Kevin O'Toole | From SuperDraft to the Starting XI

A New Year brings new challenges and new opportunities. For Kevin O’Toole, it brought New York City.

In January 2022, O’Toole – a two-time Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year with Princeton – sat nervously on a couch watching the MLS SuperDraft unfold before him.

With his family and friends gathered around the TV, silence broke into screams of joy when, with the 34th pick, it was announced he would be playing professional soccer with the reigning MLS Cup Champions.

Fast forward a whirlwind eight months and O’Toole has already celebrated his first senior trophy: the Campeones Cup, having played the full 90 minutes on an historic night at Yankee Stadium against Atlas F.C.

Not many players can say they lifted silverware on their second appearance, as O’Toole admits!

“It is really unique!” he laughs. “It was funny... Maxime Chanot keeps joking with me that he had to play 10,000 minutes to play in a Cup Final and I started one on my second game! It was a great night.

“I wasn't really sure if I was even going to be on the roster, though I’d hoped to. Then we had a meeting, Nick Cushing put out the starting XI and I was in it. I was really shocked and really pleasantly surprised, very happy. It was a very surreal moment!

“It’s a huge game and it's not very often you get to make a start in a Cup Final so I was just really excited for the opportunity. My heart rate went up for sure, sitting in that meeting room, but it was all good nerves from then until the game.

“My original goal at the start of the season of course was just to make the roster. I was really excited to be drafted by New York City; I was a Draft pick so I wasn’t guaranteed to even have a spot. If you’d have told me in January I would be on the roster at all, I’d have been thrilled with that.

“I knew it was going to be a challenge to break in. I was just eager to get to pre-season and learn a lot from the guys on the team who had already won an MLS Cup, learning how they approach the game, how they approach life off the field. That was all very exciting to me.

“Of course, there were frustrations in the beginning with my concussion injury and COVID but I did my best to stay grounded and reflect, reminding myself that what I’d done up to that point – coming up from college – was a pretty good achievement.

“It took a bit of a combination of being eager to work super hard every day to earn a spot but also exercising some patience, telling myself that my time would come.”

His success has been all the sweeter in the Bronx Blue jersey of New York City – a place barely a stone’s throw from where O’Toole calls home: Montclair, New Jersey.

“It’s really special to play for a hometown team,” he smiles. “I grew up in the suburbs of the city.

“I’ve been a New York sports fan for my entire life – the Giants and the Knicks – so to play for a First Division team in New York City is very surreal!

“I’m living with my family so I’ve got a lot of great family time, which I value a lot. My dad lives in the city part-time so it’s a place that I visit quite often. I grew up going to the city: I loved going to Knicks games – my dad had tickets so he would take my siblings and I to games quite often, which is a blast... and then getting pizza in the city is also a great time. I’m a big fan of New York pizza – that never gets old!”

Three days after his Campeones Cup triumph, O’Toole was named in the starting XI again – this time, he had a point to prove, as he lined up against his former team: the Red Bulls, where he had started his career at Academy level.

Winning both corners which led to City’s two goals, he played a key role in the Hudson River Derby, prompting Cushing to admit afterwards that the Head Coach wished he would have fielded the youngster earlier, such was his seamless transition into senior action.

“I was very happy to hear what Nick had to say after the game,” O’Toole notes. “He’s been great. Obviously, he gave me a huge chance in a big game so I’m super grateful for that opportunity. He definitely values the younger players and the new guys – he wants us to get minutes.

“The quote from him about ‘pulling me out of the stands’ was pretty funny! It made me laugh. I guess that from the fans’ perspective, I wasn’t really there all year and then it was like I was suddenly plucked out of the crowd!

“The fact I was starting in the Red Bulls fixture was pretty cool. I hadn’t been on any of the rosters for the previous meetings this year so I was hoping I would make one or two.

