Greg Dalby earned first-team all-region honors for the second straight season. The senior midfielder will also take part in the 2007 MLS Combine.

Three Fighting Irish Players Earn All-Region Honors

Nov. 30, 2006

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Three members of the Notre Dame men’s soccer team have been named All-Great Lakes Region performers by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). Senior midfielder Greg Dalby (Poway, Calif./Poway) and junior forward Joseph Lapira (Lake Charles, La./Saint Louis Catholic) were first-team selections, while sophomore defender Matt Besler (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley West) was named to the third team.

Dalby, who was named to the All-Great Lakes Region first team for the second straight season, started all 23 games for the Irish during the 2006 campaign. He was tabbed as the BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year along with being a unanimous first-team all-conference pick. Dalby, a first-team All-American last year, registered two goals this season.

Lapira, a 2006 M.A.C. Hermann Trophy finalist, leads all NCAA Division I men’s soccer players with 50 points and 22 goals. He took home BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year honors and joined Dalby as a unanimous choice on the all-BIG EAST first team. He appeared in all 23 matches this season, making 20 starts. Lapira notched 11 game-winners, including two in this year’s NCAA Tournament to help lead the Fighting Irish into the quarterfinals for the first time in program history.

Besler was a key component in a stout Notre Dame defense this season that helped the Irish to a 15-6-2 record. The central defender played a team-high 2,073 minutes and contributed to the Irish’s 13 team shutouts and 0.79 goals-against average. He also tallied six points on two goals and two assists en route to being named a second-team all-BIG EAST selection.

Along with garnering postseason accolades, Dalby and fellow senior midfielder Nate Norman (Rochester, Mich./Rochester Adams) have been selected to take part in the 2007 adidas Major League Soccer (MLS) Player Combine. The MLS has named the first 58 players — from 44 Division I schools — who will attend a combine in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Jan. 5-8 to be viewed by MLS coaches in preparation for the 2007 MLS SuperDraft, which takes place Jan. 12 in Indianapolis, Ind. Last year, 23 of the 48 players selected in the 2006 MLS SuperDraft participated in the 2006 combine.

The 58 players were chosen by a select panel of Division I college coaches who nominated and voted for players in conjunction with MLS coaches. Youth players from the Generation adidas program will join additional collegiate players from NCAA Division II and III schools, NAIA schools and Division I alternates to finalize the 2007 adidas Player Combine. The players will be divided into four teams and coached by college coaches John Trask (Illinois at Chicago), John Rennie (Duke), Mike Noonan (Brown) and Greg Andrulis (George Mason).

Notre Dame’s Chris Sawyer, Kevin Goldthwaite and Jack Stewart all competed in the 2004 MLS Combine and they were all taken in that year’s MLS SuperDraft.

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