FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – New England Revolution Academy defender Tyler Freitas (North Attleborough, Mass.—2000) has been named the club’s 2019 Academy Player of the Year following the 2018-19 season. Freitas becomes the fifth recipient of the prestigious honor, joining Revolution Academy alumni Zachary Herivaux (2014), Justin Rennicks (2015, 2016), Joe Brito (2017), and Kevin Vang (2018). Freitas will be recognized at Gillette Stadium prior to kickoff of the club’s match vs. Orlando City SC on Saturday, July 27.
Freitas, 19, has been an influential presence on the backline since joining the Revolution Academy ahead of the 2014-15 U.S. Soccer Development Academy season. During his fifth Academy campaign in 2018-19, he totaled 19 games played, all starts, and tallied two goals in his second season with the Under-19s. A central part of the U-19 team that earned its second Northeast Division title in the last three years, Freitas wore the captain’s armband throughout the 2018-19 campaign. In total, he has seen action in 109 games, making 93 starts, while tallying seven goals in his Revolution Academy career, which spans all levels of the program from the then-Under-14 team to the Under-19 squad.
“We are tremendously proud of Tyler and this honor is very well-deserved,” said Bryan Scales, the Revolution’s Director of Youth Development. “Throughout his time with the Revolution Academy, Tyler has demonstrated a terrific level of professionalism, while playing an integral role as a leader on our back line.”
Freitas began his Revolution Academy career during the 2014-15 campaign, amassing 34 overall appearances, 26 of which were starts, while splitting time between the Under-14s and Under-16s. In his first year, he tallied three goals and one assist in 22 appearances with the U-14s alone. Throughout the 2015-16 season, he made 15 starts with the U-16s and U-18s. During the 2016-17 campaign, he scored a goal in 24 appearances with the U-16s and U-18s. Following this successful season, Freitas then earned numerous opportunities with the U-19s throughout the 2017-18 season, making 17 appearances with the team and scoring a goal, before his successful 2018-19 campaign, in which he recorded 19 starts and two goals.
The North Attleborough, Mass. product has spent significant time training with the Revolution first team, most notably during preseason in Marbella, Spain in January 2019. On Jan. 31, 2019, Freitas received his first start with the first team in its preseason friendly against Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua, playing 45 minutes at right back in the first half. On Feb. 1, 2019, he played another 45 minutes at right back against a Czech club with Europa League experience in Viktoria Plzeň. Freitas has additionally trained with the Revolution first team on its recent preseason trip to Florida, as well as its Foxborough training ground.
Freitas has also been involved at the international level through multiple call-ups to participate in the U.S. Youth National Team system. In May 2015, he was called into the U.S. Youth National Team Futures Camp in Carson, Calif. by coaches Brian Johnson, John Hackworth, and Tony Lepore. He was later named to Hackworth’s U.S. Under-17 Men’s National Team that took on Canada in a pair of friendlies at Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on April 15 and 17, 2017.
