Ballouchy selected second overall
By Brian Witter
Former Bronco midfielder Mehdi Ballouchy wrestled with himself for weeks about whether or not to turn professional. Now, he can breathe a bit easier. The 22-year old Moroccan-born All-American was selected second overall in last Friday's MLS SuperDraft by Real Salt Lake.
The West Coast Conference Player of the Year performed well enough on the field all year, as well as at the Major League Soccer combine, to be the highest player ever drafted from the Santa Clara campus. Six other Broncos have been taken in the first round before, including Ryan Cochrane and Steve Cronin in 2004, Albertin Montoya and Jason Annicchero in 1997 and Paul Bravo in 1996.
"I think it's tremendous that he was taken so high," men's soccer head coach Cameron Rast said. "This is definitely a credit to all of his hard work which has paid off. It's a sign of respect to our program that an MLS team took one of our players second overall."
Real Salt Lake is a relatively new MLS franchise in only its second year. Head coach John Ellinger coached Rast on the alternate United States national team in 1993. Recently, Salt Lake traded away attacking midfielder Clint Mathis to the Colorado Rapids and were lacking in depth at the position. Ballouchy's understanding of fundamentals and technical creativity got him labeled as a "difference-maker" by Salt Lake's front office after the combine and propelled him to the top of their list.
Team co-captain in 2005, Ballouchy was named a semifinalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy which is awarded to the top soccer player in Division I NCAA soccer. He netted seven assists last season and scored the game-winning goal in an Oct. 2 conference matchup at home against Saint Mary's. Ballouchy started out at Creighton, where he was a freshman All-American before transferring to Santa Clara three years ago. As a teenager in Morocco, Ballouchy starred on the Under-16 and Under-17 national teams.
A major determinant of Ballouchy's decision to enter the draft before his senior year of college is his age. Since he transferred from Creighton, NCAA rules mandated that he sit out a year before playing for the Broncos. At 22 years old, Ballouchy would not have finished school for another year, affecting his ability to remain a youth international player in the MLS system.
In Major League Soccer, each team has 28 spots on its roster which must be comprised of 18 senior and 10 developmental players. Developmentals cannot be more than 24 years of age. From this group, each team is allowed four senior and three youth international players. Senior internationals are 25 years of age or older and do not possess green cards or United States citizenship. Youth internationals are similar in that they are non-domestic, but differ in that they can be no older than 24. The youth players can either sign senior or developmental contracts with their team. Ballouchy would have had less time to pick and choose his contractual options if he had remained in school.
"He leaves a large void in our midfield," Rast said. "I think there are guys on this team, though, that will pick up the slack. Guys like Erik Ustruck and Peter Lowry have started to emerge and will hopefully play a role similar to that of Mehdi's next season."
Santa Clara finished the 2005 season at 13-6-3. In the second round of the NCAA Tournament against Cal, Ballouchy missed the final penalty shot that would have tied the score at five apiece and began sudden death penalty kicks.
Contact Brian Witter at (408) 551-1918 or bwitter@scu.edu.