Drew University Athletics

For Doug Trott, playing on the 1969 Drew soccer team that finished the regular season undefeated and placed 3^rd in the NAIA National Tournament was like a dream.

“Drew, at that time, wasn’t a big soccer school,” he recalls. “It was Coach (John) Reeves’ first year, and he really put us on the map. No one had even heard of us before. We beat two teams as the underdogs and went on to Indiana to place 3^rd in the National Championship. It was pretty amazing for Drew. After that year, people started thinking of us as a soccer school.”

That 1969 team holds Drew’s best winning percentage for a team during the regular season (1,000) and the best winning percentage overall (16-2). They also hold the record for the most consecutive wins from the start of the season (15).

Reflecting on that big year in Drew’s soccer history, Trott, who was co-captain his senior year, gives all the credit to the players who got there with him. “We were really team oriented,” he says. “It’s amazing when you think about it—going 12 and 0. We all played well together and everything just fell into place. The entire team should be in the Athletic Hall of Fame.”

Trott started playing soccer in the 4^th grade, when he’d participate in pick-up games before school. He enjoyed it and felt like he was pretty good at it, and by 8^th grade, he was playing on an organized team. An offensive player, he felt at home on the front line. “I liked the ability to kick the ball where I wanted it to go—it seemed like a challenge,” he says.

While the biggest stand-out in his soccer history is the team’s undefeated year, Trott saw a number of personal athletic achievements in his time at Drew. Though he didn’t play his freshman year, he had the team season record for most goals and assists in his junior and senior year.