Oct. 23, 2014
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Patrick Wall, a fifth-year senior goalkeeper for the top-ranked University of Notre Dame men’s soccer team, has been selected as a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award in the men’s soccer division. Wall is among 10 student-athletes in contention for the honor.
To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
The finalists were chosen by a media committee from the list of 30 candidates announced in September. Nationwide fan voting begins immediately to help select the winner. Fans are encouraged to vote on the Senior CLASS Award website through November 24. Fan votes will be combined with media and Division I head coaches’ votes to determine the winner. The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the 2014 NCAA Men’s College Cup® in December.
Wall (Sugarland, Texas) has logged every minute in goal for the Fighting Irish over the past two seasons. This season, he boasts an 8-4-2 record with five shutouts. His 0.82 goals-against average ranks third in the Atlantic Coast Conference and he also has a .782 save percentage. Wall made a career-high nine saves in Wednesday’s 1-0 setback at Indiana.
Last season, Wall and the Fighting Irish posted a 17-1-6 record and won the program’s first national championship. Notre Dame also claimed a share of the ACC regular-season title. He notched 10 clean sheets a year ago and copped all-region honors from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). Wall also helped Notre Dame capture the 2012 BIG EAST Championship. His career record stands at 34-6-8 with 18 shutouts.
Wall graduated in May from Notre Dame’s College of Engineering with a degree in aerospace engineering and he currently is taking graduate courses. He finished his undergraduate career with a 3.295 cumulative grade-point average and he was named to the dean’s list for the spring 2014 semester. He was selected to the 2013 All-ACC Academic Team and was a three-time BIG EAST Academic All-Star (2010-12).
“When you’re at Notre Dame you’re expected to hold yourself to a higher standard both on and off the field,” Wall says. “As a school, we promote the idea of being full people and not just athletes. It’s cool to be recognized on a national scale and put the school’s name up there.”
Wall and the entire Notre Dame men’s soccer program is heavily involved in Grassroot Soccer (GRS), which is an international non-governmental organization that uses the power of soccer to educate, inspire and mobilize communities against the spread of HIV. Last summer, the team took a three-week trip to Zimbabwe and in addition to competing in games they took part in mission work for GRS and held clinics for the local youth.
Last year, the team took part in the Fight for Life program and helped a child who has cancer. Wall also has been involved with the Monroe Park Food Co-op, which helps the South Bend food shelter, and he is a four-year member of Men Against Violence, a club at Notre Dame.
In the summer of 2013, Wall worked for a company called L-3 Communications as a subcontractor for NASA. In that position, he was able to work on the Orion spacecraft. While doing the internship at NASA, he also trained with the Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer. Wall was the 2013 aerospace representative for Notre Dame’s Joint Engineering Council and he has been a member of the Notre Dame Texas Club since 2010.
“Notre Dame has led me in a direction of where I really wanted to be,” Wall adds. “During the recruiting process they really pushed that you’re going to be a full student here, which was important to me. It’s nice that people have taken notice of the commitment and the hard work that we’ve done through my four years here.”
For more information on all the finalists, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.
2014 Men’s Soccer Senior CLASS Award Finalists
Tyler Arnone, Michigan
Laurie Bell, Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Andy Bevin, West Virginia
Winston Boldt, Army
Kingsley Bryce, Saint Louis
Wesley Charpie, South Florida
Sean Davis, Duke
Alex Ivanov, Ohio State
Charlie Lyon, Marquette
Patrick Wall, Notre Dame
— Sean Carroll, Assistant Athletic Media Relations Director
–ND–