Aug. 25, 2005
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Greg Dalby (Poway, Calif./Poway), a junior midfielder on the Notre Dame men’s soccer team, has been named to the 2005 Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy Watch List. The trophy is presented annually to the top male and female Division I soccer player in the United States. The 25-man watch list was compiled by a panel of coaches from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA).
This is not the first preseason honor for Dalby as he heads into his junior campaign. The California native was selected to the Preseason All-BIG EAST Team along with fellow Irish junior Ian Etherington (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral). Dalby was also named to the College Soccer News Preseason All-America second-team. The junior will be heavily counted on to anchor the Fighting Irish midfield this season. That should not be a problem for Dalby as he has started all 42 games of his Notre Dame career.
Two members of the Fighting Irish were named to the M.A.C. Hermann Trophy Watch List for the 2004 season. Goalkeeper Chris Sawyer and defender Jack Stewart were selected prior to their senior campaigns. Stewart and his fellow senior teammate, Kevin Goldthwaite, were two of 15 semifinalists for the award and Sawyer collected All-American honors for the second straight season as the Irish produced a 13-3-3 record, including the program’s first regular-season BIG EAST title.
The Notre Dame women’s team placed three student-athletes on the 2005 M.A.C. Hermann Trophy Watch List. Jen Buczkowski, Candace Chapman and Katie Thorlakson made it on to the women’s list of 25. Notre Dame is just one of two schools to have at least one member picked to both the men’s and women’s lists, with UCLA being the other.
Four other BIG EAST athletes joined Dalby on the men’s list. Connecticut’s Julius James and Mpho Moloi were selected along with Matt Groenwald of St. John’s and Sacha Kljestan of Seton Hall.
A list of 15 semifinalists for the award will be announced in early November, with the three finalists announced in December. The trio will be invited to St. Louis for a news conference and dinner held at the Missouri Athletic Club on Jan. 6, 2006, where the winner of the award will be revealed. The winner is determined through voting of NCAA Division I members of the NSCAA.
The Fighting Irish men’s squad, who are ranked 16th in the NSCAA/adidas pre-season poll, opened exhibition play on Monday night as they battled No. 6 New Mexico to a 1-1 double-overtime tie. Notre Dame is also ranked 19th in both the College Soccer News and Soccer America pre-season polls. The Irish will play their second and final exhibition match on Sunday as they travel to Michigan to take on the Wolverines at 2:00 p.m. (1:00 p.m. South Bend time).
MEN’S 2005 M.A.C. HERMANN TROPHY WATCH LIST
Player Class School Hometown
Gerardo Alvarez Jr. Northwestern Aurora, Ill.
Medhi Ballouchy Jr. Santa Clara Casablanca, Morocco
Blake Camp Sr. Duke Danielsville, Ga.
Greg Dalby Jr. Notre Dame Poway, Calif.
Leandro de Oliveira Sr. UAB Bryan, Texas
John DiRaimondo Jr. Saint Louis St. Louis, Mo.
Jason Garey Sr. Maryland Gonzales, La.
Matt Groenwald Sr. St. John's Mt. Prospect, Ill.
Patrick Ianni Jr. UCLA Lodi, Calif.
Julius James So. Connecticut Maloney Gardens, Trinidad
Scott Jones Jr. UNC-Greensboro Dallas, Texas
Sacha Kljestan Jr. Seton Hall Huntington Beach, Calif.
Mpho Moloi Sr. Connecticut Soweto, South Africa
Justin Moose Sr. Wake Forest Statesville, N.C.
Dayton O'Brien Sr. Memphis Memphis, Tenn.
Dominic Oduro Sr. VCU Accra, Ghana
Randi Patterson Jr. UNC-Greensboro Hackensack, N.J.
Jacob Peterson Jr. Indiana Portage, Mich.
Brian Plotkin Sr. Indiana Lisle, Ill.
Tyler Rosenlund So. UC Santa Barbara Port Coquitlam, B.C.
Jeff Rowland Sr. New Mexico Albuquerque, N.M.
Nathan Sturgis So. Clemson St. Augustine, Fla.
Michael Videira So. Duke Milford, Mass.
Marvell Wynne So. UCLA Poway, Calif.
Jed Zayner Jr. Indiana Overland Park, Ill.
–ND–