Seeing a member of the top-ranked Virginia men's soccer team earn ACC Player of the Week honors is not rare. But when it's a freshman who rises to the top of the Cavs' deep talent pool to take the award, you can be nothing but surprised.
Forward Alecko Eskandarian has played collegiate soccer for only a week, and already he has proven himself to be one of the Cavaliers' most capable athletes. In addition to being named ACC Player of the Week, Eskandarian also made the Virginia Soccer Classic's All-Tournament team by collecting seven points in the two tourney games last weekend.
"Here we are, two games into the season, and he's getting more and more comfortable," Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said of Eskandarian. "He's done very well. We're very happy with him."
Like most freshmen, Eskandarian started the season on the bench, behind veteran forwards. But gauging from his performance in the Classic, it seems only a matter of time before Eskandarian's name graces the Cav starting lineup, game-in and game-out.
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Throughout his life, Eskandarian has been surrounded by soccer greatness. His father Andranik was an all-star defender for the New York Cosmos of the defunct National Soccer League and played alongside such international soccer superstars as PelŽ and Franz Beckenbauer.
Alecko himself heard the accolades pour in during an outstanding high school senior season in which he scored 66 goals and had 15 assists in merely 25 games. He was named New Jersey State Player of the Year, a high school All-American and a finalist for national Player of the Year. The three-time all-state selection was also a member of the 1999 U.S. under-17 National Team and participated in the 2000 U.S. Olympic Developmental Program.
Needless to say, Eskandarian's international experience has made the transition from high school to college soccer easier on him.
"It's a pretty big jump [from high school to college], but I think I'm pretty much prepared for it since I've been playing on the national team," Eskandarian said. "I'm not scared or anything. It's been natural."
Probably the biggest adjustment that any freshman has to make is playing against players and teams he has seen previously only on television.
"It's really exciting, especially for me since for the past couple of years I've just watched them on TV," Eskandarian said. "Now we go there. I've always wanted to be in that position."
For now, Eskandarian has his sights set on starting.
"Right now I'm just fighting for a starting job," Eskandarian said. "That's my main goal right now."
Even though the Montvale, N.J. native leads the Cavaliers in scoring with three goals and one assist, he has yet to prove he is as effective as a starter as he is a substitute.
"One of the things with Esky is that up to date in some of our preseason scrimmages and even some of our intra-squad scrimmages, if we put him with the first team on a full time basis, he's not quite as effective as he is coming off the bench," Gelnovatch said. "I think that's just a thing of a little bit more maturity and experience."
Gelnovatch may have an ulterior motive for keeping Eskandarian out of the starting lineup. With Eskandarian's scoring output this first weekend, he could challenge Gelnovatch's Virginia freshman scoring record of 16 goals and 37 points set in 1983. Whether he approaches the record or not, Eskandarian's early performance on the pitch has indicated that he probably will be an integral part of the Cav offense for years to come.
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