Clemson’s Ousmane Sylla Earns NCAA Soccer’s Highest Honor
Clemson’s Ousmane Sylla was awarded the MAC Hermann Trophy, the highest individual honor in NCAA Division I soccer, Friday night at the presentation’s annual awards ceremony at the Missouri Athletic Club.
Sylla became the fourth player in Clemson history to win the prestigious award, joining 2019 winner Richie Robinson, Bruce Murphy (1987), and Wojtek Krakowiak (1998). He was the third Clemson player in five years to be nominated for the award.
A senior from Dakar, Senegal, Sylla finished with 13 goals and 10 assists in 23 games this past season. In four years at Clemson, he totaled 24 goals and 24 assists in 71 matches, including 58 starts.
Sylla helped lead the Tigers to the 2023 men’s national championship. In their 2-1 victory over Notre Dame on December 11, Sylla’s 13th and final goal of the season gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead that would prove to be enough. The victory marked the program’s second NCAA championship in three years under head coach Mike Noonan.
Sylla beat out two other finalists for the award in Garrison Tubbs of Wake Forest and Charlie Sharp of Western Michigan.
The Hermann Trophy has been presented to the top player in college soccer since 1967. Sylla was drafted 55th overall by Houston Dynamo FC in the 2023 Major League Soccer (MLS) Draft in December.
