The numbers on the stat sheet are impressive. The postseason accolades perhaps more so.
Yet those items don’t completely convey Brandon Corday’s ’08 career as an F&M men’s soccer player.
Sure, he was skillful on the field, as his 93 career points and 34 goals attest.
“He was incredibly fast and was one of the best crossers of the ball that I’ve ever seen,’’ said F&M men’s soccer coach Dan Wagner. “He could drop the ball wherever he wanted. He was also really good at dribbling at people. He was deadly running at people.’’
Corday was one of a freshman class that turned F&M’s record from 3-9-3 in 2003 to 11-5-3 in 2004 and a berth in the conference playoffs. Perhaps an omen for that season was Corday’s two goals in his second collegiate game, a 5-0 win over Scranton.
“We were dead last in the Centennial when we recruited him,’’ Wagner said. “He had Division I and Division II scholarship opportunities. We got him and the rest of his classmates were very good.’’
Work ethic and a business-like approach were Corday’s mainstays.
“He was determined in every single way,’’ said teammate Ryan McGonigle ’08. “Heading into his sophomore year, he wanted to score more goals, so he went into the squash courts and practiced kicking the ball against a wall hundreds of times.’’
Corday and his ‘08 classmates were the foundation for a team that went 13-4-3 in 2006 and 15-4 in 2007, two seasons that saw the Diplomats make the NCAA Tournament. Before those appearances, the program had advanced to the National Playoffs only one other occasion in 1981.
The folks that hand out plaudits noticed his skill, too, naming him Centennial Conference Player of the Year and All-America for both his junior and senior seasons. No one in history had been honored back-to-back like that and no one else has since he graduated in 2008.
While the 2007 season was a great one on the field, the team and particularly the seniors were stunned when teammate and fellow senior Chris Campbell passed away the day before preseason camp.
Corday, a two-year captain, was called upon to distribute leadership instead of just a crossing pass.
“Brandon was a bonding agent for all of us,’’ McGonigle said. “He kept us together. He was the guy who would put his arm around you and say, ‘Look, think of the bigger picture. We have to lead these guys and grow these guys.’
“He connected across all classes always. He spoke to people and cared for people in a way that was uncommon. He treated everyone with honor on a regular basis.’’
Corday’s fondest memories include celebrating after victories against Johns Hopkins and Elizabethtown. Several of his greatest sports thrills are making NCAAs, merely representing the Diplomats and celebrating the life of Christopher Thomas Campbell.
He went on to play professional soccer in the National Premier Soccer and the Major Indoor Soccer Leagues. Corday earned a J.D. from California Western School of Law and currently practices law in California.
