MY JOURNEY TO DIVISION 1 SOCCER

EARLY YEARS: BOSTON BOLTS

I started my serious soccer development at Boston Bolts, and honestly, those years were the roughest for me. I wasn't a consistent starter and I was still figuring out my identity as a player. What changed everything during that time were the mentors I had around me.

One of the biggest influences early on was Shalrie Joseph, the New England Revolution legend. I rode with him to training, talked with him about mentality, stayed after practice to work on my finishing, and absorbed everything I could. Even though I wasn't great yet, I was learning how to think and train like someone who could become great.

THE PRO PROJECT: MY TURNING POINT

Everything shifted for me when a teammate introduced me to The Pro Project (TPP). TPP wasn't just extra training—it was where the top players in the Northeast came together. MLS academy players, elite club kids, college players, young pros. I was terrified at first. I was thrown into older groups with players who were stronger, faster, and much more polished. I was constantly getting called out for mistakes. I was embarrassed often. But I kept showing up.

My schedule during those years was insane. I'd be in school at Prospect Hill Academy until 3:15, take buses and trains carrying two or three bags, rush to Bolts practice, and then head straight to TPP. Sometimes I arrived late, sometimes exhausted, but I knew I needed that level of training if I wanted to separate myself. Over time, my game made big jumps, older players and coaches started respecting me, and I learned how to handle pressure, take criticism, and compete with players better than me. That phase laid the foundation for everything that came next.

BREAKING THROUGH: NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION ACADEMY

Eventually, my work with Bolts and TPP earned me the chance to join the New England Revolution Academy (U18/U19). This was a huge step, but it came with new challenges. I was commuting between Boston, Milton Academy, and Gillette Stadium, often spending more time in transit than on the field. On top of that, Northeast private school players were sometimes seen as "less committed" compared to full-time academy players, so I felt like I had to prove myself twice as hard.

When COVID shut down private school soccer, I was able to fully commit to the Revs for the first time—and that's when my development exploded. I became the regular season leading goalscorer, made a deep run in the MLS Next playoffs, trained regularly with Revolution II and occasionally with the first team, made my professional debut for Revolution II, won the U19 MLS NEXT National Championship in 2022, assisted the game-winning goal in the final, became a TopDrawerSoccer 3-star recruit, and earned invitations to U.S. Youth National Team camps. I learned what it meant to earn trust in a professional environment by showing up every single day with consistency and high standards.

SEEING THE GAME DIFFERENTLY: SC BRAGA, PORTUGAL

One of the biggest experiences of my youth career came when The Pro Project sent me overseas to train with SC Braga's U19 and U23 squads in Portugal. That was the first time I truly saw what professional football looks like. The pace, the discipline, the culture—everything was on another level. I saw how pros live, how they prepare, how they recover, and how seriously they take every detail. That trip changed my perspective forever and raised my expectations for myself when I returned home.

GOING ALL-IN: THE CENTER OF EXCELLENCE (COE)

After Braga, I had a major decision to make: stay at Milton Academy or join The Center of Excellence (COE), a new soccer day school that offered morning training, strength and conditioning, yoga, recovery, online school, and academy training at night. Almost everyone told me not to go. They said I'd hurt my academics and make it harder to get recruited. But I trusted my vision. COE gave me structure, consistency, and a professional training schedule that unlocked another level in my development. During this time, college interest started coming in from across the Northeast and the country—Ivies, ACC schools, and big D1 programs.

CHOOSING DIVISION 1: WHY I PICKED UVA

In the end, my top choices were Boston College and the University of Virginia. I chose UVA because it offered elite ACC competition, top academics, and a coaching staff with Revolution connections who already understood my path and potential. Committing to UVA was the moment my dream of playing Division 1 soccer became real.

THE D1 REALITY: HOW I LEARNED TO EXCEL

When I arrived at UVA, I quickly realized how big the jump from academy soccer to college soccer is. The athleticism, the speed of play, the physical demands—everything increases. But the habits I built over the years helped me stand out. I had already been lifting seriously, doing extra technical work, treating recovery like part of training, and learning how to compete with older players. Those habits made it possible to navigate my freshman year, earn trust, and keep climbing.

THE BIG SETBACK: MY ACL TEAR

Right before my sophomore season, I pushed myself too hard. I was obsessed with earning playing time, and I overtrained—doing sessions before practice, after practice, and even at night. In an early-season game at Duke, my body gave out and I tore my ACL. The recovery process was long, painful, and mentally exhausting. But the injury forced me to rebuild myself in a smarter way. I focused on my mentality, spent countless hours rehabbing, stayed in Virginia over the summer to access the athletic facilities, trained with Charlottesville Blues FC, and slowly regained my confidence. By the time preseason rolled around, I came back stronger, more explosive, more disciplined, and more mature than I had ever been.