P.J.'s Picks - Men's Soccer Week 3
Let’s talk about the Hermann Trophy since everyone else seems to be. With players constantly being named to the Herman Trophy watch list as the weeks progress, people are asking who I think will receive the award this year. My first answer would be that you can’t predict that. There are too many factors, especially this early in the season. After that comment, the question is rephrased to who would I like to see win the trophy? Now that’s an easier question. My answer would be a keeper, more specifically, Andre Blake from Connecticut. This kid is a brick wall reinforced by steel beams and large mittens attached to lightening fast arms. In all 25 matches last season he only allowed 10 goals, while tallying 79 saves. That in itself is impressive. Out of those 25 games, Blake helped the Huskies to 15 shutouts. He also set a Uconn record of nine straight shutouts that lasted over 960 minutes of match play. Blake’s 0.39 goals against average ranked second in the NCAA and he finished the 2011 season with a save percentage of 0.888 which topped the Big East and ranked him fourth in the NCAA. Oh, did I mention he was a freshman last season? Along with all the First Team honors and Player of the Week awards, Blake was also named Big East Goalkeeper of the Year, becoming the first freshman in Big East history to win the award. Blake has already tracked eight saves and only allowed one goal, helping the Huskies win their first three games of the 2012 season. With that start for this season and his resume from last year, he is my number one pick.
Another reason I’m for Blake, or any keeper for that matter, taking the prestigious award this season is that there hasn’t been a keeper to win the Hermann for the past 20 years. Brad Friedel for UCLA won it last as a goalkeeper in 1992. Aside from Blake, Borja Barbero for Iona and Victor Francoz from Old Dominion have made a spot on the list and both had good seasons last year but none that match up to Blake’s in the stat books. Now don’t get me wrong, there are a ton of great names on the pitch this season that are very much qualified to win the trophy, both from offense and defense, but my choice is still Blake… right now.
