Aaron Johnson – Sports Editor
Tall, strong and athletic are just a few words that describe freshman Chae Brangman of the Southern Connecticut State University men’s soccer team.
In his first season for the Owls, Brangman turned into a surprising shining star for head coach Tom Lang’s squad that finished the season 15-5 and ranked 17th in all of Division-II.
For Brangman that star potential got a little brighter when he was named to the 55-man roster for the Bermuda 2018 World Cup Qualifying training squad.
“I found out through email,” Brangman said. “My reaction was just now what do I do to make the next cut and then the cut after that.”
Brangman is coming off a strong first season with the Owls where he was named to the All-Region and All-Conference teams while also being the NE-10 Conference Rookie of the Year. On the season, Brangman finished third on the Owls’ squad in both goals and points with six and 16, respectively, and also second on the team in assists with four.
However, Brangman said the accomplishments of the past season were not something that he was satisfied with.
“Me personally,” he said, “I didn’t really look at statistics you know. You always are gonna have parts of your game that you want to improve. I knew that if I played to my full potential then good things would happen.”
Good things did happen for Southern when Brangman was on the field. A native of St. George’s, Bermuda, Brangman started in 14 games this season while playing in 19 out of 20. Lang said Brangman was a key part of the Owls’ success this season playing in the midfield.
“He provided something for us that we haven’t had in a while,” he said. “And that’s a physical presence up at the front of the team. He was someone that opposing defenses had to focus on. I thought for his freshman season he had an outstanding season.”
Brangman has been able to balance this opportunity with the national team and a hectic schedule of classes as the spring 2015 semester gets under way. In order to train with the national team, he has been flying back to Bermuda to work out before returning at the beginning of the week for classes at Southern.
“We’ve been training,” Brangman said. “I have to fly out next week. I’m there for the weekend the fly back on Sunday. I do that about three times.”
Even as a freshman, Brangman has showed the maturity of a seasoned veteran, dedicating himself to a rigid workout regime to get to the next step in improving his game. Lang said it’s great to see Brangman has learned a good work ethic and has bought into the philosophy of the Southern coaching staff.
“We try to be consistent in terms of our message to all the players,” he said. “You know it’s nice to know that he’s listening. Chae has goals and aspirations to go on and play at the next level and I think he understands and appreciates that this is a process. ”
Despite achieving so much so early in his career, Brangman said he does not look at any of it as being successful.
“I won’t say that it is really success right now,” he said. “I know that I have a goal and I am working to achieve it. But if I get caught up in the hype right now I don’t think that I will become successful and achieve my goal.”