Holy Spirit Prep Student Gets 'Soccer Save of the Year' Award

Provided by Holy Spirit Prep

Luke Whelan, a junior at Holy Spirit Preparatory School was named 2012 US Youth Soccer Save of the Year. 

The award was announced on Jan. 18 at the US Youth Soccer Awards in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Whelan, who lives in East Cobb, was first noticed in the fifth grade by volunteer coaches at Holy Spirit Prep. They encouraged him to try out for the North Atlanta Soccer Association (NASA) club soccer team. He played for NASA until last year when he was designated as a development player for Georgia United an affiliated of the US Soccer Team development academy. He currently plays for United Futbol Academy. 

The save that won him the award came at Holy Spirit Prep’s GISA State Championship Game last season.

US Youth Soccer is the largest governing body of Elite Soccer Clubs in the United States with more than 3 million registered players.  Nominations for Save of the Year were taken from all over the country and a selection committee chose from among the submissions for the top ten. Electronic votes were collected on the US Youth Soccer web site and the results were announced at the organization’s annual meeting in Indianapolis in January. 

Luke could not attend the meeting. He learned about the award from a Tweet while he was visiting Wake-Forest University for a camp for prospective soccer recruits.