A two-year captain and starting left back on defense, senior Matt Callahan has blossomed into a complete player for the San Diego State men’s soccer team.
“He’s an excellent defender, mentally strong and tough as nails,’’ said SDSU head coach Lev Kirshner.
The 22-year-old Callahan was named to the National Team of the Week by College SoccerNews.com earlier this month after scoring in a 1-1 tie against Oregon State and playing his customary solid defense in a 1-0 victory over Washington.
San Diego State, ranked in the top 10 defensively among Division 1 teams, was 6-2-3 overall and 1-1-1 in the Pac-12 prior to road games Oct. 13 vs. Stanford and Oct. 16 vs. California.
A communications major, the 6-foot-1, 178-pound Callahan helped lead Newton North to the Division 1 North championship his sophomore year. He played at Northeastern as a freshman before enrolling at San Diego State.
His sister, Christina, a junior on the women’s soccer team at Holy Cross, was an All-American selection her senior year when the Newton North girls won the Division 1 state title.
Their mother, Mary, was a multi-sport athlete at Springfield (Vt.) High and a varsity field hockey player at Mt. Holyoke College.
Q. What prompted your coming to San Diego State?
A. I wanted to play at an even higher level of Division 1 soccer and also change my surroundings.
Q. What was your introduction to soccer?
A. I was 5 years old and played in a YMCA league in Newton. My dad didn’t have the opportunity to play soccer when he was that age and he encouraged me and my sister to take advantage of our opportunity.
Q. How has being a captain resonated with you?
A. It’s a blessing to captain a team and to have the trust of your coaches and your teammates. I use that as motivation, whether it’s making a big tackle or speaking up when it’s needed.
Q. Can you describe the play that resulted in your crucial goal against Oregon State?
A. I had the ball originally and then made a run to the top of the box. Our right midfielder sent a crossing pass to the far post and I was able to fight off a defender and head the ball into the low right hand corner. Defenders don’t get those kind of opportunities often, so you have to read the game and make sure you have teammates back to cover defensively.
Q. What has been your favorite college course?
A. Intercultural Communication. I enjoyed learning about different parts of the world and how communication norms differ from the United States, especially in non-verbal ways.
Q. What are your soccer plans after graduation?
A. I want to play as long as I can, hopefully at the professional level through enrolling at the MLS combine with the goal of getting drafted.
Q. What is your favorite form of entertainment?
A. Music, definitely. Electric Dance is my favorite and I saw Avicii perform at the House of Blues in Cambridge last winter. I also like to listen to country music, specifically the Zac Brown Band, and hip hop, especially Justin Bieber. I like to listen to all of them before a game or practice to either relax or get fired up.
Q. Do you have time away from soccer and your studies for other sports?
A. I play tennis and badminton. My dad is a very good badminton player. It takes a lot of speed and agility and that has helped me as a soccer player.
Q. What is it like being the only New Englander on your college team?
A. There’s a lot of banter going on between me and my teammates from California, especially about the weather and how if there’s a little bit of rain they’re wearing coats and long sleeved shirts and I’m in shorts and a t-shirt and loving it.
Q. What is your favorite sports memory from high school?
A. Defeating our archrival Brookline, in the D1 North tournament my sophomore year on penalty kicks. We had scored late in regulation to tie them. It was one of the proudest moments of my time at Newton North.
MARVIN PAVE
For full interview, go to bostonglobe.com/west.
