Printer-Friendly Format     E-mail this article     Joseph Lapira won the M.A.C. Hermann Trophy last season as he led the nation in scoring.

 
Lapira Tabbed As A Semifinalist For The M.A.C. Hermann Trophy

Senior forward is the reigning Hermann Trophy winner.

Nov. 28, 2007

MISSION, Kan. - Joseph Lapira (Lake Charles, La./Saint Louis Catholic), a senior forward on the Notre Dame men's soccer team, has been named a semifinalist for the 2007 Missouri Athletic Club (M.A.C.) Hermann Trophy. The award is presented annually to the top men's soccer player in the United States. Lapira won the trophy last season as he led all NCAA Division I men's players with 22 goals and 50 points.

A panel of coaches from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) compiled the list of 15 semifinalists for the M.A.C. Hermann Trophy. Lapira will try to become the first back-to-back recipient of the most prestigious award in college soccer since Virginia's Claudio Reyna took home the Hermann Trophy in 1992 and 1993.

Three finalists will be named on Friday, Dec. 14 in conjunction with the NCAA Division I College Cup and will be invited to the Missouri Athletic Club on Friday, January 11, 2008. The winner of the 2007 award will be announced during a nationally-televised news conference that evening.

The Hermann Trophy dates back to 1967 and it was merged with the M.A.C. Player of the Year in 2002 to create the M.A.C. Hermann Trophy. Lapira became the first Notre Dame men's player to capture the award. The Irish made it a clean sweep last season as Kerri Hanks received the women's Hermann award. That was the first time that both the male and female winners came from the same school in the same year. Hanks, a junior forward, is on the 2007 women's watch list.

This signified the fourth straight season that Notre Dame has placed at least one student-athlete on the semifinalist list for the Hermann Trophy. Midfielder Greg Dalby was named a semifinalist in 2005 and again 2006 along with Lapira. In 2004, defenders Jack Stewart and Kevin Goldthwaite were tabbed with the honor.

Lapira leads the Fighting Irish in points (22), goals (7) and assists (8) this season. He has moved into the top five on Notre Dame's all-time goals list with 39. Lapira's 99 career points rank him sixth in program history. For the second straight season, Lapira was a unanimous first-team all-BIG EAST selection in addition to being named to the all-BIG EAST Championship team.

Notre Dame (12-4-5) hosts Oakland tonight in the second round of the NCAA Championship. Game time is slated for 7:30 p.m. (ET) at Alumni Field. The Fighting Irish are seeded 10th in this season's tournament.

2007 Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy Semifinalists
As selected by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)

Pos.  Name             Cl.         School         Hometown
 F    Andre Akpan      So.         Harvard        Grand Prairie, Texas
 M    Alejandro Bedoya Jr.         Boston College Weston, Fla.
 F    Mike Grella      Jr.         Duke           Glen Cove, N.Y.
 M    Bruno Guarda     Jr.         SMU            Piracicaba, Brazil
 D    Andy Iro         Sr.         UCSB           Liverpool, England
 D    Julius James     Sr.         Connecticut    Maloney Gardens, Trinidad
 M    Stephen King     Sr.         Maryland       Medford, N.J.
 F    Joseph Lapira    Sr.         Notre Dame     Lake Charles, La.
 M    Peter Lowry      Sr.         Santa Clara    Fair Oaks, Calif.
 F    Patrick Nyarko   Jr.         Virginia Tech  Kumasi, Ghana
 F    Yannick Reyering Jr.         Virginia       Mettingen, Germany
 M    Brad Ring        Jr.         Indiana        Rockford, Ill.
 D    Julian Valentin  Sr.         WakeForest     Lancaster, Pa.
 M    Michael Videira  Sr.         Duke           Milford, Mass.
 F    O'Brian White    Jr.         Connecticut    Scarborough, Ont.