Coaches always seem to think Matt Brady should be a defender. In high school, both his club team and his varsity squad at Potomac in Dumfries, Va., initially started him at left back.
“I was vocal. I did more organizing on the back line, not necessarily telling people what to do but helping people out. I think I did a little bit better when I could see the whole field,” said Brady.
Even Catholic head coach Billy Thiebaut started him in the midfield this fall. But after Brady scored in eight of his first nine games, Thiebaut had little choice but to move the star freshman permanently to forward.
Brady leads the Cardinals (3-8-2, 1-4-1 Capital Athletic Conference) with 13 goals — senior forward Daniel Clifford is second on the team with five — and he also has three assists. He’s second in the CAC in both goals and shots, and his scoring total already is good enough to be the best in Cardinals history for a freshman.
“He’s a just a natural finisher. When he gets in front of the goal, he just knows how to put it away,” said Thiebaut. “He’s got great concentration and focus. He’s technically gifted, and he’s got a great work rate.”
Brady scored 18 goals last spring for the Wolverines, but it was his success playing club soccer — he scored 10 goals for the Annandale Boys Club — that piqued the interest of Thiebaut and other area college coaches.
“When I heard that he went to Catholic, I knew that he would be a handful,” said Mary Washington coach Roy Gordon, whose team beat Catholic, 4-2, but couldn’t keep Brady off the scoresheet. “He just never was given much of a chance to get into the game, but when he did get into it and had the ball at his feet, the guys were well warned not to dive in, try to keep him in front, keep him from turning to try and minimize what he would do to us.”
The week prior, Brady had four goals and two assists in two matches and was named CAC player of the week, the first such honor for any player under Thiebaut, in his second season at the helm. Catholic remains on pace to earn just the seventh seed in the CAC tournament, but the play of Brady and five other freshman starters has given strong hopes for the Cardinals’ future.
“There’ll be a huge pendulum switch soon because now we’ve got kids who can play defense, they’re just not experienced,” said Thiebaut. “And we have a few kids who can score so that’s good.”
Brady is also getting increased attention from the opposition, but he’s anxious to continue to develop his game beyond goal-scoring.
“When I’m up top, I just like to be creative, that’s what I pride my attack on. I love getting assists as much as I love getting goals,” said Brady. “Even though was scoring more at the beginning of the season, I feel like I have been playing better the past few gamesbecause I’ve been creating more opportunities for my teammates rather than for myself.”
