Dominic Cervi (born July 9, 1986) is an American former professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Personal life

Cervi grew up in

Norman, Oklahoma Norman () is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,097 as of 2021. It is the largest city and the county seat of Cleveland County, Oklahoma, Cleveland County, and the second-largest city in the Oklahoma C ...

. He played eight seasons for his youth club, Norman Celtic '86. He attended

Norman North High School Norman North High School is a public, co-educational secondary school in Norman, Oklahoma. It was established on August 21, 1997, on the grounds of what had been Longfellow Middle School since 1972. Longfellow Has now been relocated to the build ...

, where he played soccer for all four years. He was named Oklahoma Defensive Player of the Year by ''

The Oklahoman ''The Oklahoman'' is the largest daily newspaper in Oklahoma, United States, and is the only regional daily that covers the Greater Oklahoma City area. The Alliance for Audited Media (formerly Audit Bureau Circulation) lists it as the 59th larges ...

'' during his junior and senior seasons in 2003 and 2004. He also earned three letters in

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, where he additionally earned Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2004. Cervi's great-grandparents were Italian. He received his Italian passport in May 2009, which eliminated the need to obtain a work permit, thus making him a more appealing potential signing for European clubs.

Club career

Youth

Cervi attended the

University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church and the campus architectural style is predominantly Collegiate Gothic. The school traces its origin to ...

from 2004 through 2007, making thirty-one starts for the Golden Hurricane and earning All-

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

First Team and

NSCAA The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than 30 ...

All-Midwest Region Second Team honors in 2007. The Golden Hurricane's best finish during Cervi's time with the team was during his first year, 2004, when the team reached the national quarterfinal at the

2004 Division I Men's College Cup The 2004 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament was a tournament of 48 teams from NCAA Division I. This year's College Cup Final Four was held at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. All the other games were played at the home field of th ...

Professional

Cervi was drafted by the Chicago Fire with the twelfth overall pick of the 2008 MLS SuperDraft, but he did not sign for the club after rejecting a $32,000 contract offer from

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

. He was the second goalkeeper taken in the draft. After a trial at 2008 FA Cup winners

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

he was not offered a contract.

Celtic

In October 2008, Cervi joined

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

on a trial. He made two appearances for Celtic's reserve team, one in a friendly match against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

's reserves, and the other against

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Green ...

. After receiving his Italian passport, Cervi officially joined the

SPL SPL may refer to: Association football * Saudi Professional League * Scottish Premier League * SportPesa Premier League, Kenya * Singapore Premier League * RoboCup Standard Platform League, matches between autonomous robots Computing Program ...

club. Cervi never made a competitive first team appearance for Celtic, although was an unused substitute in five league matches. Cervi was released by the Glasgow club at the end of the 2011-12 season.

Loans moves from Celtic

On December 10, 2010, Cervi was loaned out to

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

, but did not make any appearances and returned to Celtic after the loan expired. On November 4, 2011, Cervi joined

Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film '' Horton H ...

on a short-term loan until January. He made his debut the next day in a 1-0 win over

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is ...

. Cervi declared himself delighted with the result - saying that it was every goalkeeper's dream to get a clean sheet on their debut.

International career

Cervi was named in the United States national team's 21-man World Cup Qualifying roster for the home-and-home series with

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

on June 15 and 22, 2008. Cervi was called up for the USA Under-23 team as the number two keeper for the 2008 CONCACAF Men's Pre-Olympic Tournament. He started for the USA in a 1–0 loss against

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

in the championship game, and again at the U-23 level in a

Toulon Tournament The Toulon Tournament (officially the Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello) is a football (training match) tournament, which traditionally features invited national teams composed of youth players from U-17 to U-23 level. ...

match against

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. Cervi is eligible to only represent the United States internationally due to his appearances against Honduras and Turkey. On May 15, 2008, he was invited to camp for friendlies against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, but made no appearances. In 2010, he was named in the US squad that defeated

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

1–0 on November 17 in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. He did not play, however, serving as second choice keeper for the match behind

Brad Guzan Bradley Edwin Guzan (; born September 9, 1984) is an American professional Association football, soccer player who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Major League Soccer club Atlanta United FC. A college soccer second ...

. Despite having a number of call-ups to his name, Cervi never appeared in a match for the senior national team of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Business career

After leaving Celtic, Cervi studied at the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private university, private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Mountain States, Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is ...

and graduated with a degree in Finance and Accounting. He then embarked on a career in

investment banking Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated wit ...

with U.S. banking firm Capstone Headwaters.

References

External links

Dominic Cervi
University of Tulsa Official Athletic site (Archived)
Dominic Cervi
The Celtic Wiki * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cervi, Dominic 1986 births Living people Sportspeople from Norman, Oklahoma Soccer players from Oklahoma American men's soccer players American expatriate men's soccer players Flint City Bucks players Celtic F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Greenock Morton F.C. players Tulsa Golden Hurricane men's soccer players USL League Two players Scottish Football League players Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland University of Tulsa alumni Chicago Fire FC draft picks Men's association football goalkeepers United States men's under-23 international soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Scotland