Can kick, will travel.
Riley O’Neill did plenty of both.
Soccer has propelled the Campbell River product to a B.C. high school title with Timberline, the 2005 FIFA Under-20 World Cup with Canada, the NCAA with the University of Kentucky Wildcats and to a pro career in Europe.
Now, it has brought him back home as the newest signing for the Victoria Highlanders of the United Soccer League Premier Development League.
The 27-year-old O’Neill was actually looking to begin his coaching career back on the Island after his most recent European playing pro contract expired. But the Highlanders, hearing of this opportunity, had other ideas.
“I was wondering what to do. The Highlanders said: ‘Why not keep playing [while concurrently learning the coaching ropes]?’ That keeps me in form and keeps my options open,” said O’Neill.
After scoring 17 goals in 18 games during his final NCAA season with Kentucky, the attacking-midfielder was drafted 36th overall in the 2007 MLS draft by the Colorado Rapids, but instead chose pro contract options overseas.
The Islander scored 12 goals last season with Myllykosken Pallo-47 of the Finnish Premier League. O’Neill had 12 goals in 2007-08 with SV Wilhelmshaven of the German Fourth Division, earning a jump up to current German Second Division side Entracht Braunschweig the following season before returning to SV Wilhelmshaven in subsequent seasons.
“Players of Riley’s experience only come so often,” said Highlanders GM Mark deFrias. “Once we heard Riley was out of contract with [Myllykosken Pallo-47], it didn’t take us long to get connected and see if a return to the Island was a possibility. He went to high school at Campbell River, so he knows the Island vibe.”
Injuries at the most inopportune times hampered O’Neill’s rise both at the club and national team levels.
He is good friends with fellow-Islander Josh Simpson of Victoria, the 43-time capped Canadian national team veteran and European pro, who continues rehabbing a leg break.
O’Neill will become one of the Highlanders’ eight eligible over-agers allowed on each team in the PDL, which is an U-23 developmental league.
It will certainly be a change of pace for O’Neill from the pro game, but not in the way many might think. He might have to be quicker on his feet. Just as many Island hockey fans noted that while the pros in the ECHL were better than those in the junior game, the pro brand was played with more control and was thus less frenetic than junior. It’s no different in soccer.
“The pro soccer game is more tactical and technical because the players know what they are doing, so the game tends to slow down,” said O’Neill. “There’s a lot more going on than meets the eye in the pro game, yet it becomes more methodical. With younger players like this [in the PDL], it often tends to be more fast-paced.”
The Highlanders open the 2013 PDL season May 4 against the Kitsap Pumas at Royal Athletic Park.
