Another Lynnfield High student-athlete has committed to play soccer at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.
Dillon Reilly, a rising senior and two-year captain of the Division 4 state champion boys soccer team, joins girls’ captain Emma Rose, who committed back in March.
“I’m very excited to be going there and, also, especially happy to be done with the recruiting process,” Reilly said. “It’s been very stressful, so I am so glad to be done with that part of it. All I have to do now is file early decision, so it feels great.”
The 2023 Cape Ann League Player of the Year earned Eastern Mass All-Star and Massachusetts State All-Star honors after a breakout season as a junior, scoring 27 goals despite missing four games, and helping to lead the Pioneers to their first-ever state championship.
Reilly said he is acutely aware of the academic strength and rigor found at every NESCAC (New England Small College Athletic Conference) school, of which Trinity is a member. He said that’s what drove him to focus on gaining acceptance to Trinity.
“I wanted to use soccer to get into a good school that I might not normally have gotten into otherwise, and it worked out,” he said.
Reilly said he also considered several other Division 3 colleges that excel not just in sports, but in academics. None of those schools came close to the feeling of belonging he found at Trinity, according to Reilly.
“Trinity was the only one that actually came to watch me play,” he said. “All the others wanted me to go to their ID camps, so the fact that Trinity made the effort to come see me play went a long way with me. It showed me they were really interested in me.”
During the Pioneers’ journey to the state title, Reilly was basically unstoppable, scoring seven of the Pioneers’ eight goals, including the game-winner in the final against Monomoy.
“The feeling of winning in the finals was surreal,” Reilly said. “Definitely one of the best feelings I’ve ever had. This fall, we have to do the same, prepare the same. We lost a couple of key players, especially defenders, but I am confident that we have the players in place again this year.”
Reilly also plays a key role on the Pioneers’ winter and spring track teams. He’s a part of a 4×200 relay team with Zahir Mitchell, Joey Cucciniello (who also is going to Trinity, in his case to run track) and Jesse Dorman that has set multiple school records over the last two seasons.
“I think it’s important to run track to keep up my speed,” Reilly said. “That’s why I do track, but it’s also about being with my friends. With the relay team, we knew we were going to be very good, but I didn’t know we were going to be that good and break the school record four or five times.”
This fall, Reilly is also looking at breaking another school record: Mike Kennedy’s 2008 record for most career goals (78). Reilly needs 27 goals to set a new mark. Head coach Brent Munroe thinks Reilly has a good shot at doing just that.
“All four games he missed last year were likely multiple-point games for Dillon,” Munroe said. “So, he really should have been much closer to Mike’s record, but for injury. As we’ve seen with Dillon, he is capable of doing some amazing things, so I have to think that as long as he’s healthy, he’s got a great shot at it. He’s also an unselfish player and knows when to pass it off to teammates who are open when he is double- or triple- teamed. He scored 27 goals last year and had 12 assists, so he’s capable.”
For Reilly, he knows his role as a facilitator is an important one.
“It’s just as important for me to set up my teammates,” Reilly said. “When they are open and I am not, I have to find that open guy and give it to him for us to succeed as a team.
I’m lucky to be able to run by most people and I also am able to make moves around people to get open.”
Now that his college plans are settled, he is focused on defending the Pioneers’ state title. Reilly said he and fellow captain Charlie Morgan, as well as a couple of captains to be named later, will need to ramp up their leadership.
“We have to make sure that people are settling from last year,” Reilly said. “We have a resume we have to uphold.”
