Kyle Patterson jumps from Albion Football Club to SLU soccer
By Thomas Crone
For the St. Louis American
When Kyle Patterson arrived in St. Louis, he had less than 30 hours to adjust from enjoying life in his native England to registering for classes and playing his first soccer match at Saint Louis University. Though he didn’t score in that debut, exhibition outing, he flashed some of the potential that’s got coaches at SLU looking forward to this 19-year-old’s initial season at Hermann Stadium.
“You can just see that he’s a player and that he can score goals,” says assistant coach and former national team member Mike Sorber. “You don’t come across too many of those.”
Patterson played over 100 games for the West Bromwich Albion Football Club in England, spending the last three years in that program’s youth ranks. When he wasn’t signed to a professional contract by the club, his options opened up, including the possibility of coming to America. SLU coach Dan Donigan went to a tryout camp in Britain, assessing young, unaffiliated talent, and came away with Patterson, a forward, and Calum Angus, a defender from Portsmouth.
Patterson said that he’s “wanted to play in America since I was a young lad.”
In finding himself at SLU, he’s able to compete at one of the best soccer fields in American, with audiences that regularly rank among the top draws in the country.
“We have a good pitch,” he says. “The training pitch is okay, the gymnasium’s good.” Jokingly told that some of the facilities that he’ll play at won’t have the same amenities as SLU, Patterson doesn’t seemed fazed, only saying, “probably not.”
The SLU home setting seemed to please him well enough during the team’s first game, held last Thursday against a visiting UMKC Kangaroos squad. The game was a relatively tight 1-0 until the 55th minute, when midfielder John DiRaimondo slotted a wonderful pass through the heart of the UMKC defense. Patterson ran onto the ball, collected it and faced the keeper with moments to spare.
“Sometimes those are the toughest,” Patterson said, noting that overthinking can happen in soccer when time’s available. “Johnny put a great ball through. It is good to get that one out of the way. If I hadn’t gotten it (then), I would’ve had to think about it, so it’s great to get that first one.”
In recent years, SLU has struggled when it’s had to rely on a team approach to scoring. When one or two players have broken through with big offensive years, they’ve jelled much more effectively. Patterson seems the type to possibly fit the bill, with a forward’s healthy dose of confidence.
“Pace is definitely there,” he says of his speed. “I do need to get a bit stronger, but that’ll come. I thought I had a few good chances in the first game, but I’ll learn to put those away.”
The academics at SLU are what concern Patterson, at least a bit. After all, the three years of British club soccer saw him concentrating on the game, first, rather than on the books.
“The main thing is the classroom,” he said. “I’m getting back to that, and it has been different. But I love playing, going out in the morning and training with the lads.”
