One wrong movement almost derailed Brayden Brown’s soccer career. Instead, the Saint Augustine Preparatory School senior took all the necessary steps possible to get back on track.
Brown had earned a starting job on the Hermits’ back line during his sophomore season, which is no easy task on the perennial powerhouse team. In the offseason, he was sharpening his skills playing for his South Jersey Elite Barons club team and felt the dreaded pop in his knee.
“I just sort of turned the wrong way and tore my ACL,” Brown said.
It turned out he had a torn meniscus in addition to a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Recovery time takes about a year, so Brown knew his junior season was shot in terms of playing defense. But he knew he could still fill other roles while injured.
“Mentally, it was draining,” Brown said. “At times, I was just down. It was tough to see all my teammates and brothers competing with each other. I was happy for them, but in my mind, I’m just thinking, ‘I should be out there.’ I just did my best to stay positive and stay involved with the team as much as possible.”
Brown still showed up to practices and games all season and supported the Hermits in any way possible. He didn’t want to lose all the momentum that he had built after earning a starting job as a sophomore.
“It was awesome,” Brown said of the 2021 season. “I was competing with a couple seniors, and it made me a better player competing with those experienced guys. So it was definitely tough for me going down and knowing I wasn’t going to be able to play my junior year.”
It wasn’t until May that he was given the green light to play again. Never being far away from his teammates during that time helped him jump back into high school soccer.
“It was a long road to recovery, but I feel like now I’m definitely a stronger player,” Brown said.
His teammates took notice. Despite missing all of last year on the field, Brown was named one of the Hermits’ four captains for this season by his peers. He joined fellow seniors Justin Ceccanecchio, Ryan Wieand and Salvatore Coppola wearing the captain armband.
“It’s an honor, I have to tell you,” Brown said. “Seeing a lot of kids I’ve known come through here, it was always my goal to be a captain. I wanted to push myself to not just be a player, but to be a leader on the field, off the field and in the classroom and representing the soccer team.”
Back at 100 percent, Brown is a staple on a defensive line that yielded just eight goals in 17 regular season games. The Hermits have posted 10 shutouts, and they were crowned the Cape Atlantic League champions for the second straight year after defeating Mainland, 6-2, in the championship game Oct. 23. Saint Augustine was 15-2 heading into the Non-Public A state playoffs, where they earned the No. 4 seed.
“It’s been awesome,” said Brown, who is also involved in his school’s Italian Club, Ambassador Club and Spirit Club. “I’ve known this group is special since the summer. We were coming out two or three days a week together and working our butts off competing. The difference between other teams I’ve been a part of is that this team is close. Even when we’re not playing our best or we are playing teams better than us, our togetherness and our chemistry really shows. You know that the guy next to you has your back. It’s a different feeling.”
Not only did his teammates have his back, his sister did, too. Brown leaned heavily on his sister Kylie, who suffered the same injury playing soccer. She played at Delsea High School, Franklinville, before playing at West Chester University in southeastern Pennsylvania.
“My sister actually had the same injury twice in the same knee,” Brown said. “She got me through it. She’s in college, but every day, she was sending me texts, and I really kept in touch with her. It was cool in a way that we had that bond. She was definitely there for me. She was the biggest person pushing me forward.”
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