Record-Breaking Junior Rising to the Top

Ideally, Saturday would have been the day that the Harvard men’s soccer team celebrated a victory in the third round of the NCAA Tournament and began its preparations for No. 1 University of Wake Forest in the quarterfinals.

But No. 8 University of South Florida had other ideas for the Crimson, ending Harvard’s season last Tuesday in the second round.

There was still some good news to come out of Saturday, however, as junior forward Andre Akpan was named as a semi-finalist for the Hermann Trophy, the most prestigious individual award in men’s Division I soccer, placing Akpan as one of the top 15 players in the country.

Past recipients of the Hermann Trophy include American soccer-greats Claudio Reyna and Brad Friedel.

“We kind of expect this sort of thing from Andre, so it wasn’t much of a surprise,” co-captain Michael Fucito says. “But we’re glad he’s getting the recognition he deserves.”

Nobody knows Akpan’s ability better than Fucito. The two forwards were named the “Most Exciting Combination” in Division I Men’s Soccer by College Soccer News, and form a formidable Crimson frontline that produced 19 goals over the course of the season.

With his size, Akpan is the natural target man. Whether he is holding the ball up and waiting for support or flicking the ball on with his head, Akpan is constantly creating space for his teammates. This explains the all-time Harvard record-setting 27 assists that he has compiled in his already-historic career.

And then, of course, there is his knack for scoring goals.

Akpan netted a team-leading 10 goals this season. Fucito credits this tally to Akpan’s understanding of soccer and his energy on the field.

“Obviously on the ball he’s really good, but his sense around the goal is very strong,” Fucito says. “He’s always in the right place at the right time, and that’s an important natural gift that he has.”

Perhaps the most important goal of Akpan’s career came in the first round of the tournament. In the 103rd minute, Akpan scored the double-overtime winner to beat the University of Massachusetts 1-0 and send the team through to the second round.

His ability both to score goals and set them up helped Akpan break the Crimson’s all-time points mark, previously held by Chris Ohiri ’64. The Grand Prairie, Texas native now has 97 points in his three years. He set both the assists and points marks on Nov. 8 in a 6-1 win against Columbia on Ohiri Field.

Being named a semi-finalist for the Hermann Trophy, given out by the Missouri Athletic Club, is just one of the growing number of accolades that Akpan has collected in his time at Harvard. Following his freshman season in 2006, he took home the Ivy League Rookie of the Year. This year he was unanimously named to the all-Ivy First Team—his third straight year on that list.

Akpan is the only player from the Ancient Eight to reach the semi-final stage for the Hermann Trophy. His 26 points this season was a conference-best.

After being named a semifinalist last season, the Missouri Athletic Club put Akpan on their watch list before the 2008 season began.

But despite having a season that would have pleased nearly any other player in the country, Akpan says that he underachieved.

“I don’t feel like I reached my expectations for myself this year,” Akpan says. “I don’t want to say that I had a bad season, but it’s definitely something I want to improve upon next year.”

Part of his disappointment is down to a slow start, in which Akpan failed to score in Harvard’s opening four matches.

But Akpan says that while he struggled to find the net, he took the opportunity to improve on the defensive side of the ball.

And his teammates took notice.

“I was very impressed at how much he worked on that,” Fucito says, also noting that Akpan’s pressure created chances for teammates.

“You have to take pride in everything you do, not just scoring goals,” Akpan says.

While it is unlikely that Akpan gets to the next round, Saturday’s announcement still confirms his place among college soccer’s elites.

—Staff writer Jay M. Cohen can be reached at jaycohen@fas.harvard.edu.