Nov. 9, 2005
By Adam Zundell
Maryland Media Relations
Jason Garey hasn't known it, but he has been on the campaign trail since Sept. 3. He's made stops to Fullerton, Calif., Durham, N.C., and Boston, Mass., winning voters over at each stop. He hasn't shaken a thousand hands or kissed any babies, but the Terrapin striker's performance on the field has made him one of the leading candidates for this year's Missouri Athletic Club (MAC) Hermann Trophy Award.
The Hermann Trophy is college soccer's most prestigious individual award, and no player that has ever worn a Maryland uniform has ever won it. But then again, there aren't many players like Jason Garey who have worn a Maryland uniform.
Garey, the school's all-time leading goal scorer, has 11 more goals than the previous record holder Cliff Krug, who held the record for 44 years. The 2005 ACC Offensive Player of the Year has 18 goals against arguably one of the toughest schedules in the country. Despite the gaudy numbers, Garey hasn't given much thought to the Hermann Trophy.
"No, I hadn't really thought about it until after the Indiana game," Garey says. "The Indiana coach said something to me after the game, which I won't share, that made me think about it."
While Hoosier head coach Mike Frietag's words to Garey are up for speculation, Terrapin head coach Sasho Cirovski minced no words about Garey's performance.
"If he wasn't the leading candidate for the Hermann Trophy before that game, he should be now," Cirovski told The Diamondback. Garey scored two remarkable goals, including a stunning bicycle kick, after dislocating his shoulder just three days earlier. The Gonzales, La., never even considered missing the game and spent every spare minute he had icing his shoulder, getting treatments or doing exercises to prove to Cirovski that he would be able to give it a go against the Hoosiers. No one should have ever really doubted Garey - of the 91 games Maryland has played since 2002, Garey has played in 90.
Garey's ascension among the nation's elite players is as improbable as Donald Trump's comeback. Despite working his way up through the program, the concept of him being considered for Hermann is tough for him to grasp.
"No, I can't really conceptualize it. I'm from Louisiana and I was maybe the sixth-rated recruit [out of six] in our own class," he laughs. "It would be nice, but the national championship would be the greatest thing."
Garey and the rest of the Terrapins are still in hot pursuit of the elusive national championship. Others may view Maryland's failure to win at the College Cup as a buffet-eating monkey on the team's collective back, but Garey views the experiences as valuable because it gives the team a humble, focused attitude.
"We know quickly it can go and that one bad bounce or one wrong kick and you're out of the tournament," Garey says. "We know that it's going to be difficult to get back to the College Cup and that it is going to be that much tougher to win it."
After scoring 40 goals over the past two seasons, Garey also knows about pressure from opposing defenses. As the focal point of the Terrapin scouting report, every team looks for a way to shut him down. In true goal-scorer's mentality, though, he feels like he needs to and can score in every game.
"I feel like for us to win I have to score a goal," Garey says. "You really want to put your team over the top, but I'm never nervous playing in a game or on a breakawy, and I think that's why I am able to score."
Garey finishes his chances, and he's finishing college in three and a half years. Last season he was a second team CoSIDA All-American and a first team NSCAA Scholar Athlete, accomplishments he will likely duplicate considering his 3.47 GPA is as impressive a number as his 56 goals. Along with Chris Lancos and Kenney Bertz (who will also finish classes in three and a half years), it just comes down to wanting to discipline and priorities.
"It's not that hard if you are willing to do it," he says of being a student-athlete. "When you are a student-athlete, you have to be able to play soccer year-round and go to school year-round. Our days are pretty structured, and we don't have the luxuries that other students do. But you learn how to deal with everything and when you have to do work and when you can have fun."
If having fun means scoring goals and winning games, no one's had more fun on the campaign trail than Jason Garey. And while winning the Hermann Trophy would also be "fun," he hopes his final campaign stop will be in Cary, N.C., where he will be working for a national title.
