Ever since he struggled with homesickness as a teenager, Austin DaSilva had one goal in mind.
“I’d go to soccer camps and I’d love the soccer, but the second the soccer was over and I’m sitting in a dorm room, it was, ‘I just want to go home,’” the Brookfield, Conn. native recalled. “So my mom freshman year was like, ‘The plan is you have to go to UConn. It’s the best soccer around and it’s like an hour and a half away. Not bad at all. You could do that.’ From then on it was UConn, UConn.”
Now a freshman forward for the Huskies, it’s fair to say that DaSilva achieved his goal. He credits his youth soccer days for the transition. A longtime player for Brookfield High and his club team, AC Connecticut, the 18-year-old made the jump his senior year of high school to Beachside’s U-18 academy squad.
