Batman is a superhero who has no real special super power, but is blessed with an enormous amount of financial resources.

When freshman midfielder Eric Pothast was a child, that was his favorite superhero. His Batman ambitions nearly cost him his life. He was sitting in his car-seat, decided to climb out of the car to cross the street to get to his mother, and was struck by a car. Batman survived but suffered a broken leg, which turned him from a righty to a lefty on the soccer pitch.

Prior to Marquette’s victory over Rutgers 1-0 in its Big East opener Friday evening, Pothast was named the No. 25 player on TopDrawerSoccer.com’s College Players to Watch: Freshmen Top 100.

“I’ll take it as a very good compliment, but I don’t really take a lot of pride in lists like that,” Pothast said. “It’s cool to see and receive an honor, but I’m not where I want to be yet. It just encourages me to work harder everyday to prove that and show what I can do.”

Pothast is one of two players on the team to play in every minute of every game – the team’s leader in shots, goals and points, junior midfielder Calum Mallace, is the other.

“Coming in and playing in every minute of every game, as a freshman, is amazing,” Mallace said. “He’s played real well and been real solid in the back. I’m proud of him.”

Like Pothast, Mallace came in as a freshman and played significant minutes for Bennett’s squad in 2008. He understands that there’s a lot of pressure, as a freshman, to overdo it sometimes.

“(Freshmen) just want to compete for playing time, no one wants to come in and sit on the bench,” Mallace said. “I talked to Eric during the preseason because I saw he had a lot of potential and I told him to just relax and play his game.”

While Pothast is listed as a midfielder and played most of his high school career as a midfielder, he has spent much of the season as a defender. Junior defensemen Michael Alfano said Pothast hasn’t missed a beat on the transition.

“He’s a quality one-on-one defender, he listens well and he’s organized,” Alfano said. “He seems like a player that has had (collegiate) experience before and he’s someone you can rely on. He’s going to do his job and you know it’s going to be done well.”

At Lake Zurich High School (Illinois) Pothast was a three-time all-conference and all-area player. In his senior year he was a NSCAA/adidas All-Midwest selection. As Lake Zurich’s captain his senior year, he led the team to the 3A State Runner-Up.

Associate head coach Stan Anderson said Pothast’s soccer upbringing helped him become a poised player.

“Watching him from his sophomore year (of high school) until now, not a whole lot has changed,” Anderson said. “He’s very smart, reads the game well…he’s a level headed player at a position that requires it. He’s only taken the opportunity (presented by injuries) and run with it.”

Pothast will get his first opportunity to justify his 25th ranking in a home match tonight against Wisconsin.