Jacqueline Dzwonczyk ’17: Matt Freese ’17 has been a standout athlete in the Episcopal community since his freshman year. This year, as a senior, Freese is taking his legacy elsewhere as he begins training with two new teams – The Union Academy, a selective team designed to train Philadelphia’s future players, and The Bethlehem Steel, a second division professional team that serves as the reserve for the first team.
Freese says, “I’m really excited about this next year and am so grateful to EA and The Philadelphia Union organization who let me do this.”
Jeff Coote ‘17, co-captain of the EA soccer team, is excited to see Matt’s success. He said, “It’s so amazing because I have been playing with him since fourth grade and it’s so cool to see him play at the highest level now. I was pretty proud of him.”
Freese explained his decision making, “Originally I was going to roster for the Union Academy games this fall, but that would have made me ineligible to play for EA.” In order to play with Episcopal, Freese is only practicing with the Union this fall. He says, “I am not going to roster in any of the Union Academy games until the second half of the season, when high school soccer is over.” Freese decided to play for these two teams for multiple reasons, one of which is, “ it’s going to prepare me for college- I want to get to college and be the best player that I can be, and this will definitely do that for me. It’s going to force me to train more and at the highest intensity possible. Also, right now, Bethlehem Steel is pretty much the best kids from college, who just graduated last year, so I’m playing with kids who are just out of college and went pro, so when I get to college I’ll already be at their level hopefully. That’s my goal. Also, having a lot of connections in the soccer world for if I am able to go pro or want to after college, this is obviously important.”
Episcopal Varsity Soccer coach David Knox says, “Ultimately, [Freese] decided to do both and he gave up a little bit at the Union – but he did it for the right reasons. He wanted to be with his friends, and help the team be the very best that it could be, and I think that speaks volumes about his character.” His Episcopal teammates say that they are glad that Freese decided to continue playing high school because he raises the level of play. Goalkeeper AJ Marcucci ‘17 says, “Training is horrible when he’s not there because it’s just me and the goalie coach. Matt pushes me. He makes me do better in training because he is always working one hundred percent, even in practice, and that makes me want to work that hard too.” Coote testified to Matt’s superior work ethic by adding, “I’m always so impressed how humble he remains and how he’s always working hard.”
While he continues with high school soccer, Freese now has additional commitments to the Union and the Steel. Generally, the majority of players at the Union Academy attend school together in order to have more time to practice. However, Freese knew he wanted to stay at Episcopal for his final year: “EA is definitely the place where I belong. I feel at home here and I wouldn’t really want to change that especially during my senior year when I have built all my relationships.”
While Freese has known many of the players on the Union for years, training at the stadium has introduced him to new elements of the soccer world. “We got to use the goals that they used during Copa America, which was cool because I was standing in the same goal as all the goalies in that tournament,” he said. If training in the same goals of his idols wasn’t enough, Freese also got to meet one of his favorite players, Tim Krul, the Dutch National Team goalie. He recalls, “I was in the workout room doing a lift and he just walked in and I was like ‘oh, that’s Tim Krul.’ I didn’t say ‘hi’ because I was too scared.” He was eventually introduced to the professional, and trained with him for a session.
In the future Freese hopes to continue his successful soccer career at Harvard, where he has been committed since last year, and possibly as a professional. Knox mentioned that Freese has a chance at going pro because, “He’s going to have great training at Harvard. All he needs is a little bit of luck and for the right people to see him, and he could most definitely vie for a spot on a professional roster here, or in many other countries.” He continues, “I think that’s every soccer player’s dream- to play at the highest level, to see how good they can be. I think he has the ability and he’s given himself the opportunity to do so.”