« Men’s Soccer 2007

Mike Zaher

School
UCLA
Position
Defender

Classroom

Zaher was the 2006 UCLA Team GPA Award winner and is a member of the UCLA Director’s Honor Roll. He has a 3.435 cumulative GPA as a political science major. He was named a 2005 and 2006 honorable mention Pac-10 All-Academic selection. He is expected to graduate in Spring 2008.

Character

Along with fellow junior Greg Folk, Zaher helped lead a young UCLA team to the NCAA title game. During the NCAA quarterfinals Zaher keyed a stunning come-from-behind win over No. 1 seed Duke to advance to the semifinal game, which was a goal for Zaher because it was exactly four years to the date of his brother’s death in 2002. During games, Zaher plays good, hard, clean defense, tallying only one yellow card and no red cards during his collegiate career.

Community

Zaher has been very active in the community since coming to UCLA, participating in the 2005 UCLA Dance Marathon to benefit pediatric AIDS; the 2007 Soccer for Hope to benefit pediatric cancer research; “I’m Going To College,” a collegiate community outreach effort; Adopt A Classroom from 2005-present; and the 2006 and 2007 UCLA Soccer camps. Like his fellow Bruin Greg Folk, also nominated for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award, he has done several community-service projects with the UCLA soccer team, including clinics for high-risk and disadvantaged youth, and has worked with several age groups at a soccer club in Pacific Palisades. He also was a panelist at UCLA’s Freshman Orientation in the summer of 2007.

Competition

Zaher is the vocal leader of the 2007 Bruins, who started the year as the pre-season No. 1 team. A pre-season All-American by College Soccer News, he is coming off a 2006 season in which he earned first-team All-Pac-10 honors and third-team NSCAA All-Far West acclaim. He was selected as UCLA’s Defensive MVP for 2006 and ranked second on the team in minutes played with 2,165. He scored two goals and three assists on the year and played and started in 23 games while leading the Bruins to the NCAA Championship game. In 2005, he played in 16 games and made seven starts and scored one goal with two assists while helping the Bruins achieve their second-straight Pac-10 title and the second-most shutouts in school history (14). As a freshman in 2004, he played in nine games. In his career leading into his senior year, he has played in 48 games with 30 starts, three goals, five assists and 11 points.