Photo courtesy of Connor Muchetti

Senior Connor Muchetti looks to beat his defender and advance the ball past midfield. Muchetti hopes to continue his face-paced play throughout his next four years at St. John’s University.

After a long and hard process of navigating college commitment, senior soccer player Connor Mucchetti has verbally committed to play Division 1 soccer at 26th ranked St. John’s University in New York. Due to rules that prohibit him from playing soccer at school, he does not have a popular presence in the WJ soccer scene despite his clear extraordinary skill level.

“I play for Bethesda Academy in the MLS Next League, the highest level of youth soccer in the US. Any player in this league is not allowed to play for their high school or other club teams since we train four times a week already,” Mucchetti said.

Muchetti only played one season as a Wildcat, his sophomore year. For the MLS Next League, the age groups used to only consist of three out of the four years of high school. U15, U17 and U19 age groups all consisted of teams, leaving Mucchetti to fill what would be his U16 year with a season of WJ soccer.

Even though he is not able to play at school, Mucchetti still has an active presence in both the boys and girls soccer programs.

“There are definitely times when I wish I was out there playing with my friends and representing my school, but on the other hand I really enjoy academy soccer and would not want to give that up. I am friends with many of the players [on WJ] and like to hear what is going on with the team. I also love to support both the boys and girls teams at their games,” Mucchetti said.

Going through the recruiting process during COVID was different from other years. Mucchetti did his best to continue contacting schools of interest and providing them with the necessary information to determine whether or not he would be a good fit for their program. Schools were finally able to come watch him play in-person over the past four months.

“It was definitely more challenging for kids in my recruiting class to get noticed because D1 coaches were not allowed to come to games for over a year due to COVID. I constantly updated coaches with highlights and kept in touch by email. Over the summer and into this fall season college coaches saw me play and reached out. I received a few offers,” Mucchetti said.

When it comes down to the next four years of Mucchetti’s life, he is incredibly confident that he made the right decision for where he will continue both his academic and athletic careers.

“St. John’s is the whole package. A strong team that plays in the Big East, one of the best leagues in the country and they have excellent coaches. I also really liked the campus. I received a great offer and was very happy to accept. I really feel like I made the right choice in choosing to play for St. John’s University,” Mucchetti said.