Goal driven

IU senior midfielder Danny O'Rourke and junior back Drew Moor just made the semifinal cut as two of the final 15 candidates in the country for the National Player of the Year award. However, the only thing on the mind of the IU men's soccer team's top duo is a Big Ten tournament title.\n"A bunch of people had heard about it before me," O'Rourke said. "I had no idea (about making the semifinal list). It feels good that people out there are looking at us to do well."\nSolidifying the Hoosier defense, O'Rourke and Moor have contributed on the scoresheet as well, combining for five of the Hoosiers' 33 goals on the season. Last Thursday the National Soccer Coaches Association of America named the pair semifinalists for the Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy, college soccer's equivalent to the Heisman Trophy, which is awarded in football.\n"Obviously it is a great honor to be picked with the elite players in the country," Moor said. "If I were or Danny were to be picked, that'd be a great honor. But I also really do mean it when I say the team is first for now, and success in the tournament is No. 1 on our goals. We're best friends off the field, and to have that honor on the field works for us and motivates us that much more."\nA vote by the NCAA Division I member coaches determines the winner of the MAC Hermann Trophy. The NSCAA will announce three men's and three women's finalists at the 2004 Men's College Cup in December. The finalists then will be invited to the Missouri Athletic Club Jan. 5 for the announcement of the winner and the awarding of the prestigious crystal soccer ball trophy at a banquet later that evening.\nBefore the 2002 season, the Missouri Athletic Club and Hermann Trophy awarded National Player of the Year awards separately. Beginning in 2002, the two awards merged to give one annual distinction. Since the merge, no player from the IU men's soccer team has won the award, but five players from IU have won the Hermann Trophy, while three have claimed the Missouri Athletic Club Player of the Year crown.\nKen Snow is the only IU player to win both awards in the same year, achieving the feat on two separate occasions (1988 and 1990). Before the fusion of the two awards, the last Hoosiers to win the awards were Brian Maisonneuve, who won the Hermann Trophy in 1994, and Todd Yeagley, who captured the Missouri Athletic Club Player of the Year also in 1994.\nRanked No. 4 in the most recent NSCAA poll, IU is just one of three schools to have two players chosen as semifinalists for the award.\n"There probably could be more than two (nominees from IU for the award)," said IU coach Mike Freitag. "We've got some other players that I think are as good as any other player in the country. Guys like Plotty (junior forward Brian Plotkin), (sophomore back) Jed (Zayner) (and senior goalkeeper Jay) Nolly. These are all guys that I think are as good as anybody in the country."\nThe NSCAA named O'Rourke and Moor to the preseason MAC Hermann Trophy watch list because of their play coming into the 2004 campaign. Both are returning members from IU's national championship team last season, both earning College Cup All-Tournament Team and All-Big Ten first team honors last year.\nO'Rourke scored his first goal of his IU career this season in IU's 3-1 win over Oregon State University and noticed his second goal a week later versus the University of Evansville. O'Rourke's unexpected goal production came after retired men's soccer coach Jerry Yeagley told O'Rourke he would never score a goal while at IU.\n"Danny has come a real long way," Freitag said. "Danny is the heart and soul of our team. He is our ball winner. He is our inspirational leader by just watching the way he fires the ball, and he's a tough kid. You don't find a kid with his athleticism. He's fast, he's quick and he can run all day long. ... He's going to have a good pro career."\nFreitag runs a 3-5-2 formation on the field, with Moor anchoring the back line and O'Rourke providing support as the defensive center midfielder. With the help of Moor, O'Rourke, the rest of IU's defense and goalkeeper Jay Nolly, the Hoosiers allowed only 11 goals during the regular season on 53 shots in 18 contests.\n"I've never really changed anything, and I think when your team is doing well, then you get recognition," O'Rourke said. "We've been solid in the back and not giving up a lot of goals, so maybe that's why both Drew and I got nominated. I think if our team keeps winning and progressing farther through the tournament that it should be a fair chance that one of us might be able to win."\nSince he transferred to IU after his freshman season at Furman University, Moor has started all 36 matches for the Hoosiers. \nO'Rourke and Moor guided IU to a 14-3-1 overall record and 5-1 Big Ten record, securing the team a share of the Big Ten regular season title with Ohio State, the No. 1 seed and a first round bye in this weekend's Big Ten tournament. \n"Right now we're just focusing on Big Ten's," O'Rourke said. "Drew is a great player, so for us two to be nominated shows the reputation of this program."\n-- Contact staff writer Steve Slivka at smslivka@indiana.edu.