While the start of the DePaul men’s soccer season seems like a long ways away, the team got a big burst of excitement after they landed a very talented and crucial prospect.

How good is he? He was Naperville Central’s catalyst for their runs at the 3A Men’s soccer state championship runs and he was the Sun-Times Player of the Year winner for his senior year, where he scored 19 goals in 23 games. With a resume like that, anticipation should be building for the arrival of Patrick Flynn. Flynn has been looking forward to coming to DePaul ever since he decided in October.

“The school as a whole enticed me to choose DePaul. I know many people that have graduated from DePaul and they only have good things to say about the school. The campus is awesome and it felt extremely comfortable when I visited in the fall,” said Flynn.

The talented forward lit it up in his last two years at Naperville Central with an array of goals, many of which were equalizers or game-winners – which will be useful with the notable absences that DePaul will have to overcome this year. Antonio Aguilar, last season’s leader in goals, shots on goal and game winning goals, graduated last year. With Flynn’s propensity to score, he could develop into the complement to the other young forward, Thiago Ganancio.

The team will definitely need Flynn to step to the challenge, something that he is very eager to do.

“I love being challenged during every game and I knew the Big East offered that. DePaul plays in one of the hardest conferences for soccer,” said Flynn. “I am hoping that my talents from high school and club soccer can translate to success at the college level. I know it is a lot of hard work, but I have seen kids from my high school make the same jump.”

You don’t have to look very far to understand what he means. Fellow teammate

Art Garza graduated from

Naperville Central while Flynn was a freshman. Flynn said that Garza was one of the players he learned from during high school and he also hopes to make the jump from high school to college like Garza did.

One of the other factors that went into Flynn’s decision was DePaul’s educational value.

“I was considering going to Dayton, Illinois Wesleyan, or Marquette,” said Flynn. “All of these schools offered a great business school and I would have had the opportunity to play soccer as well.”

He realized that an offer from the MLS would be a tough stretch and he is going to split his focus between soccer and accounting.

“I don’t know what lies ahead for me in my soccer career. I hope to play after college but I know it is extremely difficult.

Also, DePaul’s education will help me get a job in the business world right out of college,” he said.

Even though he prepares for life outside of soccer, he realizes he still has a job to do. He is going to be joining a young, yet growing DePaul team that is in the process of creating a system. This is a team that got outscored 32-17 over the entire year. DePaul clearly needs him to help shift that balance, but until then, Flynn is focusing on goals for himself.

“I hope that my game can take another step in the positive direction at DePaul,” he said.