June 4, 2015
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State men's soccer head coach Lev Kirshner announced today the addition of Jeroen Meefout. The forward had his Grant-in-Aid approved by the University and heads west after playing his true freshman season at Maryland. He will be eligible to compete in 2015.
"We were very disappointed when we didn't get Jeroen (close friend of current Aztec Thom Van den Berg) last year, but as they say, everything happens for a reason," Kirshner said. "Jeroen is going to be another great addition to an already excellent 2015 class. Jeroen will bring Big Ten championship experience while providing us a true No. 9 with size, skill and a desire to achieve. Obviously, we are very excited to see how Jeroen will perform for us come the fall."
Hailing from Houten, Netherlands, Meefout played in 18 games and earned two starting assignments. He finished the 2014 campaign with two goals and one assist for five points, while putting half of his 12 shot attempts on net. His .500 shot percentage was the second-highest among all Maryland players with at least 10 attempts.
Among Terrapin freshmen, Meefout ranked second on the team in goals, points and minutes played (425), while tying for first in assists for a Maryland squad that won the Big Ten tournament championship, earned a berth in the NCAA tournament and posted a final record of 13-6-3 (5-2-1 Big Ten).
Prior to arriving at Maryland, he played for PSV Eindhoven, Vitesse Arnhem and FC Den Bosch. While a member of the U19 FC Den Bosch team, he was recognized by the KNVB (Dutch Soccer Association) as one of the top 10 players in the first division. A year later, he helped his club to the final four of the top youth cup in The Netherlands.
Meefout is the 11th member of a 2015 incoming class that already includes multiple national team members from three different countries, a prep All-American, two top-50 recruits and three college transfers.
When the original 10-player class was announced in April, Kirshner said, "This is a very exciting class that will most certainly close the gap on our Pac-12 competition. This group not only brings in highly talented and sought-after players, but a maturity and experience that our team desperately lacked last year."
San Diego State's seven home victories in 2014 were tied for the program's most wins at SDSU Sports Deck since 2006. In addition, the Aztecs cracked the top 25 and improved to 18-5-2 in non-conference home matches since the beginning of the 2010 season, while having an overall non-conference record of 29-12-4 during the same time span.
SDSU finished the 2014 campaign with three victories over top-20 opponents, played five matches against teams ranked in the top-10 of the NSCAA Coaches Poll, and 13 total contests against teams who were ranked at one point of the season.
The Pac-12 was once again the No. 1 RPI conference in Division I in 2014, while compiling the top winning percentage, the best road winning percentage and the best strength of schedule in the country based on opponents' winning percentage.