Derek Waldeck, a freshman at Stanford and ‘16 Hart High graduate, started at midfield on Monday as the Cardinals took home their second straight national title.

Stanford faced Wake Forest in the NCAA Men’s Division 1 College Cup final in a wild game that, after 110 minutes of play, remained deadlocked at 0-0.

So for the third time in 10 years, the College Cup was decided on penalty kicks.

“It was absolutely nerve-wracking — definitely a rollercoaster of emotions. My heart was nearly stopped as the last guy lined up to take the shot to win it for them,” said Waldeck. “Once he (Andrew Epstein) made the second save to win us the championship, I remember dropping on my knees initially just in disbelief that we crawled ourselves out of the hole in the shootout, and managed to win.”

The game almost didn’t make it the first overtime after a great play by Waldeck in the 78th minute very nearly netted the game’s first goal.

“Adrian (Alabi) and I were pretty close, so that was pretty special to be able to connect and almost have what would have been the winner,” Waldeck said. “It was pretty cool being in the right spot and putting my teammate in place to make the shot.”

An amazing diving save by Wake Forest keeper Andreu Cases Mundet, however, kept the score tied at zero.

Waldeck, a former foothill league champ and two-time all foothill league and all valley first teamer, reflected on his whirlwind first year so far as a member of the Stanford soccer team.

“It was incredible — I really could not have asked for more,” he said. “Everything from the start of the year coming off the bench, playing two minutes here and there, to midway through the season earning a starting spot and playing in the semi-final and final in Houston, and just to play at this level in Division 1 is incredible.”

Waldeck plans to major in engineering and even spent time building houses in Mexico through Baja Christian Ministries from 2007-2015, and as far as his soccer career goes:

“We get back out in January after Christmas break,” he said, “and I’m just looking forward to getting prepared to go out and try and win another one.”