High schooler Dylan Lopez was getting ready to bus tables when he got the text of a lifetime earlier this summer.
“My travel coach said, ‘You have to call out of work today,” Lopez, a talented 16-year-old Connetquot senior centerman, told The Post.
He was being recruited to play professionally in Nassau County with the American Soccer Club of the National Premier Soccer League — and the team’s brass wanted to see what Lopez could bring to the table ASAP.
Quickly improvising, the humble teenager called his twin brother, Brandon, with whom he had played soccer his entire life, to cover the shift at an Italian restaurant in Blue Point.
Fortunately, Dylan’s one-minute older sibling came through and gave his kin the chance to show the Fighting Tomcats why he deserved a roster spot, despite being surrounded by men much older and more experienced.
“I had plans already. I told him I couldn’t, and he was going ‘please!’… He still owes me for that,” joked Brandon, a strong center back starting for the T-Birds.
“The first time Dylan had a home game with ASC, my friends and I all filled the stands. We were making tons of noise. We even had a bell with us.”
After thriving for months with the newly founded team that focuses on developing local talent, Dylan is harnessing those lessons for a sentimental final varsity season with Brandon and their Connetquot group. He can double-dip between the teams since his pro contract doesn’t include compensation.
“Playing with the Tomcats taught me, you’ve got to play fast or you’re going to get killed,” said Lopez, who added that seeing the field with the team remains his most massive accomplishment.
“The younger players ask me now, ‘how can I improve my game?’ and I say just play simple, play fast, and know what you’re going to do.”
Bro code
Professional tutelage isn’t the only thing that got Dylan, who is about 5-foot-9 and 145 pounds, ready for the game’s grit at high levels.
“Every time we train, I’m rough on him so he can know what to do when playing with other guys,” said Brandon, who towers at 6 feet tall and 170 pounds.
“Day by day, he gets better,” Brandon added after Connetquot’s thrilling 4-4 tie against Copiague in a season opener where the T-Birds had trailed 4-1.
And Dylan, who said he and his brother naturally get into the occasional family skirmish, is doubly motivated to give Brandon a taste of his own medicine.
“It makes me want to get bigger and toss him around,” he laughed.
Aside from toughness training, the boys say they have clairvoyant chemistry on the pitch — and that it shows.
“He knows what I do. I know what he likes to do,” said Dylan, who added that the duo knows precisely where to pass the ball to one another and can even cover each other’s positions on the field, if need be.
“We work well as a team… we have that motivation. The goal is to get 1 percent better every day,” added Dylan, who is being recruited by Sacred Heart University, among other schools.
All in the family
Making the Ronkonkoma twins’ last dance especially exciting is that the travel coach who broke the news to Dylan about the Tomcats, Matt Mannina, joined Connetquot as an assistant this season.
“I practically raised those kids on the soccer field,” said Mannina, also head coach of Atlantic United, who has known the boys since they were 7.
“They were already good back then, just some of those gem players.”
Beyond talent, Mannina said Dylan and Brandon have the intangibles that make them a delight to coach.
“They’ve always been self-driven,” he said. “I’m very grateful for them and being part of their journey.”
Mannina is also optimistic that Lopez’s tenure in the game won’t end after 12th grade, as he sees further potential in the rising star.
“We know what a pro player looks like by 15 or 16 years old,” he said. “You have to be extremely driven even to consider going pro…Dylan shows it.”
Brandon also has complete confidence that his brother could one day become an asset to any team, either domestic or overseas in Europe.
“He just has to put the work in,” Brandon said.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
