I put this together before I left for my sailing trip then forgot to post it and didn't remember it till today when I was thinking about who would make SA's All-Freshman Team, which I expect will be released this week. Anyway, here's mine. As always, I welcome feedback, opinions and other suggestions. FIRST TEAM Chris Dunsheath , GK, Bradley Posted 9 shutouts, 0.83 g.a.a and helped Bradley to NCAA Tournament. Chad Marshall, D, Stanford Helped Cardinal to NCAA final, scored 2 goals (both in the post-season) and an assist and helped defense post 0.59 g.a.a. Missed 4 games starting for U-20 national team in qualifying tournament for World Youth Championship. Drew Moor, D, Furman Southern Conference’s top freshmen scored a goal and 5 assists and helped defense post a 0.67 g.a.a. and set NCAA record with 11 straight shutouts. Performance earned a call-up to the U-20 national team. Heath Pearce, D, Portland Scored 2 goals, 5 assists, helped Pilots post a 0.87 g.a.a and advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Strong play earned first-ever call-up to the U-20 national team. Erik Violante, D, Penn Scored 2 goals and an assist, helped Quakers post 0.62 g.a.a. and win the Ivy League title. Mehdi Ballouchi, M, Creighton Dynamic Moroccan scored 5 goals, 4 assists and quarterbacked the Bluejays attack to the Final Four. Adam Bruh, M, Michigan Led the Big Ten with 13 assists, helped Wolverines to second place finish in the conference. Justin Moose, M, Wake Forest Scored 4 goals, 8 assists and was named ACC Rookie of the Year and Second Team all-conference. Strong play earned a call-up to the U20-national team. Joe Zaher, M, Oregon State Pac-10 Freshman of the Year scored 10 goals, 5 assists to lead Beavers to first-ever NCAA Tournament. Died tragically in Dec. 1 car accident. Ben Ashwill, F, New Mexico Scored 12 goals, 3 assists, led Lobos to second round of NCAA Tournament. Named MPSF First Team all-conference and MVP of conference tournament. Hunter West, F, South Florida Scored 14 goals, 3 assists and named to the Conference USA first team and the conference’s top freshmen. SECOND TEAM Adam Schuerman, GK, Connecticut Posted a 0.95 g.a.a and 11 shutouts while helping Huskies to NCAA quarterfinals. Jeff Curtin, D, Georgetown Big East Rookie of the Year and second team all conference. Michael Parkhurst, D, Wake Forest Started all 21 games, helping Deacs post 0.59 g.a.a and a No. 1 ranking much of the season, earning Second Team All-ACC honors. Tyson Wahl, D, Cal-Berkeley Helped defense post a 0.87 g.a.a., added 1 goal and helped Bears to the third round of the NCAA Tournament. Ian Carey, M, Duke From his flank midfield spot, scored a goal and 6 assists, helped Duke to the NCAA Tournament. Federico Peria, M, NC State Argentine scored 3 goals, 11 assists to, along with fellow frosh Aaron King , give long suffering Wolfpack a glimmer of hope for the future. Brian Plotkin, M, Indiana As a part-time starter, scored a goal and 6 helpers, won Big Ten’s Freshman of the Year. Aaron King, F, NC State Was the ACC’s top-scoring freshman with 7 goals, 8 assists. Ryan Pore, F, Tusla Scored 9 goals, 1 assist, named to Missouri Valley Conference second team. Darryl Roberts, F, Liberty Trinidadian led nation’s freshmen in scoring with 17 goals, 7 assists and named Big South Conference’s top rookie and named first-team all conference. Alejandro Salazar, F, Portland The son of former World Class runner Alberto Salazar scored 8 goals, 2 assists, and won West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year honors. VERY HONORABLE MENTION - MF Chefik Simo and the late D Gray Griffin, both of Furman. They were both having very strong freshman seasons before the October car accident that took Griffin's life and ended Simo's season and, perhaps, his career.
While we await SA's All-Freshman Team, here is CollegeSoccerNews.Com's. http://collegesoccernews.com/page10.html
They may have had decent stats, but I saw NC State play three or four times this season, and there's no way those guys belong on that team, IMO.
Justin Moose This kid is just plain fun to watch play, maybe the most entertaining player I saw this year. Glad to see you noted him and for soccer's sake, I hope we find more like him.
thanks a lot for honoring these two in your list sandon. they were two of the finest soccer players that i have ever seen, freshmen or otherwise. hopefully chefik will be able to rehab his way back into the furman lineup. i appreciate your mentioning of these two worthy freshmen all-americans.
JB, I would very much like to be wrong about Simo's injury possibly being career-ending. I would love to see him return to Furman and resume his place as one of the country's bright young prospects. Best of luck to him.
SA released their Freshman of All America's. http://www.socceramerica.com/article.asp?Art_ID=562132871 COLLEGE: Soccer America Men's Freshman All-Americans 1/24/2003 11:05:00 AM Ben Ashwill, New Mexico (F) Finished as the top scorer in the MPSF (12 goals) to lead the Lobos to a school-record 18 victories and second straight NCAA Tournament berth. Mehdi Ballouchy, Creighton (M) Moroccan by way of Henry Gunn High in Palo Alto, Calif., scored five goals and added four assists for the NCAA Division I semifinalists. Jeff Curtin, Georgetown (D) Was named Big East's top rookie five years after brother Jim, now with MLS's Chicago Fire, won the award at Villanova. Leandro De Oliveira, Connecticut (M) With three goals and seven assists, the Brazilian, who attended high School in Allen, Texas, was a key setup man for the Huskies. Chad Marshall, Stanford (D) Returned after missing two weeks with the U.S. U-20s to score back-to-back golden goals on headers against Furman and Creighton and lead the Cardinal to the NCAA Division I final. Justin Moose, Wake Forest (F) Tied for team lead with eight assists on the Deacons, No. 1 for much of the regular season. Also scored goals in his first two games. Justin Moore, Clemson (D) Brother of former MLS No. 1 draft pick Jason Moore played a key role on the backline for the Tigers, who reached the quarterfinals. Darryl Roberts, Liberty (F) Set Liberty single-season record with 17 goals and seven assists to lead all NCAA Division I freshman with 41 points in 21 games. Alejandro Salazar, Portland (F) Scored eight goals to become the third Pilot in the last four years to be named the WCC's top freshman, after Conor Casey and Nate Jaqua. Ford Williams, North Carolina (G) Finished with a 0.90 goals-against average and five shutouts. Had a record of 11-6-1 in 18 games for the Tar Heels. Joe Zaher, Oregon State (M) Zaher, who scored 10 goals to help the Beavers reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time, was killed in a car accident Dec. 1 in his native Las Vegas.