In the Pro's | EP. 6 | Aaron Molloy
ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʀᴏ’ꜱ | 𝑨𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒚 🌟🇮🇪⚽️
Ep 6 - 𝙰𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚢 | 𝗞𝗲𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 | 𝗡𝗔𝗜𝗔 // 𝑷𝒆𝒏𝒏 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝑼𝒏𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚 | 𝑵𝑪𝑨𝑨 𝑫𝑰 ➡️ Forward Madison FC (USL League One) 🇺🇸
“Aaron Molloy” is a name synonymous with paving the way for Irish players heading over to the USA on a soccer scholarship. Having started his journey at the NAIA level, moving through the ranks and ultimately into the professional game via the MLS draft, he’s living the dream.
The young boy from Dublin, was playing for Bohs & Drogheda before moving across to the USA. He decided to accept a soccer scholarship at Keiser University, a 4-year school located in West Palm Beach, Florida, and part of the NAIA.
During his freshman season with Keiser, the Seahawks went 8-6-4, losing the Sun Conference final 1-0 to Florida rivals, St. Thomas, before heading to the National Tournament as the host school. In the second round, the no. 5 ranked Seahawks were downed 3-0 by Grand View University.
The accolades piled up for Molloy after his Freshman season, as he took home the Freshman of the Year award for the Sun Conference, having started 15 games, scoring 4 goals and providing 2 assists from the CDM role. He was also selected as a Sun Conference Second Team player.
He returned to Reading United in the PDL to play the summer season, and ended up scoring 7 goals, in 11 games, winning young players of the year and number 14 on the league’s top 20 prospects list. This led to a call from Penn State head coach Bob Warming, who was delighted that Molloy was still available.
Molloy visited Penn State, and knew right away, that was the place for him. After signing for the Nittany Lions, Molloy started 16 matches his sophomore year logging a total of 1,396 minutes and finished 2nd on the team in goals scored (3).
By the time his junior year rolled around, Molloy had been made a team captain and earned Big Ten Conference Preseason honours. He was named to the All-Big Ten Second team and was a United Coaches All-North Region third-team member. With 2 goals and 2 assists, and racking up 1,168 minutes of action, Molloy’s junior year set him up for a barnstorming senior year finish.
In 2019, Molloy entered his senior year of college soccer and won a plethora of accolades. He was named one of 15 semi-finalists for the prestigious MAC Hermann Trophy, (only the 3rd ever player from Penn State to be honoured). Aaron also earned a spot on the Big Ten All-Tournament Team, named Big Ten co-offensive Player of the week (10/22) & Top Drawer soccer player of the week (10/22).
He was one of 30 candidates for the men’s soccer CLASS award, and garnered Big Ten Conference preseason honours for the second-straight season. Earned Academic All-Big Ten honours too, for his work in the classroom. He finished the season with 9 goals and 6 assists and played the greatest number of minutes on the team, 1,720.
Upon graduating Penn State, Molloy was entered into the 2020 MLS Superdraft, where he was selected by the Portland Timbers as the number 16th selection of the first round. This was a somewhat surprising selection for Molloy, as he hadn’t had a conversation with them at the MLS combine.
Shortly thereafter, Molloy was on his way to Costa Rica with the Timbers for a pre-season training camp. Excelling on the tour, Molloy earned the respect of the coaching staff, and they paved a plan to steer Molloy into the first team over the coming years.
Molloy began his professional career playing for the Portland Timbers II side in the USL Championship, where he made 15 appearances, scoring once as he played at the base of the midfield.
It was then announced in February that Molloy would sign a contract for USL League One side, Forward Madison FC from Wisconsin. This move was seen as somewhat of a coup for the Flamingos and Molloy has been a revelation since pulling on the famous Flamingo jersey.
The future is incredibly bright for the young man from Dublin, who is making quite the name for himself stateside. We can’t wait to continue watching his journey as our ambassador goes from strength to strength!
Blaze your own trail, make it work for you. 🔥
