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Attendance increased from a handful of interested spectators to more than 5,000 fans at a single game during Prince Attoh's lone year of competition at Old Dominion University.
Attoh scored 26 goals and gave out six assists while inspiring ODU to 12 straight regular-season victories and the school's first post-season soccer tournament. He was named as team and state most-valuable player.
James Madison University ended the Monarchs' winning streak in the state playoffs, and eventual NCAA Division II national champion Baltimore University also triumphed, 1-0, in the NCAA Division II South Atlantic Regional in 1975. But the Monrovia, Liberia athlete and his teammates rallied to win their 13th game in the consolation match beating Loyola, 1-0.
Prince, who could score goals in clusters, turned on the fans with his bicycle kicks and passes to himself over defenders' heads and between their legs. "I practiced that kind of thing so much as a kid it became instinctive in games," he said.
Five goals against Salisbury State made him a player to be marked for double and even triple teaming. It didn't work for East Carolina University-he scored three goals in less than a minute at the start of the second half. Against Randolph-Macon, with ODU down by three goals with 10 minutes left, he scored twice as the Monarchs rallied to win in double overtime.
Drafted by the Portland Timbers of the North American Soccer League, Attoh also played for the Cincinnati Kids and the Baltimore Blast of the Major Indoor Soccer League. He later helped semi-pro teams in Washington D.C., area reach national play.
Attoh graduated from ODU in 1976 with a degree in sociology. When inducted in 1987, he was working at the George Washington University Medical Center as an accounting and financial counselor and working on a combined masters and PhD program.
"My goal is to become a rehabilitation psychologist and do consulting work with athletes. Some need help with getting back into the mainstream of life when they are injured or their careers are over. Others need help in living without alcohol or drugs. I have already done some of that work with the National Football League Players Association and have found that very satisfying," he said.