By Bucky Albers for the Dayton Daily News

Chris Rolfe's collegiate soccer career didn't go exactly as he planned. The 21-year-old forward from Kettering could have done without the injuries that kept him on the sidelines for 16 of 78 matches during four seasons at the University of Dayton. After scoring 15 goals in a brilliant sophomore year when he was able to play the full schedule, the 5-foot-7, 145-pound Rolfe was limited to four scores as a junior and seven as a senior, pretty good when you consider that he played in only 13 matches this year.

During his career, he has fractured both arms and had a sports hernia that caused him to miss nine matches last season and six this year.

Those injuries and the matches he missed could did not hide Rolfe's talent. He has been named to the 2004 National Soccer Coaches Association of America Men's NCAA Division I All-America second team.

"He's that talented," said Dave Schureck, who coached the former Fairmont High School star for the last four years.

Last year, UD was 7-1-2 with Rolfe in the lineup and 5-4 without him. Unfortunately, he was hampered by the sports hernia and played in only three regular-season Atlantic 10 Conference games.

When the injury re-appeared this summer, Rolfe had surgery a month before the season began and was on the sidelines for many of the nonconference games. Once recovered from surgery, he showed the people in the A-10 what he could do.

In 13 matches, Rolfe racked up 24 points, the third-highest total in the league. He scored seven goals and set a UD single-season assists record with 10, which also led the A-10 in that category.

Because he did not play in a sufficient number of matches, he did not qualify for the NCAA's statistical averages categories. If he had qualified, his 0.83 assists per game would rank second in the nation, and his 2.00 points per game would be 10th. He did manage to tie for 12th among NCAA players in total assists, despite missing so many games.

Rolfe's 25 career assists rank first all-time at UD. He is third in total points (87) and sixth in goals (31). His career average of 0.40 assists per game is second at UD, and his 1.40 points per game ranks third.

Last season, Rolfe did not play in enough A-10 games to be considered for the all-conference team, but this year he was named to the all-conference first team after sparking Dayton's 8-3 second-place finish. He was picked for the NSCAA Great Lakes Region first team.

Rolfe was one of just 66 players invited to the 2005 adidas Major League Soccer Player Combine in Carson, Calif., on Jan. 8-11. It gives the pro teams an opportunity to evaluate players before the draft.

This is the second straight year and the third time in the last five seasons Dayton has had an NSCAA All-America selection. Last season, defender Denny Clanton was named to the third team and subsequently was selected by the Chicago Fire in the MLS draft. In 2000, R.J. Kaszuba was named to the third team and drafted by the Cincinnati RiverHawks of the A-League.

Link to DDN Article