He won the 1982 Hermann Trophy as that year's top collegiate soccer player.

After graduating from high school, Ulrich played soccer at Ulster County Community College in New York for two years.

In December 1980, he was selected by the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the first round of the North American Soccer League draft.

In 1982, the Blue Devils went to the NCAA Championship game where it lost to Indiana in eight overtimes.

He appeared in only sixteen games with the Sidekicks during the 1984–1985 season before the team released him on March 7, 1985.