“I was extra motivated to put in a good performance against my old team, to show them what I can do and to keep proving myself to the coaches, my teammates, and the fans. To get a win in the Derby with me able to play another 90 minutes was very cool.”

One of O’Toole’s most valuable qualities is his versatility. Progressing through the ranks at Red Bulls, he was employed as a left-back and clinched a USL Championship with Red Bulls II – but it’s at Princeton University, where he chased a degree in Public and International Affairs, that he felt his skills became more rounded out.

“My coaches at Princeton gave me a lot of freedom to explore my skillset,” he reflects. “They really turned me into an attacking player and I developed a lot as a winger, whereas at other schools maybe I would have been pigeonholed as a left-back.

“My Head Coach Jim Barlow was a big proponent of letting the individual play their game and find their way into team. That was huge for me and it allowed me to grow as a player.

“At Red Bulls, I’d had three or four years playing only left-back so it’s a familiar spot but I trialed for New York City as a right-winger in pre-season, and really played there all year until recently when I started playing left-back in training. It was a bit of an adjustment but playing with NYCFC II really allowed me to test it out in game settings.

“Matt Pilkington, the Head Coach, liked playing me at left-back and so I got some experience throughout the summer playing in that role and then once it was time to play there for the first team, it felt more comfortable.It definitely took some time to readjust but I was afforded opportunities to do that with the second team.

“You see with guys like Joao Cancelo and Oleks Zinchenko that Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta are reimagining the full-back position – they’re coming inside and combining, and playing super-advanced up the field.

“They’re two super fun players to watch and when I was playing left-back earlier, I think Marcelo was a big inspiration for me because of how dynamic and skillful he was in a defensive position. It really showed me that I can create out of the defensive position.

“I feel I can give more on the attack, get on the ball a bit more. Santiago Rodríguez is someone I look up to and want to emulate. In attacking positions, he’s so good at picking the ball up in the half-space, turning and facing forward.

“That was something I wanted to work on because speed of play was a very big adjustment in the beginning. Santi is so quick with his movements and passing, so he is someone I look at closely every day in training.”

As is a common tale in sports fandom, O’Toole’s passion for soccer was inspired by his family: his mother Nancy played college soccer at William & Mary, while he fell further in love with the beautiful game during his earlyschool years living in Poland.

A student of the American School in Warsaw, his childhood friends hailed from all corners of Europe and would play together in all temperatures, and he believes there may well be a European influence to his game.

“I had an athletic background and I was always going to be playing sports in some capacity,” Kevin recalls.

“I grew to love soccer at a really early age. My mom was the catalyst for me and my siblings going into the sport. My dad was an athlete as well – he played soccer too growing up but baseball was really his sport.

“I had a ball at my feet all the time. We did some traveling around Europe and I would dribble a soccer ball around every city we visited, playing one-twos with strangers in the street!

“Growing up with my parents imposing sports on me, falling in love with soccer at an early age and seeing the soccer culture in Europe, playing soccer with the kids that I played with – I had really good friends from Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland… all over the place – I think there's definitely an international influence on my game.

“I don't know if it's conscious or subconscious but I learned a lot from those young players that I played with, and it was really great to get that exposure at such young age. It really helped me grow my love for the sport and then I always wanted to pursue it professionally after that.”

Now O’Toole is living that dream, he has every intention of doing so for as long as possible, playing at the highest level he can by soaking up every pearl of wisdom and experience, and feels NYCFC is the perfect place to continue his development.

“I think New York’s style of play suits me very well,” he concludes. “I’m more comfortable playing possession. The system brings out a lot of qualities that I can excel at in terms of keeping the ball, switching the play, running in behind, attacking spaces... and my teammates put me in those positions as well.

“My short-term hopes are to win an MLS Cup and for me to play a role in the team. I’ve experienced USL Playoffs and I can imagine MLS Playoffs are a whole new level. I’m really excited to feel that energy from the fans and from within the team, and make a run in the Playoffs.”