Contact: Ashleigh Jones, Sports Information Graduate Assistant

Sept. 27, 2017- A leader on and off the field, three time North Central College men's soccer Academic All-College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) recipient Ryan O'Deen could not picture his college experience without soccer. Growing up in Iowa City, Iowa as Hawkeye fan and in a family filled with collegiate athletes, O'Deen from a young age knew that soccer would be his sport.

"My parents just put me in a whole bunch of sports," said O'Deen. "I come from an athletic family so I started playing tee-ball, basketball and other sports too."

Ryan's love for soccer started at age five when he played recreational league soccer and by the age of seven, he had already improved to club league play.

"I think I showed some talent when I was younger, and it is really important to start early," said O'Deen. "With soccer, that is when you acquire a lot of your skills."

As O'Deen entered high school, sports such as baseball and basketball became more of hobby, and with his speed and footwork improving each year, Ryan made the choice to focus solely on soccer.

"In high school you kind of start specializing more if you want to play in college," he said. "My high school team only had one player that played another sport besides soccer. It was year round with club soccer training. There wasn't a whole lot of time for other sports really."

Playing with Iowa Soccer Club since he was seven, O'Deen played side by side with guys he had known for what seemed life forever.
 
This relationship translated on the field when Ryan's club team, following a merge with another club from eastern Iowa, won three state cup titles his last three years with the club.

His success did not end there; O'Deen's High School team also recorded three state championships from his sophomore year to senior year, earning three of the six total championships for the schools' program.

With such experiences throughout high school, O'Deen knew he wanted to pursue a collegiate soccer career. Despite being recruited by different Division III schools in Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, there was something about North Central College that caught his eye.

"Basically while visiting other schools, they didn't compare to what Naperville had to offer," said O'Deen. "The academics here were strong and they had the program that I wanted to go into for business as well as an emphasis on internship opportunities. I not only had a good fit with not only the team, but the area itself." 

Now a senior, the management, marketing, and entrepreneurship triple-major with finance and international business minors has settled in well on the team and in the classroom. Finding time to keep it all in balance can be a challenge, but O'Deen has been able to find success, using the motivation for what lies ahead after college to keep him going.

"I have always been interested in business and looked up to my dad when I was younger. I started as a management major and then once I realized how much overlap there was between the other programs I decided to add those on," said O'Deen. "I found the classes to be interesting and practical and feel like I am learning stuff that I can actually use once I graduate."

Being one of five seniors on the team, O'Deen leads as a Senior Athletic Mentor academically and currently sits atop the Cardinals men's soccer team statistically with the most points and goals for the season.

"In the past I led by example— just being a hard worker and in the off season showing up to everything," he said. "I tried to set the standard of how hard we need to be practicing even when the coaches are not there."

Having experienced the ups and downs over the past four years with the team, O'Deen has added motivation to help the team succeed. He hopes that history does not repeat itself and for the team to show its true potential.

"My sophomore year was the biggest point of adversity because we started out that year one and ten and that was pretty crushing to all of us," he said. "We managed to turn it around and made the conference tournament final that year. We upset Wheaton in the semi-finals in penalty kicks and we were one game away from the NCAA tournament, but we lost to Carthage in the final. But that ended up being the farthest this program has ever advanced. We won the first game and then lost 10 in a row and that was pretty brutal. We lost some really close games and everyone was kind of down at that point but we kind of rallied around each other and made the most of that year."

With a young team looking up to him and his fellow upperclassmen, O'Deen has adjusted his leadership style to fit the variety of personalities that make up the men's soccer team.

"In the past, we put a lot of focus on our high pressure defense and getting the ball down to the other side of the field, trying to force turnovers along the way," he said. "This year I think we are keeping the ball a little more and a little more possessions and doing combinations to try to score more. 

"This past off-season continuing into this year I think I have stepped up a little more vocally than I have in the past. That's something that has been new to me— I haven't had to do that before with all the other leaders we had on the team."

Looking to make a statement entering CCIW play, the Cardinals (3-5-1) travel to Kenosha, Wis. on Saturday, Sept. 30 to play conference foe Carthage College. Game time is set for 7:30 P.M and a link to live-game coverage can be found HERE.