Zachary Michael MacMath (born August 7, 1991) is an American professional

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 as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

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 ...

for

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 20 ...

. MacMath was drafted No. 5 overall in the

2011 MLS SuperDraft The 2011 MLS SuperDraft was the twelfth annual SuperDraft presented by Major League Soccer. It was held on January 13, 2011 in Baltimore, Maryland, during the 2011 NSCAA Convention at the Baltimore Convention Center. The 2011 SuperDraft consiste ...

by the

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Union compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the club began playing in 201 ...

Early and personal life

MacMath was born in

St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. It is the ...

, the son of Marcia and Gary MacMath. MacMath is Jewish. His mother is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, his father is

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, and MacMath himself practices

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

. He had a Bar Mitzvah at Temple Beth El, a

Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill#The Yorkshire Associati ...

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

in his hometown. He attended the

St. Petersburg High School St. Petersburg High School, founded in 1898, is a secondary school located in St. Petersburg, Florida. The school's current building, a historic landmark, was built in 1926. It was designed by Missouri architect William B. Ittner. It was listed ...

in his hometown as a freshman, and then attended the

IMG Soccer Academy IMG Academy is a preparatory boarding school and sports training destination in Bradenton, Florida, United States. IMG Academy is set across over 600 acres and features programs consisting of sport camps for youth athletes, adult camps, a board ...

in Bradenton, Florida. He was a two-time ''Parade'' magazine High School All-American soccer goalkeeper.

Club career

College and amateur

MacMath attended the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

, where he was first choice goalkeeper for three seasons, winning a national title and numerous individual awards along the way. It was during this time that he had a training stint with English

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club Everton. At the end of the 2008 season and the 2010 season, MacMath was named to the ''

Jewish Sports Review ''Jewish Sports Review (JSR)'' is a bi-monthly magazine that was established in 1997. Its editors are Ephraim Moxson and Shel Wallman. The magazine identifies which star and professional athletes are Jewish. It also covers and has all-time lists ...

s All-America team.

Professional

MacMath was drafted No. 5 overall in the

by the

. MacMath started his first string of games in September 2011 due to the injury of starting keeper Faryd Mondragon. After failing to make the 2012

MLS Cup Playoffs The MLS Cup Playoffs is the annual postseason elimination tournament of Major League Soccer. The final match of the tournament is the MLS Cup, the league's championship game. Under the current format adopted for the 2019 season, 14 teams qualif ...

, MacMath joined

side Everton for a training stint during the MLS off-season. In January 2015, MacMath was loaned to

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, la ...

for the 2015 season. MacMath's option was declined by Philadelphia at the end of the 2015 MLS season. He was later traded to Colorado in exchange for a second-round pick in the

2017 MLS SuperDraft The 2017 MLS SuperDraft was the eighteenth SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The SuperDraft is held each year in conjunction with the annual National Soccer Coaches Association of America convention. The first two rounds of the 2017 S ...

. On December 9, 2018, MacMath was traded to

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Marc ...

in exchange for Nicolás Mezquida and $100,000 in Targeted

Allocation Money Allocation money, in Major League Soccer, represents an amount of money that teams may use to sign players and/or allocate to their salaries to get under the salary cap. Reasons for obtaining MLS teams receive general allocation money for these r ...

(TAM). On December 17, 2019,

acquired MacMath from Vancouver in exchange for $50,000 in TAM in 2020.

International career

MacMath played in the

2009 Maccabiah Games The 18th Maccabiah Games ( he, המכביה ה-18 ישראל תשס"ט), were held in July 2009. According to the organizing committee these were the largest games held yet. These Games were the world's fifth-largest sporting event, behind the Ol ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, where the American Maccabiah team did not earn a medal. MacMath led the U.S. U-20 men’s national team to the Milk Cup title, posting a strong performance that helped defeat host Northern Ireland, 3–0, at the Showgrounds in Ballymena, on July 30, 2010. MacMath finished the tournament unbeaten after recording a 1–0 victory over China on July 26. MacMath also participated in both training camps in Florida last December and January. MacMath along with Union teammate

Amobi Okugo Amobi Chidubem Okugo (born March 13, 1991) is an American soccer player who currently plays as a midfielder and defender for Austin Bold FC in the USL Championship. Career College Okugo grew up in Sacramento, California, attended Rio America ...

were called up to the U-20 squad for the

CONCACAF U-20 Championship The CONCACAF Under-20 Championship is the second longest running international association football event in the North America, Central America and the Caribbean region, CONCACAF, and is the qualification tournament for the FIFA U-20 World Cup. ...

in March–April. The

is the only

team with two players represented. MacMath also trained with the U-23 Olympic squad in preparation for the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in two camps prior to qualifying.

Career statistics

References

External links

*
U.S. soccer profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:MacMath, Zac 1991 births Living people American soccer players Jewish American sportspeople Maryland Terrapins men's soccer players Philadelphia Union players Colorado Rapids players Maccabiah Games competitors for the United States Maccabiah Games footballers Competitors at the 2009 Maccabiah Games Soccer players from St. Petersburg, Florida Philadelphia Union draft picks Major League Soccer players United States men's youth international soccer players United States men's under-20 international soccer players All-American men's college soccer players Association football goalkeepers Vancouver Whitecaps FC players Real Salt Lake players 21st-century American Jews Jewish footballers