Soccer News

The Sherer Courage Award is given to a young man who has overcome personal challenges and preserved in spite of the obstacles put it in front of him. Named in honor of Jeff Sherer ’83 who was known to his teammates as the “Gentle Giant” and described as the ultimate team-first guy, this award epitomizes pride, determination and courage in the face of adversity. Sherer was diagnosed with ALS in his early 30’s and battled the progressive disease bravely for six years always remaining a positive example and lifting up those around him until his passing in 2003.

We are honored to present the 2024 award to Justin Cuevas, a young man that has shown amazing strength and perseverance overcoming multiple injuries throughout his Servite career as a multi-sport athlete. 

Coming to Servite as a junior, he was poised to make an impact as soon as he took the field. Unfortunately, that debut ended up delayed an entire year. During fall leading into soccer season, he suffered a knee injury while playing club resulting in surgery and rehab that took his entire junior season. Despite the setback, he assimilated into Servite and the soccer team remaining positive and contributing to the program in other ways whether that was assisting at practice, doing music at games, helping the team warmup or even coaching from the sidelines. He also volunteered on campus sharing his passion for photography and videography, assisting both the communications and athletic departments, creating content to further highlight his brothers and the school as a whole. 

When his senior season finally arrived, he hit the ground running, making the most of his opportunity. He scored four goals and tallied six assists in his first five games as a Friar while also being named a captain.

He went on to lead the team in every offensive category tallying 18 goals, 14 assists and 6 game winners on the season while earning OCRegister Athlete of the Week honors after scoring three goals and adding one assist in the Friars’ quarterfinal and semifinal matches to clinch a finals berth.

The team proceeded to win the CIF-SS D1 Championship and CIF D2 State Regional title for just the second time in school history. Individually, he earned CIF D1 Player of the Year honors, 1st Team All-Trinity League and All-Orange County recognition, and was named to the Prep Soccer All-Area team. He has also been nominated for All-American consideration. The team finished the season as the No. 1 ranked team in California by MaxPreps and the 6th ranked team in the nation by the United Soccer Coaches Association.

He has earned the opportunity to play collegiate soccer and is headed to Concordia University, Irvine in the fall.   

Congratulations, Justin!