CHICAGO – Former Maryland men's soccer player Zack Steffen was named the U.S. Soccer 2018 Male Player of the Year, the organization announced Tuesday.
The 25th different player to win the award, Steffen becomes just the second player in the award's 35-year history to earn the honor in his debut year with the U.S. Men's National Team, following Peter Vermes in 1988. Additionally, Steffen is the fourth goalkeeper to attain the honor after Kasey Keller (1997, 1999, 2005), Tim Howard (2008, 2014) and Brad Friedel (2002). At 23 years old, he is also the youngest goalkeeper to win U.S. Soccer's Male Player of the Year.
One of 20 U.S. Men's National Team players to debut during the MNT's transitional 2018 campaign, Steffen stood out among his fellow first-timers. The 23-year-old led all goalkeepers with six appearances, which tied him with Kasey Keller (1990) and Troy Perkins (2009) for most caps by an MNT backstop during his debut year. Steffen kept clean sheets in the MNT's matching 1-0 victories against Paraguay on March 27 in Cary, N.C. and Mexico on Sept. 11 in Nashville, Tenn. His shining moment came against France on June 9 in Lyon, where the rising goalkeeper made eight saves to help the USA to a 1-1 draw in Les Bleus' last match before their victorious title run at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
Steffen starred with the Terps in the 2012 and 2013, playing every minute of every match during his time in College Park. His freshman season, he posted eight shutouts en route to a College Cup finals appearance. He was tabbed the NCAA Championship Most Valuable Defensive Player and was an ACC All-Freshman Team selection. Steffen returned for his sophomore season to help the Terps win both the Big Ten Regular Season and Tournament Championships.
After signing with SC Freiburg of the Bundesliga following his sophomore season, Steffen returned stateside and has starred with Columbus Crew of MLS, earning 2018 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year honors after keeping 10 clean sheets in 29 matches with the Crew. He will play the first half of the 2019 MLS campaign with Columbus before completing a transfer to reigning English Premier League champions Manchester City in July.
Steffen earned the award fellow USMNT young stars Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie. Votes for U.S. Soccer Player of the Year awards are collected from respective National Team coaches, National Team players who earned a cap in 2018, members of the U.S. Soccer Board of Directors, U.S. Soccer Athletes' Council, National Women's Soccer League head coaches for the WNT and American soccer league (MLS and USL) head coaches for the MNT, select media members and former players and administrators.
