« Men’s Soccer 2013

Chris Ritter

School
Northwestern
Position
Midfield
Major
Communication Studies
G
5
A
5
PTS
15

Classroom

Ritter was named Academic All Big-Ten in 2012 and helped NU’s men’s soccer team achieve the school’s highest GPA out of the eight men’s varsity sports during the 2012-13 season.

Ritter and the Wildcats soccer team was honored by the NCAA in June with public recognition for being in the top-10 percent of Division I men’s soccer progams in their multi-year APR scores. The team’s 995 multi-year rate led the Big Ten and ranked 10th nationally.

Character

The Chicago Tribune’s Philip Hersh named Ritter the “archetype for a Northwestern soccer player.” Ritter overcame a leg injury which forced him to miss all but two games during his sophomore season in 2010. Since his recovery, he has not missed a start over the past two seasons. Granted a fifth year of eligibility after the injury, Ritter hopes to build on the Wildcats consecutive Big Ten regular season titles.

Community

Always active in the community, Ritter took part in numerous Northwestern community service events such as a skills training workshop for the Evanston American Youth Soccer Organization, Spinning for Charity and Cycle for Survival for cancer research. He’s also visited local schools to read to students. The Wildcats soccer team also hosted the Futsal Tournament with the International Students Association. He’s worked with Northwestern’s marketing department in either Meet and Greet events with fans, signing autographs and coaching clinics.

Competition

A starter for the Wildcats since the third match of his freshman season, Ritter has played in 65 games (63 starts), helping guide Northwestern to back-to-back Big Ten regular season titles from 2011-12.

In 2011, Ritter scored the game winning goal in the ‘Cats 1-0 win against Michigan, clinching the regular season Big Ten title, the first in program history. He also helped lead NU to the program’s first Big Ten Tournament title, in 2011.

The 2012 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, First Team All-Big Ten and All-Great Lakes Second-Team honoree finished second on the team with five goals, six assists and 16 points. He was named the MVP of the NIU adidias Invite and was also an Academic All-Big Ten selection, in 2012. He also received Second Team All-Big Ten consideration in 2011.

In his Northwestern career, Ritter has 10 goals, nine assists and 29 points. He was also chosen as a finalist for the 2012 Soccer News Net College Boot award and made the 2013 Preseason All-American Third Team by College Soccer News.

Sometimes unheralded as a defender, Ritter’s job on set plays such as corner kicks and direct kicks is to stop the opponent’s best player.