Lyon overcomes obstacles in record-setting Marquette career

Like many college freshmen, Charlie Lyon had to make his share of adjustments upon his arrival at Marquette University in 2010.

One week before graduating from St. Charles East High School, Lyon suffered a serious knee injury while playing goalkeeper in a club game.

“I came out of the net and collided with another player,” said Lyon. “I tore my PCL (posterior cruciate ligament) and had to have surgery.”

The unusual injury ended Lyon's freshman soccer season before it even began.

“It isn't a very common soccer injury,” said Lyon. “It's an injury more consistent with something you see in a car accident.”

Lyon began his collegiate career on crutches for the first 6 weeks of school before learning how to walk again during physical therapy sessions.

“It was a long road,” said Lyon. “I started from ground zero. It was tough both physically and mentally. I was unsure if I'd be back to where I was before the injury.”

Meanwhile, Lyon experienced another rude awakening in the classroom.

“I got a D on my first college exam,” said Lyon, an honor roll student throughout his middle school and high school years. “I got a C on my next exam.”

Those were letter grades very unfamiliar to Lyon's world.

“I had never seen anything like that in my academic career,” admitted Lyon.

The next year as a redshirt freshman, Lyon had regained his health but not a spot in the Golden Eagles' starting lineup.

“I experienced everything entirely new — not being selected to play much,” said Lyon, who played with the Chicago Fire Academy in 2008-2009 before earning all-state status for the Saints in 2009.

Lyon received his first collegiate start in September of 2011 against Wright State but it was far from a memorable one.

“I made a terrible mistake that cost us a goal and we lost,” said Lyon, who appeared in 2 other games as a redshirt freshman.

Time for more soul searching.

“It was a time where I experienced valuable growth,” said Lyon.

As a redshirt sophomore, Lyon earned a starting berth at goalkeeper and played every minute for the Golden Eagles, who advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1997.

Lyon finished with 10 shutouts in 2012, including the first of his collegiate career in a 1-0 whitewash of UW-Green Bay.

Marquette reached the Big East Conference Tournament semifinals before suffering a last-minute overtime loss to Georgetown.

A year ago, Lyon continued his superb play as he notched 10 more shutouts while helping lead the Golden Eagles to a share of the regular-season conference championship (with Georgetown).

Marquette went on to win the Big East Conference Tournament title and capture its first NCAA Tournament victory.

Lyon recorded 5 saves during the Golden Eagles' 1-0 overtime triumph over Akron.

Despite the season-ending Sweet 16 loss to Virginia, the accolades continued to pour in for Lyon, who earned All-Big East First Team and All-Big East Men's Soccer Championship All-Tournament team honors and was selected as Big East Men's Soccer Co-Goalkeeper of the Year.

Lyon saved his best for this past season.

The redshirt senior set a school record by racking up 8 consecutive shutouts from Sept. 5-Oct. 11. Covering more than 804 minutes, the streak is now the 10th longest in NCAA history.

“The guys in front of me worked really hard,” said Lyon. “Things were going our way. We had the belief that if we scored, we had a good chance of winning because we weren't giving up many (scoring) opportunities.”

Naturally, there were a few narrow escapes during the streak.

“About the fourth or fifth game (of the streak), we were up 2-0 on UW-Milwaukee in the last 10 minutes when officials called a penalty on us (in the box),” recalled Lyon.

Lyon saved the penalty kick.

The incredible streak ended during a 1-0 loss to Butler in mid-October.

“I was bummed,” admitted Lyon. “I honestly felt I should have kept it going. If we had shut out Butler, I would have moved up to fifth on the all-time list ahead of one of my boyhood idols, Tony Meola.

“It (the streak) was pretty special.”

Earlier this month, Lyon established another school record with his 29th career shutout during a 4-0 blanking of DePaul.

Last week, Marquette dropped out of Big East Tournament action following a 2-1 quarterfinal loss to longtime nemesis Georgetown.

On Monday, Lyon learned that his collegiate career ended after Marquette failed to land a berth in the 48-team NCAA Tournament.

In addition to his 0.83 career-best goals against average, .811 save percentage and 37-17-7 collegiate record, the 6-foot-2, 215-pounder certainly got his traction in the classroom as well.

“I got one B my freshman year,” said Lyon, who has earned straight-As since his sophomore year and owns a 3.887 cumulative grade-point average.

The biomedical science major has stockpiled a list of academic accolades throughout his collegiate career.

A 3-time Big East All-Academic Team member, Lyon earned the Big East Conference Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Award with the highest team GPA and received Capital One Academic All-District Team and Academic All-America First Team honors in 2013.

Recently, Lyon was named as 1 of 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award presented annually to the outstanding senior NCAA Division I Student-Athlete of the Year across 9 different sports.

CLASS is an acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School. It encompasses Community, Classroom, Character and Competition.

“It is a great honor to be recognized for,” said Lyon, who served as the athletics representative on the Marquette Student Health Advisory Board. “I appreciate the academic side of it with the service component. It covers the total experience of being a college student.”

Lyon, who has volunteered weekly at the Milwaukee Humane Society, helped raise more than $30,000 for the Feed My Starving Children Organization and served as part of Habitat for Humanity after a tornado ravaged Tuscaloosa, Ala., in 2012.

Voting (www.seniorclassaward.com/vote/mens_soccer_2014/) ends Nov. 24.

Lyon, 22, is thankful for all of the opportunities he has experienced at Marquette.

“It is cool to bring recognition to Marquette,” he said. “The people here (at Marquette) made it happen — from my teammates and coaching staff to the support staff, athletics staff and academic advisers. Marquette is a special place. I have made lifelong friendships.”

Lyon also is grateful for his family, especially his parents, Joseph and Janet.

“My dad has attended every single game the past three seasons except for one,” he said, “and my mom has come to all of our home games. Their support has been fantastic.”

Next month, Lyon will graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree from Marquette.

The rest of his future remains a bit unclear.

“That's the next big question,” admitted Lyon, who hopes to hear his name called in the MLS SuperDraft on Jan. 15. “I'll look at my options. I'd like to keep playing and I also want to go to medical school.”

You can reach Craig Brueske at csb4k@hotmail.com