November 14, 2024
Brendan McSorley ’23, from Friartown to St. Louis SC
By Ryan Ross ’24
A week after Providence soccer star Brendan McSorley ’23 finished his senior year as a member of the All-BIG EAST First Team, his phone rang with an unknown number. He picked up. It was someone from Major League Soccer inviting him to participate in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft.
McSorley was on the verge of going pro. But first he had to prove himself, again.
More than 200 young men were being invited to a pre-draft player ratings camp. Only 87 would get selected by an MLS team.
McSorley flew to Jacksonville, Florida, where he was put through a series of scrimmages and drills testing his speed, strength, dribbling, and other skills. After two days, he found himself ranked 61st overall. Four days later at the 2024 MLS SuperDraft on December 19, 2023, St. Louis City drafted McSorley in the third round.
“It was pretty hard to fight back tears,” McSorley said. “It is truly a full circle moment, a moment where you realize everything you have worked for has paid off.”
McSorley’s rapid ascent put him in a rarefied class in Providence College athletic history. He is the second Friar drafted into the MLS after Julian Gressel ’16 in 2017. (Gressel now plays for Inter Miami alongside Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez.) Other Friars have gone pro, but they were not drafted, nor are they as close as McSorley to starting for a major club.
His two-way contract specified that he would play for St. Louis City’s second team as well as suit up for its MLS team if given the opportunity, meaning he might be on the same pitch as some of his lifelong idols. Already, it’s surreal for McSorley to be on the same team as Swiss goalie Roman Burki, someone he used to play with on the video game FIFA.
McSorley’s first season proved that he belongs. He made his debut for St. Louis City on June 19, 2024, against the Colorado Rapids. St. Louis City used the rest of his four allotted loans to the first team before he finished the season with St. Louis City2, the MLS Next Pro team. McSorley led St. Louis City2 to a Western Conference Championship and was second on the team in goals with nine on the season and second in minutes played. He went on a four-game stretch with a goal in each game and scored the equalizer and game-winner against Austin FC II to clinch a playoff berth.
McSorley’s meteoric rise has also been surreal for me. Best friends growing up in Randolph, New Jersey, we attended the same schools through college and even played peewee soccer together as kids. In second grade, it was already apparent that McSorley was too good to be on the same field as the rest of us. As an infant, he’d literally slept with a soccer ball in his crib.
In elementary school, McSorley played up a couple years in the Randolph travel system, partly because he was super talented, but also because he wanted “to play with my older brother, Liam.” McSorley followed his brother to Delbarton, a private Catholic high school and soccer powerhouse. McSorley led the team to two state championship titles, first in his sophomore year (playing alongside Liam) and then his senior year, when he was named the 2019 Gatorade Player of the Year.
“There was nothing more special, as his older brother, than watching him lead us to that state title,” Liam said. “We wanted to do this together so bad, since we were kids, and to watch it come into fruition was incredible.”
McSorley cemented himself as one of the best players ever at Delbarton, tallying 44 goals and 32 assists, making him second all-time in school history in goals. It was a resume that attracted Providence College, which offered McSorley a full scholarship when he was still a junior.
“My [high school coach] had a son that went to Providence, and they were extremely helpful in my decision process,” McSorley said. Providence had also recruited his club teammate, Jason Pereira ’24, and the two wanted to continue playing together. “It felt good to get that decision out of the way before my senior season as well, and I think it was a huge part in why I was able to be named the best player in New Jersey.”
In McSorley’s four years at Providence, he was twice named to the BIG EAST All-Tournament team. While he was sidelined his junior year with a hip injury, he bounced back his senior year to lead the team with 11 goals in 17 games. In the fall of 2023, he was named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week, College Soccer News Men’s National Player of the Week, and a member of the BIG EAST First Team.
At every game, Liam, sister Noramay, and parents Guy and Tara could be seen cheering him on, and McSorley credits their support to his success. After living with McSorley my junior year, I can attest that not a day passed when he wasn’t on the phone with every member of his family, always ending the call with “I love you.”
Looking to the future, there’s no doubt that McSorley’s family — as well as his new Friar family — will be cheering him on at St. Louis SC and wherever he winds up next.
“I will be in Europe one day, playing with the best of the best, in the best leagues in the world, this is just a stepping stone to get there,” McSorley said. “If you tell yourself every single day that you are obsessed with what you do and that you want to play with the best of the best, the worse-case scenario is you get pretty close.”
This story was written as an assignment for the Sports Journalism course taught by Stephen Kurczy, M.S., visiting professor of English, in the Spring 2024 semester. Ryan Ross ’24, from Randolph, New Jersey, studied business management at PC. He works in Irvine, California, as a brand growth and marketing consultant for NBA skills trainer Jordan Lawley.
The Fund for Providence College supports the development of academic opportunities at PC, like this sports journalism class. A gift through The Fund for Providence College contributes to the success of faculty scholars and the students they teach.
