The shots whip toward the goal, launched from the cleats of Elizabeth soccer players. One curls toward the right corner, another whizzes toward the bottom left and a third skids toward the center of the goal from close range.
Ryan Friedberg stops them all.
The players blasting the shots are left in frustration as Friedberg parries their attempts to safety. One forward swings his foot angrily. Another puts his hands on his head and looks around in disbelief.
The game’s lone goal comes midway through the second half. A bouncing Elizabeth cross wriggles between two Westfield defenders and falls to the foot of a charging forward. His initial shot, struck just a few yards from goal, draws a miraculous foot save from Friedberg. But the ball bounces off the keeper’s long limb, and the Elizabeth player taps it in.
Months later, WHS senior defender Evan Tompkins brought up the goal’s aftermath when talking about Friedberg’s leadership.
“It was kind of a mix-up between me and him,” Tompkins said. “Right after that play happened, he was like, ‘that’s on me, that’s on me, that’s my fault.’ And I went back the next day, watched the tape and it was totally my fault. And so him just doing that kept me in the game and kept me focused.”
Westfield, with Friedberg wearing the captain’s armband, would not equalize and lost 1-0. Reflecting on his performance a few months later, Friedberg took a practical approach.
“An all-around good performance,” he said, “but we did not get the result. So I don’t really want to consider that one of my best games because I like the result as a goalkeeper. You want to get the result for your team. That’s what matters.”
When Friedberg makes mature statements like these, it’s easy to forget that the 6’4” goalkeeper with the vast stores of athleticism is just a high schooler. It’s like he’s playing the professional game already: he trains hard, prepares for games like a pro, stitches together strong performances and analyzes those performances via film the next day.
And as it turns out, Friedberg knows a thing or two about what the professional experience entails.
Courted by Philadelphia Union academy as a freshman, Friedberg instead opted for New York City FC academy, where he trains intermittently in addition to his high school and club commitments. In the fall of 2021, Friedberg got a taste of what life is like beyond those age-level academy teams: He trained three days with New York City FC’s first team, which competes in Major League Soccer, the premier soccer league in North America.
The door was kicked open for Friedberg to train with the team when Sean Johnson, NYCFC’s usual starting goalkeeper, was called up for international duty with the United States men’s national team. The club needed a replacement for a few days while Johnson was away. They called Friedberg, who had appeared on their radar because of his involvement with the academy team. Friedberg happily obliged, traveling up to the NYCFC training facility in Orangeburg, New York for a few days.
“Easily the top experience of my life,” Friedberg said unhesitatingly, months removed from his time with the team. “I just learned so much and it really showed me what the top level of soccer in America looks like, where I need to be to be at that level.”
As laid-back and restrained as Friedberg might be—WHS Head Soccer Coach Eric Shaw described him as “very humble”—he also has high aspirations. Ambition, the hallmark of any top athlete, bubbles beneath Friedberg’s outward appearance. One day, he hopes to play soccer for a living. He has already committed to Cornell, and plans to use his time with the Big Red to prepare for a professional career.
“I’m going to play soccer for as long as possible and see where it could take me,” Friedberg said.
It’s taken him to impressive heights already. Friedberg made varsity his freshman year and was handed the reins as starting keeper in his sophomore season. In his senior year, he kept a clean sheet in an exhilarating County Championship game against archrival Scotch Plains.
“That game was just euphoric,” Friedberg said, leaning back in his chair with a laugh. “It was just an unbelievable feeling—what you dream of senior year playing against your rival with a huge crowd there. Just felt amazing.”
Shaw’s mantra as coach has been “change the banner,” a reference to the banner hanging in the team’s locker room that catalogs past championships. The banner needed some updating after the win over Scotch Plains. When the players assembled back in the locker room after the game, it was Friedberg who, perching precariously atop the blue lockers, uncapped a red marker and scrawled a crude “21” next to the list of past county championships.
Two weeks later, Friedberg’s WHS career concluded with a loss to Hunterdon Central in the sectional semifinals. The end of an era for WHS boys soccer, but just the beginning of what promises to be a long and successful career for Friedberg.
There was one more surprise for Friedberg before he cleared his locker last fall. After the Hunterdon Central loss, before the team dispersed for the final time, Shaw had an announcement to make: Friedberg would be named an All-American. That meant Friedberg was being recognized by the United Soccer Coaches as one of the top three high school goalkeepers in the nation. The award meant a lot to him.
“That was insane… I was just blown away,” said Friedberg.
Friedberg’s surprise at receiving the prestigious award will not have been shared by the college programs that began recruiting him as early as his sophomore year. Friedberg began to attract interest in the winter of that year, when he traveled to Florida with STA, his club team, for a showcase event. There he met a few coaches, representatives from Rutgers, Cornell and Villanova among them. “That was my first glimpse at getting to know some college coaches and getting some exposure,” Friedberg said.
Recruitment ground to a halt when COVID-19 struck. Things hung in limbo until the most powerful wave of the pandemic subsided. When things started up again, Friedberg was high on the priority list for a number of coaches at major programs; his potential suitors included Virginia, Rutgers, Princeton, “a couple Ivy Leagues” and “a few Big Ten schools.” But before any of them could make a move, Cornell snatched up Friedberg at the beginning of his junior year.
“Eventually Cornell gave me a really early offer,” he said. “I really couldn’t pass it up as I really liked the coaches and I saw what they were trying to build there and I felt like I was a good fit with the balance of academics and athletics.”
With his recruitment closed so early, Friedberg was free to pursue other things. He played two years of varsity basketball—his sophomore and junior years—before hanging up his basketball shoes because the sport conflicted with his soccer schedule. Basketball, though, still holds a spot close to Friedberg’s heart. His disappointment about having to give up hooping is clear when he talks about it.
Meanwhile, he focused his efforts on improving as a soccer player. That included shoring up the weaker points of his game and strengthening the areas where he already felt comfortable. Friedberg’s distribution has long distinguished him from the average goalkeeper.
“What he can do with his feet really influenced our style of play,” said Shaw. Friedberg’s unique ability to serve long balls to his teammates on a platter, or blast goal kicks or dropkicks 60 yards downfield, has been huge for WHS.
“I just work on [my long ball and dropkick] pretty much every day and I just love to practice it,” Friedberg said. “I’d rather hit a nice long ball than make a good save.”
Friedberg’s skill in net doesn’t just affect the final score. It also makes the players around him play better and feel more confident, something Tompkins attributes in part to Friedberg’s ability to claim balls out of the air.
“Kind of makes me feel spoiled when I’m playing in front of him,” Tompkins said. “[It] helps everyone’s game around him to have that backup plan at all times.”
Next year, Friedberg will be part of a Cornell squad that broke into the NCAA top 20 rankings this season. And while the Big Red have a solid keeper returning as a senior, Friedberg thinks he can break into the starting lineup pretty quickly. He could very well be the day-one starter, something that was a factor in his commitment.
“The first thing they told me is that they could see me starting right away and they could see me playing for multiple years there,” he explained.
It’s not hard to envision Friedberg climbing the ranks to the top spot. He has an unceasing competitive drive that has helped fuel his success. It has also led to some lighthearted off-field rivalries. Tompkins recalled playing ping-pong with Friedberg once during the team’s annual preseason trip to Golden Goal Sports Park in New York. “I beat him,” Tompkins said with a smile. But Friedberg, ever the competitor, couldn’t let it go. “He was pissed and he came back three more times to try and beat me.”
The jury is still out as to whether Friedberg ever triumphed over Tompkins. Each of them would probably tell you differently. What everyone will tell you, though, is that great things lie ahead for Ryan Friedberg.
