Northwestern University Athletics
Ritter Named Senior CLASS Award Finalist
10/21/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Oct. 21, 2013
EVANSTON, Ill.-Northwestern senior midfielder Chris Ritter has been named a Top 10 finalist for the 2013 Senior CLASS Award.
The award, which is an acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, honors the attributes of senior student-athletes in four areas: community, classroom, character and competition. It focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
Ritter is one of 10 Senior CLASS Award finalists and one of just three from the Big Ten, joining Michigan State's Kevin Cope and Indiana's A.J. Corrado.
Fans can vote for Ritter by clicking this link to SeniorCLASSaward.com and also on Facebook here.
The fan vote runs through November 25.
Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one male candidate and one female candidate who best exemplify excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition.
Winners will be announced during the 2013 NCAA Men's and Women's College Cup championships in December.
Always active in the community, Ritter took part in numerous Northwestern community service events such as a skills training workshop for the Evanston American Youth Soccer Organization, regularly participates in Cycle for Survival for cancer research. He's also visited local schools to read to students. The Wildcats soccer team also hosted the Futsal Tournament with the International Students Association. He's worked with Northwestern's marketing department in Meet and Greet events with fans, signing autographs and coaching clinics.
Ritter was named Academic All Big-Ten in 2012 and helped the NU men's soccer team achieve the school's highest GPA out of the eight men's varsity sports during the 2012-13 season.
A starter for the Wildcats since the third match of his freshman season, Ritter has played in 79 games (77 starts), helping guide Northwestern to back-to-back Big Ten regular season titles from 2011-12.
The 2012 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, Ritter returned to the Wildcats after being granted a fifth year of eligibility in 2013. Through NU's first 14 games, Ritter scored four goals (three game winners) with three assists and 11 points.
In his Northwestern career, Ritter has 14 goals, 12 assists and 40 points. Ritter was named the National Player of the Week by Top Drawer Soccer (9/24) and one of MLSSoccer.com Top 10 Player to Watch for 2013.
2013 Men's Soccer Senior CLASS Award Finalists
Bryan Ciesiulka, Marquette
Kevin Cope, Michigan State
A.J. Corrado, Indiana
Itode Fubara, East Tennessee State
Nick Kristock, Oakland
Mackenzie Pridham, Cal Poly
Chris Ritter, Northwestern
Harrison Shipp, Notre Dame
Joe Sofia, UCLA
Kyle Venter, New Mexico
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