Soccer co-captain named player of the year

ST. LOUIS -- Twenty-nine days ago, IU senior Danny O'Rourke celebrated his team's second straight national title. Friday evening, the cherry topped the cake of O'Rourke's career as he received the 2004 Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy.\nThe M.A.C. Hermann Trophy is college soccer's equivalent to college football's Heisman Trophy, as the trophy is presented to the best female and male soccer players in Division I soccer. O'Rourke is the first Hoosier to win the Hermann Trophy in a decade. Current assistant coach Todd Yeagley last won the award in 1994.\nThe National Soccer Coaches Association of America also named O'Rourke the NSCAA/Adidas Scholar Athlete of the Year in December, making him just the second player to win both the National Player of the Year and Scholar Athlete of the Year in the same year.\n"It really hasn't sunk in yet and it probably won't for awhile," O'Rourke said. "It's a great honor."\nThe elated emotion of O'Rourke's father Dan were apparent as tears started rolling down his face upon hearing his son won national player of the year. Dan O'Rourke spent two and a half years playing wide receiver for the Houston Oilers and said even though he has the past experience of playing in the National Football League and the popularity of American football, he said he finds himself watching a lot more soccer.\n"(Danny) has worked ever since he was five or six years old and he had a lot of injuries growing up," Dan O'Rourke said. "He has really, really worked so hard for this."\nThe M.A.C. award and the Hermann Trophy merged prior to the 2002 season. Before the 2002 season, both awards were given out as national player-of-the-year honors. The combining of these two awards completed a process of combining the three top awards in collegiate soccer as the M.A.C., and the NSCAA created a single award in 1999 recognizing the top Division I player in collegiate soccer. A vote of current members from the NSCAA at the Division I level determined this season's M.A.C Hermann Trophy recipient.\nYeagley said he is surprised that a decade passed without a Hoosier winning the award.\n"I really think every year we have a player at the level (to win the award)," Yeagley said. "A lot of it's on how the team is doing and with Danny having such an exceptional three years and to win the championship last year, he had a lot of momentum coming into this year. Coaches vote on this and they know how important he is to the team."\nO'Rourke's journey to Bloomington would not have happened had it not been for Todd Yeagley playing for Major League Soccer's Columbus Crew. While O'Rourke attended Worthington Kilbourne High School in suburban Columbus, Ohio, his science teacher, Suzy Yeagley -- Todd Yeagley's wife -- relayed the information of an outstanding soccer player to her husband. Todd Yeagley then told his father, former IU soccer coach Jerry Yeagley, of the talent at Kilbourne High School.\nThe rest is history.\n"He was a winner then and he's a winner now," Jerry Yeagley said. "The thing that impresses me the most with Danny is that every day he comes and tries to get better . . . When he came (to IU), he was a tough, hard-nosed battler who tore the heart out of opponents. When he finished, he's the consummate soccer player."\nThe other two male finalists for the award were junior Ryan Pore from Tulsa (22 goals in 2004) and senior Gonzalo Segares from Virginia Commonwealth (four goals in 2004).\nAlthough O'Rourke did not pack the offensive punch that Pore did in 2004, he finished his career at IU with two career goals -- both coming this season -- but it was his play in the midfield and helping on the defensive backline that led IU to the a 0.63 goals against average in the 2004 season. \nBut the play that will stand in Hoosier legend was O'Rourke's assist in the semifinal game versus Maryland. O'Rourke played a ball from the corner to streaking sophomore midfielder John Michael Hayden. Hayden lept in front of Maryland goalkeeper Noah Palmer to head the ball into the goal, giving IU the 3-2 victory in double overtime and advancing them to the national title match.\n"(Danny's) performance in the College Cup did solidify his chance to win the award," said IU coach Mike Freitag. "I think everybody saw an outstanding player lead his team to a championship."\nO'Rourke flew to California Saturday to participate in the three-day MLS Combine at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., from Jan. 8-11. He joined teammate Jay Nolly as both Hoosier athletes have high aspirations for the MSL SuperDraft, along with 66 other players with hopes of having a team draft them Friday, Jan. 14, in Baltimore, Md.\n"(Danny) is starting his new life next week," Dan O'Rourke said. "Being at IU and having Jerry and these guys come out to the ceremony is great. He's earned this award."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Steve Slivka at smslivka@indiana.edu.