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The College of Wooster men’s soccer team’s defense in the early-to-mid 2000s was a force to be reckoned with, and in fact, the Fighting Scots climbed as high as No. 2 in the national poll in 2002 and were unbeaten during the regular season. One of the big reasons why was Andrew DeBord, who anchored a defense that allowed 0.83 goals per game and logged 33 shutouts during his four years in a Black and Gold uniform.
DeBord’s sophomore year is when his career really began to take form on the pitch, as the team strung together one of the top years in program history. The Scots compiled an unbeaten regular season (15-0-3) and ascended in the national rankings to a program-best No. 2 before losing to Ohio Wesleyan University via penalty kicks in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals. Over the course of the season, Wooster shutout 11 opponents and held them to average of 0.47 goals and 8.26 shots per match. DeBord’s season ended with the first of three consecutive National Soccer Coaches Association of America All-Great Lakes Region certificates.
The following year, Wooster again was the co-top dog in the NCAC thanks to an 8-1 record in league play, headlined by a 1-0 overtime win at then-No. 2 Denison University, and a 2-1 double-overtime triumph at then-No. 6 Ohio Wesleyan in a five-day span. Alas, Ohio Wesleyan got the better of Wooster come NCAC Tournament time, and the Scots’ season came to an end with a heartbreaking 2-1 loss in the championship game. However, Wooster did capture its second conference championship, and first since 1989, thanks to a change in the league’s criteria for determining the champion, which previously went to the winner of the conference tournament instead of the winner(s) of the regular-season. DeBord’s awards’ haul included a second consecutive first-team All-NCAC honor and another all-region citation.
For the second straight season, Wooster captured a share of the NCAC Championship, as the Scots posted an identical 8-1 record in league play during DeBord’s senior season. The NSCAA took notice of the stellar play of the center back and voted the two-time team captain to the All-America second team after he earned a third all-region certificate, the NCAC’s Defensive Player of the Year trophy, and a third-straight first-team all-conference certificate leading up to the unveiling of the coaches’ organization’s top honors.
“Andrew was a fierce competitor and absolute nails on defense,” said current Wooster soccer head coach Andy Zidron, whose collegiate career at Denison overlapped DeBord’s. “It was a pleasure to compete against Wooster in the early- and mid-2000s due to the competitive nature of the Scots’ program. Andrew was a tremendous leader and contributor to the great successes of Wooster during his tenure. He helped set the bar high for our players, and was a part of a winning tradition that we aspire to achieve today.”
DeBord’s soccer accolades continued to roll in post-graduation as the NCAC tabbed the four-year standout for its All-NCAC Decade Team for the years 2003-12.
While soccer was by-and-far his top sport, DeBord’s athletic career carried over to the lacrosse team, where he started at goalkeeper as a first-year before settling in as a key short-stick defensive midfielder, headlined by the 2004 season, a year in which Wooster qualified for the Div. III Championships for the first, and only, time in program history.
Though his statistics were limited in lacrosse, DeBord was highly valued by the coaching staff. During the program’s historic 2004 season, Wooster held the opposition to 10.66 goals per game. That year, Wooster recorded one of the biggest victories in program history, as the Scots upended 12th-ranked Ohio Wesleyan 7-5 for its first win over the Battling Bishops since 1982, a stretch that spanned 23 games.
Family ties, plus the combination of a challenging academic environment and competitive athletic teams drew DeBord to the College. Of note, his maternal grandparents met at as students at Wooster.
After majoring in history and minoring in political science at the College, DeBord went on to earn an MBA and J.D. from the University of Dayton, and he’s currently an attorney with Vorys, Sater, Seymour, and Pease LLP in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Personally, DeBord and the former Dana Doran-Myers ’07, reside in Cincinnati with their 1-year-old son, Reid.