Bryan Dowd (born March 8, 2002) is an American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who plays for MLS Next Pro club

Huntsville City FC Huntsville City FC is an American professional soccer team based in Huntsville, Alabama. It is the reserve team of Nashville SC and plays in MLS Next Pro, the third tier of American soccer. The team plays its games at Joe Davis Stadium, a forme ...

on loan from

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

club Chicago Fire FC.

Early life

Dowd joined the Chicago Fire FC Academy at age ten, later joining

Chicago FC United Chicago FC United, commonly called FC United, is an American soccer club in the Chicago metropolitan area. FC United fields youth teams for boys and girls, and a semi-professional team in USL League Two, the fourth-tier of American soccer. Yout ...

when he was in high school. He attended Fenwick High School, where he played both varsity soccer and football.

College career

In 2020, he began attending the University of Notre Dame, where he played for the men's soccer team. On March 16, 2021, he made his collegiate debut, recording a clean sheet, against the

Calvin Knights The Calvin Knights are the Calvin University athletics teams. Calvin University fields are ten men's and eleven women's varsity intercollegiate teams that participate in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association at the National Collegiate ...

. During the 2021 fall season, he faced four penalty kicks in the season, saving each one, including all three shots he faced in the shootout during the ACC quarter-finals. He was then named to the 2021 All-Tournament Team as Notre Dame won the ACC title. On September 19, 2023, he made a career high 12 saves in a 0–0 draw with the Akron Zips. He helped them win the ACC regular season title, but they were defeated in the Tournament Final, but still advanced to the national tournament. At the end of his senior season in 2023, he was named to the All-ACC First Team, the NCAA College Cup All-Tournament Team, the All-America First Team, the TopDrawerSoccer Best XI and was named the ACC Goalkeeper of the Year, TopDrawerSoccer National Player of the Year, and a

Hermann Trophy The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the United States's top men's and women's college soccer players. History In 1967, Bob Hermann, the president of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and the ...

semi-finalist. In April 2022, he also joined the Notre Dame football team as the third-string punter, when the school was short kickers during their spring preseason. However, he never took a snap in a match, due to NCAA rules on sports scholarship players. He had initially been offered a spot on the team as a freshman, but was told he would have to join the team as a full-time player, rather than to be a dual sport athlete. Upon coach

Marcus Freeman Marcus Freeman (born January 10, 1986) is an American football coach and former linebacker who is currently the head coach at the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football, University of Notre Dame. He previously served as the defensive coordinator and ...

taking over, he was invited to join the team as a reserve punter, while continuing on the soccer team, and was able to play in the school's Blue-Gold intrasquad spring games.

Club career

He played with

in USL League Two, beginning in 2019. In the summer of 2023, he was able to train with some

teams. At the

2024 MLS SuperDraft The 2024 MLS SuperDraft was the 25th edition of the MLS SuperDraft, a Draft (sports), sports draft to select amateur, usually collegiate, soccer players that are not affiliate with an MLS club, or college soccer in the United States, college socc ...

, Dowd was selected in the first round (sixth overall) by Chicago Fire FC. In January 2024, he signed a professional contract with the club. In late June 2024, he was loaned to

for the remainder of the season. As part of the loan agreement,

Nashville SC Nashville Soccer Club is a Major League Soccer team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The team began play in the league in 2020 as a continuation of the USL club of the same name and plays its home matches at Geodis Park. It is principally owned ...

, the

parent club of Huntsville, maintains the option to make the move permanent and acquire Dowd via trade at the end of the loan.

International career

Dowd played with the United States U17 and was named to the preliminary roster for the

2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the 18th edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth association football, football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It was ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dowd, Bryan Living people 2002 births Men's association football goalkeepers United States men's youth international soccer players Chicago FC United players USL League Two players Chicago Fire FC draft picks Chicago Fire FC players Chicago Fire FC II players Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's soccer players People from Willow Springs, Illinois Soccer players from Illinois American men's soccer players American football punters Huntsville City FC players MLS Next Pro players All-American college men's soccer players 21st-century American sportsmen