Ryan McLaughlin is used to winning races.
His father, Kiaran, is a famous horse trainer and the senior won the CHSAA Class AA boys soccer scoring title by a nose with 16 goals, one in front of Iona Prep’s Cesar Ceja.
Last week, McLaughlin finished first in the NYPost.com Poll asking, “Who should be The Post’s All-City boys soccer Player of the Year?” The Regis striker had 59,629 votes, good enough for 44.11 percent of the 135,193 votes cast. Xavier’s Alex Presciutti was second with 52,771 (39.03%) and Christ the King’s Peyton Atteloney was a distant third with 5,438 (4.02%).
“That was like everything last week,” McLaughlin said with a laugh. “On Facebook and in school. Multiple teachers approached me and said they voted. It was fun.”
McLaughlin was one of the driving forces in a bounce back year for Regis. After going 4-8-4 in 2010, the Raiders, a perennial power, went 8-4-5 this season. His ability to find the back of the net was indispensable.
“Ryan was the engine that made our offense go this year,” Regis coach Vinny Catapano said. “When he scored our chances of winning the game increased and we won a majority of the matches in which he scored.”
The Raiders finished third in the CHSAA Archdiocesan division, but got an unlucky draw in the quarterfinals – a meeting with eventual CHSAA Class AA state champion Fordham Prep. Regis and Fordham tied twice during the regular season in physical affairs, but the Rams got the better of their fellow Jesuit institution, 3-0, in the quarterfinals.
“We were excited to play them again,” McLaughlin said. … “It was disappointing to go out that soon, but it was a good season.”
The Garden City, L.I., resident isn’t sure where he’s going to college yet. Vanderbilt is a possibility and so are Davidson and Wake Forest. The first one doesn’t have NCAA men’s soccer and the other two have strong Division I programs. McLaughlin, who has a 3.7 GPA at academically-elite Regis, said at the very least he would try to play club soccer in college to keep the sport in his life.
“I’m gonna go to college for academics,” he said. “That’s the most important thing for me now.”
It’s clear he’ll have support with whatever decision he makes for the future.
“He has a great family and that is one of the reasons he was able to pull out a tight race in the poll,” Catapano said. “Ryan had all of his classmates at school voting along with his family down near Churchill Downs, Ky., as well as his sister and all of her friends and sorority sisters down at the University of Florida.”