One Louisianan could follow another as Men’s Player of the Year. Last year it was Maryland’s Jason Garey from Gonzales, located between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. This year’s surprise frontrunner is Notre Dame’s Joseph Lapira from Lake Charles in Acadiana.
Garey went into his senior year as a legitimate Player of the Year candidate. Although Lapira had decent freshman and sophomore seasons, no one would have predicted he would break out like he has as a junior. He has scored in seven straight games — all Irish victories — to give him 19 goals, almost double the 10 he scored for the Irish in his first two years.
Nicknamed the “Ragin’ Cajun” by Irish coach Bobby Clark when he attended the Irish soccer camp while in high school, Lapira has been on a tear since the second weekend of the season when he scored four goals in a 5-4 overtime win at Indiana. It was one of the greatest performances by a visiting player in the long history of IU’s Armstrong Stadium, but the modest Lapira said afterwards he only hoped he’d score another goal or two during the season.
Three weeks later, Lapira began a streak of five games with two goals. Clark loves that Lapira makes chances for himself and teammates. Lapira, twice named the Soccer America Player of the Week, says the difference this year is that he doesn’t get down when he misses chances early in games. Beyond that, he looks at things simply.
“I am just the furthest guy toward the net on our offense,” Lapira told the South Bend Tribune. “I have a lot of great teammates who work very hard to get the ball to me. Anyone can do what I do.”
If Lapira keeps up his scoring pace, he could become the first Division I player since Clemson’s Wojtek Krakowiak in 1998 to hit the 30-goal mark in a single season. He could also accomplish what the more famous No. 10 on the Notre Dame campus, QB Brady Quinn, might not, and win Player of the Year honors.
Lapira has the slight edge on Boston College’s Charlie Davies and West Virginia’s Jarrod Smith with three weeks to go in the regular season.