We should all be so lucky to have a memorable week like the one Toronto FC goalkeeper Alex Bono enjoyed in early January.

During a seven-day span from Jan. 9-15, Bono finished as a runner-up in voting for the MAC Hermann Trophy (awarded to U.S. college soccer’s best player), was called into training camp by the United States national team for the first time (an amazing achievement for a player still in school) and was selected in the first round of the MLS SuperDraft by TFC (sixth overall and the top goalkeeper to go in the draft).

Not bad for a 20-year-old product of Syracuse University who left school after his junior season in order to pursue his dream of playing professional soccer. Bono is currently training with Toronto FC in Florida and has hopes of cracking the team’s roster for the 2015 season. A little more than a month has passed since that incredible week that changed his life, but Bono insists he’s not letting recent events in his life go to his head.

“I tried to keep it grounded the entire time. I knew that if I was going to leave school early it was going to go from zero to a hundred pretty quickly—I just didn’t know that the U.S. national team would come so quickly. It was tough being under that spotlight but I’ve come down now,” Bono told Sportsnet.

Soccer Central podcast: SPORTSNET.CA’s Soccer Central podcast, hosted by John Molinaro and James Sharman, takes an in-depth look at the beautiful game and offers timely and thoughtful analysis on the sport’s biggest issues. To listen and subscribe to the podcast, CLICK HERE.

While in the U.S. camp he trained with national team veterans Michael Bradley and Clint Dempsey, as well as standout goalkeeper Nick Rimando. Having never represented his country at any youth level, Bono said the call from coach Jurgen Klinsmann was “was completely unexpected.”

“The call came and I didn’t believe it at first, and it was only when I arrived in camp that it finally sunk in,” Bono admitted. “It was surreal. It was hard for me to believe until I was in the locker room with guys like Bradley and Dempsey and (Jermaine) Jones.”

Although Bono didn’t see any action in any of the U.S. team’s exhibition games he did receive positive feedback from Klinsmann regarding his work in camp.

“It was all positive from Jurgen. He was surprised how quickly my nerves went away, and he told me it wouldn’t be my last camp,” Bono said.

Bono was drafted by TFC while he was away with the national team. He had spoken to club officials prior to the draft and knew that Toronto and several other clubs were interested in him.

“TFC drafting me was the biggest blessing for me—it’s such a great team, a great place to develop as a player, so I’m so thankful to them for giving me the opportunity, and taking me under their wing to teach me how things work in the pro game,” Bono offered.

“From what I understood, goalkeepers were not an in-demand position to draft. To be picked that high by an organization like Toronto FC it wasn’t a surprise but it was definitely an honour.”

That Bono was finalist for the Hermann Trophy was hardly a surprise. The native of Baldwinsville, NY, helped his hometown school to an impressive 16-4-1 record in 2014, earning the first No. 1 national ranking in the history of Syracuse’s soccer program. The Orangemen won 11 of their first 12 games of the season and reached the third round of the NCAA playoff tournament.

Bono played a pivotal role in Syracuse’s successful campaign—he gave up only three goals in that 12-game span to begin the year, and led the Atlantic Coast Conference in goals-against average (0.55) and shutouts (12). It was a startling turnaround for Syracuse, who record just five wins over the two seasons prior to Bono’s arrival in 2012.

“It was amazing. When I started looking at colleges, the question was did I want to enter a program with expectations of winning a national championship every year? Or did I want to be part of a team that I had to play and could help them turn it around? I went with the second one,” Bono explained.

“I went there with a goal of helping them become a top program and I think we did that towards the end. It’s something that really prepared me for the next level. If I didn’t go to Syracuse I couldn’t tell you for sure I’d be in Florida with TFC right now. I don’t know where I’d be.”

The fact Bono went so high in the draft suggests TFC wants him to compete with Chris Konopka for the backup role, and possibly push Joe Bendik for the starter’s job. But he hasn’t had any serious discussions with coach Greg Vanney about his role for the upcoming 2015 season.

“That conversation hasn’t happened yet. We’re about halfway through pre-season and right now I’m just keeping my head down,” Bono said.

“I’m still young and I’m fresh out of college. I need to learn about the pro game. For me, it’s about learning from Joe and Chris and having them take me under their wing and teach me what it’s like to be pro. This is a starting point for me.”

Bono isn’t the only Orangeman rookie in camp. Syracuse teammate Skylar Thomas, a defender, also went in the first round when he was selected 11th overall by Toronto.

“We’ve known each other for three years. As we got closer to our final years at Syracuse we became really close and said how great it would be if we were both drafted by the same MLS team. We never thought it’d actually happen. And here we are now in Florida together, with one the dreams team in MLS—a team that everyone wants to go to,” Bono stated.

Bono started playing goalkeeper at 12 years of age after starting out as a forward and cites fellow American Tim Howard as his goalkeeping hero.

“He’s an icon for so many American goalkeepers. I’d say he’s the best we’ve ever produced and he’s still at the best level of his game. I admired him. You look at guys like (Bayern Munich’s) Manuel Neuer who’s changing the way goalkeepers play with his sweeper-keeper style—I like him a lot too,” Bono said.