Ballouchy enters MLS SuperDraft

By Jeremy Herb

For two weeks after the Broncos' loss to Cal in the NCAA Tournament, Mehdi Ballouchy was in a haze over the game's final play.

Santa Clara and Cal went into penalty kicks after a 0-0 stalemate. With the Broncos trailing 5-4, Ballouchy, the team's final shooter and most talented player, missed.

The bitter ending to the season was even more difficult for Ballouchy because the junior was a highly touted prospect for the Major League Soccer SuperDraft -- if he decided to turn pro.

"After that I wasn't really thinking about anything, I was out of it," Ballouchy said. "I was just thinking about the PK the whole time. I really wanted to come back. I felt like it was on my shoulders."

With guidance from his coaches, however, Ballouchy decided that his projected first-round status was too good to pass up and he declared himself eligible for the draft, forgoing his senior season.

"He tried to weigh a lot of his options together, what his options were this year versus next year," said head coach Cameron Rast. "One of the biggest things is that he could go very high in the draft. He has some leverage that very few players have had."

Ballouchy joined senior Kelechi Igwe at the adidas MLS Combine during the holiday weekend. While Ballouchy was at the combine trying to cement his spot as a top pick, Igwe was fighting to attract the MLS coaches' attention. As it stands now, Igwe does not know whether he will be drafted.

They were two of 59 collegiate players invited to the combine at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.

"There's not that many players that get invited, so the fact that a coach or GM is asking means he has a good chance," sophomore midfielder Peter Lowry said.

The combine allows coaches from all 12 MLS teams to look at potential draft picks. In last year's draft, 39 of the 48 players chosen participated in the combine.

"I thought I played alright," Igwe said, but added, "Not everybody played as well as they should have. It was hard because everyone there was a good player, and on their college teams they were the standout players."

Ballouchy, on the other hand, was one of only four players in the country offered an MLS contract before the draft and he was rated third best at the combine, according to mlsnet.com.

"I would assume he'd go in the top five," senior Eric Irvine said. "If he doesn't get drafted in the first round, I would be very surprised."

Ballouchy earned the WCC Player of the Year award this season. He was also named an All-American for the second time.

"Technically and tactically, he's probably the most gifted player in the country in college," assistant coach Eric Yamamoto said.

Rast also had some consoling words to offer Ballouchy to help lessen the sting of his missed penalty kick. Rast missed a penalty kick when he played for the Broncos in the 1991 championship game against Virginia.

"I think that the first thing he said to me was 'You think that's bad, I missed it in the finals,'à" Ballouchy said. "Right then, I was like 'mine wasn't so bad.'à"

Freshman midfielder Mutanda Kwesele said that the entire team was behind Ballouchy.

"I think he's moved on from it, which is good, because you have to," Kwesele said. "Soccer, at the end of the day, is a sport, and you can always miss, you can always lose. It happens. In terms of that penalty kick, we were all with him. I don't think we would have gotten to where we were without Mehdi."

The Broncos are graduating nine seniors along with Ballouchy, which means Santa Clara will have a much different look next season. Rast, however, believes that the turnover will help other players step into new roles.

"No team is a single individual. However, Mehdi is a special individual," Rast said. "There are players that relied on Mehdi and I think we'll find players who will step up to fill the gap."

Yamamoto said that although "It's a great group we're losing, we have a good core and one of the best freshman classes we've had."

15 Broncos have played in the MLS in its brief, 10-year existence.

For both Ballouchy and Igwe, a professional contract would put their plans to finish school on hold indefinitely. MLS training camps begin in February.

"I'm definitely going to finish school here at Santa Clara," Ballouchy said. "It all depends where I'm going to end up. If I end up somewhere close, I'll come back in the offseason and take classes."

While Ballouchy is a junior athletically, he has been in school for four years and has approximately 2ý quarters left to complete. Ballouchy played for Creighton his freshman year and had to sit out a season after transferring to Santa Clara due to transfer rules.

Igwe's college plans depend on whether he gets drafted. He said that if he is not, he would finish school and then travel abroad, possibly playing soccer in Europe.

The MLS SuperDraft will be in Philadelphia on Friday. While neither player can predict what lies in their future, Ballouchy did have one preference.

"I just hope I go somewhere sunny, that's all," he said.

Contact Jeremy Herb at (408) 551-1918 or jmherb@scu.edu.