Episode 49: Dublin To Greenville, Trials To Game winners And Everything In Between ; a chat w/ Jake Keegan

Welcome to the 49th episode of the In The 11 Podcast! Today we are joined by Jake Keegan Stiker for the Greenville Triumph and former player for the likes of Forward Madison, FC Edmonton, Galway United, St. Patrick’s Athletic, FCA Darmstadt and Binghamton University.

How the career started: Jake’s career was met with a lot of “no’s” early on as he partook in 9 trials before finding a club to call home. He reflects on those times as some of the most stressful and difficult in his career but also ones that he remembers very fondly. As he continued to grind his way through the professional soccer world he began to find success through the help of grit, determination, hard work and a few connections that provided some lucky breaks.

About Jake Keegan:

Played 4 seasons of NCAA Division 1 soccer at Binghamton University, He became the school’s all-time leading Division 1 goal scorer and was drafted in the 2013 MLS Supplemental Draft by the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer.~On September 1, 2013 Keegan signed with FCA Darmstadt in the Verbandsliga, the 6th division of German soccer. After being drafted by the Philadelphia Union in January 2013, Keegan trained with Maccabi Haifa (Israel), FC Lustenau (Austria), Harrisburg City Islanders (USA), New York Cosmos (USA), Austria Lustenau (Austria), FC Hard (Austria) and Usinger TSG (Germany) before signing in Darmstadt.

On January 29, 2014, Keegan signed with Galway FC in Ireland First Division, the 2nd division of Irish soccer. On December 1, 2015 Keegan signed with Canadian side, FC Edmonton who played in the NASL

On February 4, 2018, Keegan signed with St Patrick’s Athletic who play in the Ireland Premier Division, the 1st division in Ireland. Keegan finished up the season as Pats' top scorer with 9 league goals, 12 in all competitions.

On January 10, 2019 Keegan signed with Greenville Triumph SC who play in USL League One, the 3rd division in the United States.

On January 26, 2021, it was announced that Keegan had signed with Forward Madison FC of USL League One.

After spending the 2021 season in Madison, Keegan returned to Greenville on December 21, 2021.

Outline of the Episode:

• [02:18] What made Jake decide to change teams
• [07:06] The Jake then versus the Jake now
• [09:36] What is the MLS draft
• [16:10] What are some of the sacrifices Jake and Brendan made
• [19:40] Jake’s experience in the Haifa Trial in Israel
• [23:00] How the trials helped Jake grow his career
• [27:32] Jake’s advice to players going to their first trial
• [33:54] The feeling of when everything’s culminated
• [37:31] The thought process of being a forward
• [45:04] Jake’s FC Edmonton experience
• [47:28] The toughest thing to go through as a player
• [51:17] Jake’s relationship with the sport
• And many more!

~

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