Matthew Bishop '24 Recruiting Profile

I am excited about the opportunity to pursue my college education, while playing the game that I have always enjoyed so much. Like many, I began playing at a young age, following in the footsteps of my older brothers. I have been the beneficiary of watching soccer played at a high level since I was a young child.

My oldest brother was a solid high school player offered the chance to play D3 soccer, who decided instead to pursue trade work instead. My middle brother played soccer  at Penn State Harrisburg for 4 years and graduated with a 3.5 GPA in Psychology. He challenges me to be better academically and athletically. Zack also has been one of my high school assistant coaches my senior year.

I will graduate in 2024 and will take some college credit classes my senior year.

My parents are successful business people, with my mom running a small business, and my dad being the top operations executive in a business with 500 employees for the past 25 years or so. They challenge me to do my best at everything I am involved in, and sacrifice to allow me to focus on my grades and soccer.

I attend Faith Christian Academy in Quakertown PA, where the soccer team has been league champion every year for 20 years. We have been District One champions  both my freshman, sophomore and junior years. We won our first State Title in 2020 as a freshman and followed it up with State Runner up in 2021 as a sophomore  and went to the semi finals as a junior and as a senior. As a senior I have played primarily right back and during the post season also played some right midfielder. Our wing backs play direct and initiate or join the attack. My senior year we won 22 games and although we are a 1A small school, we won 6 games against 4A schools during the season and finished 22-1-0. Even after our loss in the semi finals, we remain and finished the season ranked #1 in the state PIAA for 1A schools. Our high school team had quite a few players from nationally ranked ECNL club teams. 

I am a strong player recognized for my tenacious play and ability to control my side of the field as a wing back. For many years  my travel coach had me play center mid where my strengths in distributing the ball, seeing the field and creating opportunities for others have made my team more effective. I recently made the decision to change travel teams and joined Lehigh Valley United which plays ECRL League play and I am a starter at outside mid and forward.  We are coached by Tyler Madeira of Muhlenburg College. I particularly like his demanding coaching and training for excellence . I learn every practice and every game. 

I am interested in staying within 2-3 hours of home for college, but would consider other options as well. I have not yet decided on my degree goals, but am interested in business and in law enforcement.

My coaches consider me a focused and determined player, teachable and coachable, with the betterment of the team my goal. I have excellent soccer intelligence and physical skills to match. I play a tough, physical game within the rules, having been coached well, and watching my older brothers.