Senior defender Taylor Petkovich of the Central College men’s soccer team was named a third team All-American yesterday by the United Soccer Coaches, the first such honoree in program history.

Petkovich, a team captain for the Dutch, was the American Rivers Conference defensive MVP and a USC All-North Region selection.  He anchored a backline that allowed just 24 goals in 20 games as the Dutch went 14-4-2 this season.

Coach Gary Laidlaw says that he remembers when Petkovich, now a senior, first showed his competitive spirit during his rookie campaign.

“He came in his freshman year, and the first thing he said to me was ‘What’s the two-mile record, Coach, because I’m going to break that before I’m a senior’.  And we’ve kind of joked with him that while he’s always been one of the fittest guys on the team, he’s never quite broken that standard. And so we’ve had a bit of fun with that, and yet here he’s achieved all of these other things.  So we’ve kind of joked with him again that we’ll forgive the two-mile record for being an All-American.”

Petkovich led the Dutch to their ever American Rivers Conference regular season championship this fall, as well as the program’s first ever appearance in the NCAA Division III tournament.