What is in a name?
Do you know how you came to have yours? Perhaps lineage was the consideration, or your noun of choice was the consequence of a dozen baby books. To name a child can feel like a momentous occasion and something that is as likely to be predestined as it is spontaneous.
“David doesn't like talk the names until we know the gender so we have less to argue about,” Christina Pfeil says of her husband.
By day, Christina is a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst working with children diagnosed with Autism spectrum disorder. Her husband David is a Senior Reactor Operator at a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania.
The pair met while David was attending college in Long Island, and one of the first things the couple bonded over was a shared love of soccer.
“We actually did our gender reveal announcement at Yankee Stadium during the playoffs against Atlanta United,” Christina stated proudly. “We had my friend get the results from the gender test. We ended up having my dad, my step mom, my three brothers, my stepdad, and David's parents all able to come to the game. That's when we actually found out we were having a boy.”
As NYCFC continued to traverse the tricky pathway of the playoffs –up north to Boston and west to Philadelphia—the couple made sure they were in attendance. At the time the leading candidate for their baby’s name was Jacob Tyler, which had particular significance for Christina.
“I actually lost my mother in September and Jacob Tyler was a name that was inspired from her,” she explained. “That's what she was going to name my sister if she was a boy. I've always had Jacob Tyler stuck in the back of my head so when we found out we were having a boy naturally that I was so excited for Jacob Tyler.”
Unsurprisingly, when Talles Magno’s goal confirmed NYCFC As Eastern Conference Champions there was no doubting that David and Christina would be in Portland for MLS Cup.
“We were very confident that we were going to beat Philly,” Christina said. “And we knew there was going to be an influx as soon as we beat them so we booked our flights and then we were going to work on the hotels later. When we were in Portland, I was probably the only sober person in the supporter section.”
The final itself was a cascade of emotions. Christina, four months pregnant and clad in her Sean Johnson game-worn jersey because in her words, “pregnant women have hips and the larger jersey fit me better”, sought half-time comfort with ice cream.
As torrential rain blanketed the stadium and the seconds ebbed away the sense of relief and jubilation was slowly building in the pair.
“I had the highest of highs thinking we were about to win the cup and then they scored I felt the lowest of lows because I thought that we had messed up,” David said.
A grueling 30 minutes followed and then the tight rope walk that is penalties. In the end, a combination of Sean Johnson and Alex Callens thrust themselves forward to tip the scale of the game and crown NYCFC MLS Cup Champions.
“I get goosebumps just thinking about that goal every time,” David said of Callens’ penalty.
It was in that moment of ecstasy, when the club forged a new frontier, that the couple experienced a shared moment of inspiration for their new baby’s name.
“Christina turns to me, and goes, ‘We should name our son, Alexander Sean,” David explained. “And I was like, ‘Well, real quick, my thought process was, if anything, Sean Alexander, I like that. I actually like that a lot’.”
As the pair continued to make memories in Portland, taking photos with the trophy and celebrating the team’s success, their new name began to gain traction.
“It became the running joke of the weekend,” Christina said. “Then once we got home and the dust kind of settled, we're like, ‘Alright, how do we feel about Sean Alexander actually being in contention?’ And we both really liked it.”
In the end, the name stuck, and baby Sean Alexander Pfeil entered the field of life on May 9, 2022, (four days after Callens’ birthday and 22 before Johnson’s). A name woven with the thread of his parents’ biggest passion, the family love for soccer is also present in older sister Arya.
To speak to the couple, you could be forgiven for thinking they were always destined to interweave their growing family and love of soccer at some stage.
“Some of our closest friends from college we still talk to and it's all from being part of a team,” Christina said. “We’ve created a whole little NYCFC family and each year our family seems to grow. We met one person, they introduced us to a couple and then we randomly met a couple of guys in Minnesota, and we’ve just been able to stay connected and watching the game with our best friends. It’s the family it has created.”
David added: “Especially during COVID. We’re part of the Third Rail Bronx chapter. And during that time period, every week, we would have Zoom Chats – Thursday Zoomies chats. It's more than just soccer.”