Steel FC sign Lancaster native Drew Skundrich

Drew Skundrich didn’t take a very traditional route to get here. Skundrich, a Lancaster, Pa. native and former Generation Adidas cup winner with the Philadelphia Union Academy was originally picked up by Los Angeles Galaxy in the SuperDraft (40th overall).

Based on our brief conversation last night, Drew said he picked up a hamstring injury prior to the draft, rehabbed at his alma mater of Stanford and then trained mostly with Los Dos, the Galaxy’s USL outfit.

Don’t let the knock fool you. Drew is ready to go, and what an asset to have in your squad. Stanford was an absolute dynasty with Skundrich (as well as his teammate and fellow Galaxy draftee Tomas Hilliard-Arce) racking up back-to-back-to-back NCAA National titles, of which Skundrich was the captain of the 2017 championship winning side here at Talen Energy Stadium. He’s not worried about that whole “transition from college to pros” thing either.

“I think there hasn’t been too big of a difference between the levels of college and USL for me,” said Skundrich, who played in the Development Academy with PA Classics and graduated from Hempfield High School. “The biggest transition for me will be possession because at Stanford we liked to go at teams and run a fast paced game. The substitution rule is different as well (between college and pro level soccer) so you need to be smart with what you’re doing with the ball and making sure you can last entire games.”

Drew is another guy that can play multiple positions, a running theme with Brendan Burke’s 2018 signings. He won the first of three titles at right back for Stanford, before moving to central midfield for titles two and three.

“I just want to, I’m going to be cliche and say it, but I want to make the biggest impact on the team whether that be at center mid or right back I want to help the team in anyway I can,” Skundrich said.

Drew’s pedigree:
-Generation Adidas Cup Winner (‘12)
-Three consecutive PAC 12 titles (‘15,’16,’17)
-Three consecutive NCAA titles (‘15,’16,’17)
-All PAC 12 Second Team (‘16)
-All PAC 12 First Team (‘17)