Whitefish Bay's Matthew Comiskey receives national soccer player of the year award

A team doesn’t rise to No. 2 in the nation without great players.

It turns out Whitefish Bay’s boys soccer team had the best of the best.

Senior Matthew Comiskey was honored as the national player of the year by the United Soccer Coaches, formerly the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, on  Saturday at the organization’s convention in Philadelphia. Comiskey, a 6-foot forward, was the leading scorer for a Blue Dukes team that went 25-0 and won its third straight Division 2 state title in November.

The honor is the most prestigious of the handful that Comiskey has received since the end of the season. The Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association named him its state player of the year, and the United Soccer Coaches selected Comiskey a first-team All-American. He is also a finalist for the Journal Sentinel’s area player of the year award, which will be announced in May.

“Before the season myself and my teammates set high expectations. … We wanted to win every game,” he said. “We wanted to do our best and individually I set goals to score as many goals and to help our team win as many games as we could, but I never thought I was going to be in position to be up for national player of the year.”

Comiskey’s performance was hard to ignore, though.

He finished the year with 46 goals and 30 assists. He recorded at least one goal or assist in every game and played big in the team’s biggest moments.

He finished with two goals and an assist in two victories at the Goal4theGoal Classic in Quincy, Ill., in late September. In a showdown with Marquette at the end of the regular season, Comiskey had three goals in a 3-0 victory. And at state, he scored eight points in two games. In the state final, his two goals in the first 7 minutes set the tone for a 6-1 victory over Oregon.

The season provided a sweet finish for a prep career that was tough at times. As a sophomore, a growth spurt – he shot up 7 inches in the span of about 18 months – left him with a painful hip injury. The injury sidelined him for almost all of club season that year and still nagged him his junior high school season even though he managed to earn second-team recognition on the WSCA all-state team.

The honor has helped in recruiting, too. Comiskey thinks his injury hurt his prospects initially.

“After I was injured and I came back, I had a little bit of a chip on my shoulder,” said Comiskey, who has yet to make a college commitment. “That’s what I say when I talk to other people who ask, 'Why didn’t you get recognition last year? Why weren’t college coaches reaching out to you last year?'

"Sometimes it’s you’ve got to be in the right place at the right time and be seen by the right people and that didn’t happen for me. This year I was motivated to make that happen and I think I did.”

Whitefish Bay’s team, which finished the year No. 2 in USA Today/United Soccer Coaches national ranking, also grabbed attention.

In addition to Comiskey, senior goalkeeper Elian Haddock earned All-American status from the United Soccer Coaches. Bay coach Rob Dubinski was named the coach of the year by the organization for the Great Lakes region. Other all-region performers for the team were senior defender Shawn Azcueta and senior forward Jackson Dryden.

They were part of a special group led by a special player.

“We’ve all played with each other our entire lives and we know everything about each other on the field and we know how everyone is going to play," Comiskey said. "By knowing that we can hold each other up to high standards and expect great things.

"I think that’s why we were so successful. We knew what everyone on the team was capable of, We just needed to hold each other accountable to make sure that happened.”