We’ve spent time honoring our seniors over the course of the last semester – now it’s time to start getting to know the newcomers, the Class of 2024! We’ll take a team-by-team look at our first-year students throughout the coming weeks, from the Fall athletes who will be making the varsity debuts later in 2021 to the Spring players that we will keep our fingers crossed about seeing in action later this semester.

We continue our New To The Judges’ Bench feature with men’s soccer! A strong local base makes up the current group of first-years who are on campus this year. They collectively bring versatility, technical ability, and a high soccer IQ to our program. Most importantly, they will be terrific members in our locker room and throughout the Brandeis community.

LIAM CARPENTER-SHULMAN – M – 5-10 – AMHERST, MASSACHUSETTS – AMHERST REGIONAL

• Two-year starter and senior captain at Amherst Regional High School
• Named All-Western Massachusetts and All-State as a senior
• Was a member of U-14 Olympic Development Team National squad
• Member of Future Business Leaders of America
• Planned majors: Film and economics
• Favorite high school moment: Scoring the goal to secure my high school team a berth into the Western Mass playoffs
• Favorite high school class: Video Production because of the freedom and creativity.
• Activity that has helped me get through COVID-19: Avatar: The Last Airbender
• Summer job: Running a personal soccer training business
• Dream job: Film director
• Favorite movies: Star Wars franchise
• COACH MARGOLIS: Liam is a technical center midfielder with great service and distribution. He has a strong background in the game of soccer, having grown up playing on some very good New England Revolution and NEFC teams. Liam can play multiple roles and that versatility is something we look for in all of our recruits.

NICK HEAFEY – F – 6-3 – FLORENCE, MASSACHUSETTS – WILLISTON-NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

• Four-year three-sport athlete at Williston-Northampton School in Easthampton, Massachusetts, playing basketball and baseball
• Will also play baseball at Brandeis
• Earned All-NEPSAC (New England Prep School Athletic Conference) honors in soccer and baseball
• Helped the Wildcats earned NEPSAC runner-up honors in baseball as a senior
• Served as class secretary and wrote for W-N literary magazine
• Planned major: Undecided
• Favorite high school moment: My first basket during my freshmen year against my school’s rival
• Favorite high school class: AP Environmental Science because I learned about real world events that affect me every day
• Favorite place to travel: Cape Cod
• Favorite movie: The Waterboy
• Favorite TV show: Rick and Morty
• Favorite books: The Percy Jackson series
• Performer who would play me in the story of my life: Ryan Gosling or Leo DiCaprio
• If I could time travel, the era I would visit would be: the 1950s, because the clothes were cool
• Favorite pro team: New England Patriots because I went to their games growing up
• Most memorable pro sports moment: Patriots beating the Falcons in Super Bowl LI
• Dream Final Jeopardy! Category: Food and Drinks from Cumberland Farms
• COACH MARGOLIS: Nick is an athletic and hard-working center forward that will create a ton of chances. A successful three-sport athlete in high school, Nick has a high upside in the game of soccer. His athletic qualities will enhance the rest of the group and provide us with more versatility going forward.

MAX HOROWITZ – F – 5-10 – SWANSEA, MASSACHUSETTS – NORTHFIELD MOUNT HERMON

• Graduated from Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode Island, in 2019 before spending a postgraduate year at Northfield Mount Hermon School
• Named All-State all four years in Rhode Island, including first-team honors as a junior and senior at Moses Brown
• Was an All-New England selection and nominee for Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior
• Led the Quakers to Rhode Island Division II titles as a sophomore and junior and to the Division I finals as a senior
• During PG year, led the team to the New England Prep School Athletic League (NEPSAC) semifinals
• Earned Moses Brown Most Improved Student Award as a senior
• Helped build a greenhouse on campus
• Planned major: Undecided
• Favorite high school moment: Traveling to Ireland and playing in the Milk Cup against Liverpool’s youth team
• Favorite high school subject: English
• Things that attracted me to Brandeis: the proximity to home, the quality of the soccer team, the great academics and how close it is to Boston.
• Things that helped me get through COVID-19: Friends(FaceTime calls), family, reading, exercising and Netflix have been beyond important
• Favorite place to travel: Disney Land
• The thing I have most looked forward to doing at Brandeis outside of soccer: Meeting new people from all over
• Summer job: My friend and I started a small business where we make Guacamole. It's called Rockin’ Guac
• Dream job: Owning a coffee shop because I really enjoy coffee
• Favorite movie: Good Will Hunting
• Favorite TV show: Game of Thrones
• Favorite song: Sunday Morning by Maroon 5
• Favorite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
• Perfomer who would play me in the story of my life: Nat Wolf
• If I could time travel, the era I would visit would be: As far as possible into the future before the end of the world, get their technology and then return to the present time
• Favorite pro team: Bayern Munich, because they sponsored my former club and because their roster is currently amazing
• Most memorable pro sports moment: The unbelievable comeback from the Patriots in the 2017 Super Bowl against the Falcons
• Dream Final Jeopardy! category: Nutrition
• COACH MARGOLIS: Max is an attacking player who can play central or wide and is tricky going forward and running at defenders. His movement on and off the ball is tremendous. He scored a ton of goals for Northfield Mount Herman and with his club teams due to his ability to find pockets of space in front of goal.

MAX JOHNSTON – B –5-9 – NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS – NEWTON NORTH

• Two-year starter and senior captain for the Newton North High School Tigers
• As a junior, earned All-State honors and Boston Globe All-Scholastic honors
• Helped NNHS win the Bay State Conference Carey Division title in 2018
• Planned major: undecided
• Activity that got me through COVID-19: FIFA 20
• Summer job: Working as a camp counselor
• Favorite movie: Napoleon Dynamite
• Favorite TV show: 30 Rock
• Favorite song: New Faces by Mac Miller
• Favorite book: There, There by Tommy Orange
• Favorite pro team: Tottenham Hotspur, because I have watched them ever since I was young
• COACH MARGOLIS: Max grew up playing predominately as a wing-back, but is another player that provides tremendous versatility and high soccer IQ. He has ties to the New England Revolution academy as well where he played with Liam. Max's technical ability and work-rate on and off the field are important qualities we look for in our student-athletes.