Nick West Named Nation’s Division III Player of the Year
Nick West, the former East Hampton High School soccer star, received a singular honor this week inasmuch as he was named as the national player of the year in Division III.
A senior at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, Pa., West, who tried out this past weekend with the United Soccer League’s Charlotte Independence entry, finished as the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s high-scorer — in all divisions — with 30 goals in the 23 games he played. He also finished as D-III’s leader in total points, with 65.
Matthew Fenton, Messiah’s sports information director, said when queried that that there are 828 collegiate D-I, II, and III men’s soccer programs, each with rosters of between 28 to 30 players. In Division III alone, he said, there were 414 programs.
Brad McCarty, West’s coach at Messiah, whose program has been the dominant one in Division III men’s soccer for the better part of the past 20 years, said of West, in a gomessiah.com article, “Nick was a great player up top who produced consistently for us over the course of the regular season, and then, in the postseason, he somehow finished even stronger.”
“His work rate and his area of influence allowed him to score in a variety of ways, in the run of play, working in the system and with teammates, on breakaways, on free kicks, off corners, and penalty kicks.”
“Messiah’s Sweet 16 match against SUNY-Cortland might have been the finest of his career. With Messiah trailing 1-0 in the 70th minute he scored three goals in a 16-minute span, each one showcasing his varied scoring skills. He hammered home a header to tie the game, netted a free kick from 29 yards out, the ball passing just under the bar, to give us the lead, and capped it off with a penalty kick that clinched a 3-2 victory.”
Messiah, which won the national D-III championship last year, lost in the quarterfinal round to the University of Rochester, by a score of 2-1, a game in which West’s 30th goal tied the count at 1-1, in the 50th minute.
A Messiah website account of that game, played on Nov. 17, said, “The Falcons nearly took the lead just moments later, but another shot by West was blocked on the goal line by a defender.”
“Both teams had opportunities throughout the remainder of the second half, but a Yellowjackets cross in the 82nd minute deflected high into the air by a Messiah defender crossed the goal line for an ‘own’ goal and a 2-1 Rochester lead. . . . It was the Falcons’ first defeat of the season.”
The Bonacker’s 30 goals were the second most in a single season at Messiah, one shy of the mark set by Adrian Oostdyke in 1973.
“I thought Oostdyke’s record was simply untouchable,” McCarty said, “but Nick showed that it wasn’t. . . . His 15-game scoring streak [obliterating Messiah’s mark and tying an all-time N.C.A.A. D-III record] was impressive — it wasn’t like teams weren’t keying in on him. People knew who he was because, as a junior, he was a Final Four M.V.P. who had scored 14 goals.”
In October, West’s coach said he was most impressed by “the percentage of shots that he puts on goal. Many targets [strikers] put around 25 percent of their shots on goal, but Nick, who can receive the ball with his back to the goal, is currently 44-for-63, for a shots-on-goal percentage of 69.8.”
Back to gomessiah.com’s latest story, “A four-time all-MAC Commonwealth honoree in his career, West earned his first MAC Commonwealth offensive player of the year, all-region, and all-America honors this season. While his play in the regular season was phenomenal, he seemed to hit another gear in the N.C.A.A. tournament. Last year, he scored three goals and added three assists [as Messiah went all the way]. This year, he netted six goals and added two helpers as the Falcons advanced to the Elite Eight.”
Again McCarty: “Nick’s greatest attribute is his work ethic, both on the field and in preparation. His durability, strength, and fitness have allowed him to play so many minutes at such a high level. What’s unique about Nick is his footwork prior to shooting and his ability to get his shots on goal — he just hits it so hard.”