Indiana University Athletics
Hermann Announcement Live (1-3-05)
1/3/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
O'Rourke, who led the Hoosiers to back-to-back national championships in December, is a men's finalist along with Ryan Pore of Tulsa and Gonzalo Segares of Virginia Commonwealth. The women's winner will also be announced with Heather O'Reilly of North Carolina, Christine Sinclair of Portland and Tiffany Weimer of Penn State as the three finalists.
The winners of the M.A.C. Hermann Trophy are selected through a vote by the current NSCAA Division I college coaches. O'Rourke and Hoosier teammate Drew Moor were both named to the preseason watch list for the Hermann Trophy. Fifteen semifinalists were announced in November and that number was cut to three finalists at the College Cup in December.
O'Rourke was a captain for the Hoosiers each of the last two championship seasons in 2003 and 2004. During his Hoosier career, IU went 69-15-9 with four regular season Big Ten championships, two Big Ten Tournament championships and three College Cup Final Four appearances. He started 83 matches during his career with the Hoosier defense that posted a goals against average of 0.60 and 46 shutouts. In 2004, O'Rourke had two goals and four assists on the offensive end. He assisted on the game-winning goal in IU's come-from-behind national semifinal win over Maryland.
He was a two-time unanimous first team All-Big Ten selection and two-time first NSCAA All-Great Lakes Region selection. In 2004, O'Rourke was a first team NSCAA/adidas All-American.
His excellence has extended over to the classroom during his time at Indiana as well. O'Rourke was named the NSCAA/adidas Scholar Athlete of the Year for his performance in the classroom and on the field. He was a first team NSCAA Scholar All-American and a third team ESPN Academic All-American. He was a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree while majoring in biochemistry. O'Rourke was a first team CoSIDA Academic All-District V selection each of the last two seasons.
The M.A.C. Award and Hermann Trophy were merged into one award prior to the 2002 season. Before that, the honors were both given out as national player of the year awards. The merge of the two honors competed a process of combining the three top honors in collegiate soccer. In 1999, the M.A.C. and NSCAA came together to create a single award to recognize the top Division I player.
The Hoosier program is no stranger to this honor. On five occasions, a Hoosier has won the Hermann Trophy and on three occasions, a Hoosier has won the M.A.C. Player of the Year Award. The list of Hermann Trophy winners includes: Angelo DiBernardo (1978), Armando Betancourt (1981), Ken Snow (1988, 1990) and Brian Maisonneuve (1994). The list of M.A.C. Award winners includes Ken Snow (1988, 1990) and Todd Yeagley (1994). Ned Grabavoy was a semifinalist for the award last season, while in 2002, Pat Noonan was the runner up for the inaugural M.A.C. Hermann Trophy.
"Just to be considered with those five guys that have won it at Indiana before is amazing," O'Rourke said. "Angelo BiBernardo, Armando (Betancourt), Todd (Yeagley), (Brian) Miasonneuve, Ken Snow: I never would have thought it possible to be consider among guys like that. It is just amazing. I am happy to be in the final three, and we will see what happens on Jan. 7."
