Photo courtesy of Duke athletics
Duke's Andrew Wenger and Creighton's Ethan Finlay have had standout seasons, and they headline the list of Hermann Trophy semifinalists released by the NSCAA on Sunday.
The two strikers were the only repeat semifinalists from last year for the Hermann Trophy — college soccer's top individual award — out of a list of 15 players that also includes South Florida forward Dom Dwyer, North Carolina forward Billy Schuler and Maryland striker Casey Townsend. Strikers had a heavy presence on the list in general, taking up 12 of the 15 spots.
Creighton and North Carolina, who will compete in this weekend's College Cup, were the only schools to have multiple representatives on the shortlist, with each having two players make the cut.
Here's a full rundown of the semifinalists:
HERMANN TROPHY SEMIFINALISTS
Ashton Bennett, Jr., F (Coastal Carolina)
Dom Dwyer, Jr., F (South Florida)
Ethan Finlay, Sr., F (Creighton)
Evans Frimpong, Sr., F (Delaware)
Chandler Hoffman, Jr., F (UCLA)
Brian Holt, Sr., GK (Creighton)
Enzo Martinez, Jr., M (North Carolina)
Darren Mattocks, So., F (Akron)
Billy Schuler, Jr., F (North Carolina)
Mark Sherrod, So., F (Memphis)
Luis Silva, Sr., M (UCSB)
Yannick Smith, Jr., F (Old Dominion)
Casey Townsend, Sr., F (Maryland)
Andrew Wenger, Jr., F (Duke)
Gyasi Zardes, So., F (CSU Bakersfield)
Three finalists will be announced on Friday, Dec. 9. Head coaches of NCAA Division I teams with membership in the NSCAA will vote to determine the winner of the award.
—————–
What do you think of list of semifinalists? Who is your favorite to win the Hermann Trophy? Suprised by anyone's inclusion/omission?
Share your thoughts below.
I totally agree with you. Remember that Silva is not a forward, he is an attacking Midfielder who defends, creates opportunities for his forwards, and scores goals in bunches. He has been the most complete college player this year. If UCSB did not lose as many as 8 injured key players during the season, they would’ve been definitely in the college cup this year.
What does pre-season shortlist matter?
I hope Ethan is better than his older brother.
Looking at the list there are a lot of talented players, but the most complete player on there is Luis Silva. He not only produced goals himself, but racked up a lot of assists as well. Many people have said he is the top senior this year. He has been humble all year as well which speaks to his personality. Hope that the East Coast Bias doesn’t play a role in this and that he is a finalist at least b/c his stats truly signify he should be.
Any idea how fast Wenger is?
mmmm I would love to see a Zip win it for the third year in a row. If he makes it as a finalist even then that’s four finalists in a row.
Yeah the joke is that he was mistakenly put on the preseason watch list even though he was already with Red Bull
lol yeah
Doesn’t he play for NYRB?
it has to be – there is no way that there are 5 people in this country who can honestly say they’ve seen each of these kids play numerous times this season to really get an idea of who is the best player, therefore they have to go off of stats. they even make an attempt to incorporate D1 coaches as if that’s a “fair” way to do it. In reality, D1 coaches only know where their players fit in with other teams in their conference. have any of these semifinalists been on the same field in a game together this year? if so, how many times has that happened?
it’s an inexact poll – take it for what it is. its not like the heisman where every game is televised and ever person with a vote at least has the opportunity to see every single player in every game
Very disappointed Sacir Hot didn’t make the cut.
+1
12 forwards and 2 mids in that list. Seems like the trophy is skewed towards goal scorers…
Finalists:
Andrew Wenger
Darren Mattocks
Chandler Hoffman
Winner:
Darren Mattocks
Who cares, the group behind this trophy are a joke.. their pre-season shortlist included a player who had left college and turned pro last year and left off a player at Louisville that had finished the previous season on the shortlist for the award and returned to college and then didn’t make the pre-season list of 20 or whatever? It’s not an award for amatures, it’s an award FROM amatures.
Arsene must be proud of his illegitimate american son.