, whose office décor mirrors his understated mien. Sure, he won a natty last year. And he’ll be the last to tell you.

“Reuben wants to coach his team and doesn’t want the attention on him,” says Norm Riker, the women’s soccer coach at Conn, whose program won the New England Small College Athletic Conference title in 2014 and who has led three teams to the NCAA tournament. “Basically, Reuben’s trying to be the best he can be at his craft. He’s in this season now and that’s the most important thing to him.”

Fair enough. But who is this man anyway? He won the whole Heineken truck at Conn College, for heaven’s sake. Conn College. No offense to the even the most cultivated of Camels, but Conn isn’t exactly the Yankees of the NESCAC.

Reuben Burk: In his fifth season here, fourth as head coach. He came to Conn after one year at Newberry College, two years at Holy Cross and two years at Alfred University. Young guy. Doesn’t look that much older than his players. Now he’s asked whether he’d take the notion of last season’s “miracle” as a compliment or an insult, given that Conn is 35-8-4 since he’s been the head coach.

“Hopefully we're shedding the skin,” he said. “But I think it's easy to see how Conn is the underdog. I mean, we have a lot going for us. But in terms of endowment, financial aid and facilities, other schools in the NESCAC have a lot going for them, too. When Murph (former coach Ken Murphy) took over the program 10 years ago, we were rock bottom. Ten years later, with a lot of effort, we’ve been able to go from the bottom to the top. Definitely close to a miracle.”

Riker, who knows the pros and cons of Conn: “What Reuben’s team did wasn’t unbelievable because to be a coach here, we believe in what we do and our student-athletes every day. But to accomplish what the men accomplished last year is simply an incredible, incredible feat. It’s storybook. Something that’s just remarkable.”

Back to the office/cubicle. Yes, there is the national championship trophy, barely visible from the hallway. It’s on a file cabinet next to the DirecTV box. It’s as if hardware had just gone into witness protection.

“The reason we have all the academic plaques is that’s the foundation to come here,” Burk said. “We show the game field (photos) so prospects we bring in can get a glimpse into the game day environment. But I'm more into mottos and phrasing. If you can ingrain those sorts of things into the guys, they may realize certain things you need to do to win.”

Motto No. 1 sits above Burk’s desk, a sign big enough to have its own four-wheel drive, that says “Academics First, Soccer Second.” On his door is “The Man In The Arena,” Teddy Roosevelt’s timeless musing about it’s not the critic that counts, but the man “whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”

“I think about that quote a lot when we lose,” he said. “I think we'll see how much of a mental wreck I am after this season. But yeah, I'm still pretty process driven. And I still really focus on the relationships with the guys, more so than just winning.”

Speaking of: Can the Camels do the Flutie/Lazarus thing again?

“There are a lot of things you can't control. To look over three months down the road and be so focused on winning a national championship is foolish,” Burk said. “But it's the elephant in the room. We did a lot this offseason working on ‘front loading’ or foreseeing challenges ahead.

“Definitely one of them is that you're gonna get the best version of every team. Every team is going to want to beat the national champions. So you prepare professionally. Players need to not just go into every game emotionally charged, but tactically relying on a solution rather than just emotion. Embrace the challenge. I don't think we're going 20-0. In the moments or the games that we do underperform or lose, it's important to learn and get better.”

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro