Athletics Hall of Fame
Jeffries, class of 1976, was the men's soccer program’s all-time leading scorer in both points (105) and goals (45) as of 2004. His standard of 17 goals in a season, accomplished during his senior campaign of 1975, stood until 2001, and his record of 38 points in a campaign held up until it was tied, also in 2001. A regional MVP selection while in high school, Jeffries passed up numerous college athletic scholarship offers to merit academic acceptance at Union and joined the soccer team as a “walk-on” (a player who was not recruited). With Jeffries in the lineup, the Dutchmen produced a four-year record of 31-13-2, including a standard of 22-4-0 during his junior and senior campaign. Co-captain during both his junior and senior seasons, Jeffries led the Dutchmen to a 12-2-0 record and the ECAC championship in his senior year. Named to the All-New York State team in his final three seasons, Jeffries became the first Dutchman ever to earn All-American status his senior year (he was one of just 55 players in the country to be named as an All-American as there was no distinction between Divisions I, II, and III). The New York Cosmos selected Jeffries in the NASL draft in the summer of 1976. The Arlington, Virginia, native, who graduated with a double major of biology and psychology, was in England, doing graduate work in biology, at the time of his selection.
