TYLER TROUP- COLLEGE FRESHMAN GOAL SCORING CHAMPION
Despite having been the top goal scorer his final two seasons with the Aliso Niguel Wolverines Varsity Soccer team, helping them as high as #25 in the nation on the ESPN Powerade Top 50 rankings during the season and being selected as a trialist with the New Zealand Under 17 World Cup Team, by the end of his senior year, Tyler Troup of Aliso Viejo, California had somehow slipped under the radar of the majority of college recruiters.
Fatefully, still uncommitted following National Signing Day, Troup was selected to the Orange County High School All Star Team in March of 2012, to play against the Inland Empire at a College Showcase in Colton.
New Zealand
Not only did he play in the game, but in a 4-4 tie, Tyler scored a hat trick and assisted on his team’s fourth goal to win co-MVP of the Showcase!
As a result of his performance, the young striker was offered and accepted, a scholarship from the University of Maine at Machias, a college in the North East that plays in the Yankee Small College Conference of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association.
Tyler had to scramble to get his paperwork completed and bags packed to make pre-season training camp, but make it he did, accompanied by Christian Olmedo, his Aliso Niguel teammate and another talented Southern California soccer player that UMM had discovered.
And it was there, in the New England fall, that Tyler went on an absolute ‘tear’!
In 21 regular season and playoff games, while some of his contemporaries at other schools may have ‘red shirted’ for the season, Tyler Troup started all but one and scored in all but two, garnering 42 goals- including 10 multi-goal games and 8 hat tricks! Every game that Tyler scored in, Maine won. In fact, so dominant was his performance in the USCAA, he lead his nearest challenger for the goal scoring title by 11 goals!
However, the season ended in frustration for the Machias Clippers, when Troup limped off in the final game of the YSCC Final Four. He had just put the Clippers up 2-1 against New Hampshire Tech, only to watch helplessly from the sideline as NHTI snatched a 3-2 victory to get through to the National Championships.
When the awards were handed out at the end of the season, Tyler Troup had earned YSCC All Conference Team selection; YSCC Eastern Division ‘Player of the Year honors; and selection as a USCAA First Team All American… all as a freshman!
Now that he has made such an impact in his first season of play, how long before the big schools come calling?
