RESUMES
OF PREMIER
QUAD CITY
STUDENT ATHLETES
ILLINOIS/IOWA
GREAT QUAD CITY ATHLETES
SCOTT DEOPERE
Ability, Tenacity, Character and Attitude
Scott Deopere
Athletic History
National
Player of Year
and
1st Team
All-American
Scott Deopere
"News Articles"
Selfless
Deopere
One of A Kind
Deopere Named
National Player
Of The Year
Premier Development
League Soccer
NCAA Tournament
2000
Scott Deopere
This Weeks
Argus/Dispatch
"Pacesetter"
Scott Deopere
Chosen For Prestigious
James O'Melia Jr. Athletic Award
Cincinnati Takes
Scott Deopere
In First Round
Scott Deopere
#5 Pick
In First Round
Former
Titan
Scott Deopere Signs
With Cincinnati
Deopere Joins
Mid-Michigan
Bucks
Deopere
Selected in
First Round of
USL Draft
Tue 9-Jan-2001
Selfless Deopere One of a Kind
By Scott Tappa
of the Northwestern
Scott Deopere scored a ton of goals this past season for the University of
Wisconsin-Oshkosh men's soccer team, 26 to be precise.
As such, there were plenty of high points for Deopere and the Titans in 2000.
An overtime win over arch-nemesis Wheaton.
A four-goal game against Superior.
Four hat tricks.
Eleven game-winning goals.
A regional win over No. 2 Trinity.
School records for career goals and points.
It's a laundry list of accomplishments that justified Deopere's selection as the NCAA
Division III player of the year.
Yet when asked to name the defining moment of his final collegiate season, Deopere gave an
answer that was both unexpected and telling.
"Actually, my defining moment wasn't even playing," he said.
Deopere's college career ended with a Hollywood-like twist. In the win over Trinity,
Deopere scored the clinching goal in the 3-1 win - after assisting on the first goal and
scoring the second - with 3:44 to play.
He also severely injured his knee on the play, knocking him out of the Titans' remaining
tournament games.
Yet that goal was not Deopere's defining moment.
The aftermath of the Titans' next win, a 4-0 quarterfinal win over Christopher Newport,
was.
"When we went to the Elite Eight, my team dedicated the game to me," he said.
"They put together a great game, and afterward came up to me and said, 'This was for
you."
Now we understand.
Deopere's eagerness to put team accomplishments before individual
ones was not just some act brought upon by pain in his leg.
"He was always dead set on 'We're going to win a national championship, we're going
to the Final Four,'" said Oshkosh coach Toby Bares. "I think it's refreshing
these days to have a guy who can look at the big picture."
Which is why, Bares said, Deopere's mindset during the game against Christopher Newport
was, "'I didn't get to play in that game, but that was our goal. Not just mine, but
our team's.' He knew.
"Here we are, we've been dealt a severe blow, and we found a way to respond, not to
squeak by, to have a resounding victory. I think that was great, that helped Scott realize
a dream he had, to get to the Final Four."
Which isn't to say that watching the Final Four loss to Rowan was easy for Deopere - it
hurt more than going down in a heap against Trinity.
"That was probably the most painful thing I had to go through," he said.
"Watching them win was great, I was glad they pulled it off. But watching them go
down to Rowan ... I'm not going to say we would have won if I had played, but I felt like
I let the team down, even though I know there was nothing I could do about it."
Deopere's selfless attitude had been crafted long before his senior season. Even when he
was leading his team in goals as a freshman, Deopere didn't fit the mold.
"It's great when you have the all-time goal scorer and you can watch him play and say
he works as hard as anyone," said Bares. "Goal scorers are usually lazy.
Sometimes I joke about it, maybe he didn't know that he's not filling the role properly.
That's what made him fun to coach."
Deopere's selflessness was also on display during the Titans' biggest win his junior
season, a 3-2 tournament win over Macalester. After scoring the tying goal, Deopere
tracked a man down on defense, stripped him of the ball, started the counterattack, drew
two defenders of his own, and slotted the ball to Chris Kloth, who scored the game-winner.
"That sums it up in a nutshell," said Bares. "For all his winning goals, he
also had those moments where he sacrificed for the team and made something happen."
So there it is, an anomaly in today's sporting culture.
A star player whose most vivid memory is of something his teammates accomplished without
his direct intervention.
As talented a goal scorer as any whose coach remembers him for the key assists, the
defensive hustle.
"When you use terms like one-of-a-kind, he maybe fits into that boat," said
Bares.
SCOTT TAPPA MAY BE REACHED AT (920) 426-6658 OR BY E-MAIL AT STAPPA@SMGPO.GANNETT.COM
SCOTT DEOPERE
Telephone (in Oshkosh): 920-232-9893
Telephone Number of Parents in Illinois: (309)
786-0744