For top high school soccer players, they have to decide between playing high school soccer and pursuing MLS Next, a top-tier organization with the goal of taking “youth soccer to the next level.”
Soccer player Nico McGalla ’28 spent his freshman and sophomore years playing for the Brophy team, but is choosing his junior year to switch to MLS Next.
“Some of the closest friends I’ve made and some of the most important relationships and memories I’ve had came from playing high school soccer,” said McGalla about his time on Brophy’s varsity team.
An experience that he treasures is meeting up with the team before his first varsity game.
“Music was playing, everyone was getting hyped and getting ready for the game, and that memory has always stuck with me. It’s a special memory to me,” said McGalla.
Experiences like those are what made it hard for McGalla to attend MLS Next. MLS Next specializes in offering better opportunities for players to play collegiate soccer.
Playing college soccer has always been a goal for McGalla.
“Right now, in the soccer system, if you want to get recruited by the top schools, where I’m trying to play, you have to play at the highest level,” said McGalla.
Referring to playing college soccer, McGalla said, “I knew this was what I’d been working toward…I kind of always knew that’s how the path was going to go.”
McGalla added, “I felt like it was okay to forego MLS NEXT for the first two years, then target it junior year.”
Even though McGalla is going from Brophy soccer to MLS Next, some athletes are choosing to switch from MLS Next back to Brophy.
One example of this is Lucas DiPasquale ’27.
DiPasquale played for Brophy’s JV Team freshman year, but played for MLS Next sophomore and junior year.
One reason for his original switch to MLS Next was because of the platform. DiPasquale said, “If you really want to be seen nationwide, MLS NEXT gives you that opportunity. I feel like the platform itself is a lot more widely broadcast than high school soccer.”
However, as he decided not to continue soccer into college, DiPasquale realized that he would rather represent Brophy’s team.
“I’ve played MLS NEXT for a couple of years now, and it’s a lot. It’s very strenuous. I think Brophy will still be highly competitive, but also very fun at the same time,” described DiPasquale.
Being recognized around Brophy is also an additional bonus for him.
“Here at Brophy, if you win a game, a lot of people will hear about it. You’ll walk around campus, and a lot more people will know about it,” said DiPasquale.
For McGalla, he hopes that he can also end up playing again for Brophy senior year.
“In an ideal world, I’d hopefully be committed by late junior year or early senior year and then be able to play high school soccer,” said McGalla.
