onship by beating Phillips Andover 4-1 in the
final match of the season. Charlie scored per-
haps his greatest high school goal in that game, tough tackle from an opposing defender.
dancing around the Andover defense before “I heard a pop,” says Davies. “I tried to get
driving a shot into the top corner. up really quickly, but it just felt like someone
He accomplished this without losing the had stabbed me in the knee.”
swagger that had, in previous years, unnerved a The resulting surgery for a torn meniscus
few teammates and frustrated opponents. meant that Davies would miss the rest of the
Against the Belmont Hill team that had kept him season.
in check as a third-former, Charlie celebrated his “I was really depressed,” he remembers. “I’d
game-winning goal in front of more than 100 try to take off my crutches and jog but it would
Belmont football players who had been taunting just be more pain. But I was able to sit back and
him all game. Charlie always had “the show- see soccer from a whole different standpoint —
manship,” says Richard, “the desire to make it my teammates called me ‘Coach Davies.’”
entertaining. Not many players have that.” When the time finally came, Davies started
In the winter, Charlie captured his third rehab, and he was first able to test his repaired
New England Championship in wrestling, and knee in a scrimmage against Major League Soc-
then earned All-American honors by placing cer’s New England Revolution in the spring of
third at the National tournament. It was a result 2006. Though the professional team was playing
that showed everyone his phenomenal talent as its top players, all eyes were on Davies. Scoring
a wrestler. two goals, including one on an acrobatic, over-
“If he had ever magically decided to con- the-head bicycle kick, Davies led BC to a 3-1 win.
centrate on wrestling,” says Konovalchik, “he His thoughts after the match?
could have been a Division I All-American and “I’m back!”
perhaps even a national champion.” Since that moment, Davies hasn’t slowed. A
Charlie left Brooks as the school’s most cel- phenomenal junior year with the Eagles saw
The
ebrated soccer player ever, and one of the top him come in second in voting for the Hermann
wrestlers in school, as well as New England, his- Trophy, given each year to the top collegiate soc-
resulting
tory. Fucito and Harger, who were two of the cer player. Davies left Boston College in De-
best athletes Brooks has ever seen, helped Char- cember 2006, and made the jump to
lie along the way. Hammarby, a smaller team with a track record
surgery for
“I would say that [Mike] made Charlie of developing players and helping them move
great, and Charlie made him great,” says on to bigger clubs. Being with the team would
a torn
Richard. Fucito left Brooks for Harvard, is an also allow Davies the chance to impress the U.S.
All-American at the collegiate level, and is also National Team coaches, and perhaps earn him a
meniscus
looking for a career in professional soccer. chance to play in the Olympics.
Harger, who pushed Charlie in practice every At Hammarby, he quickly impressed the
winter, went on to wrestle at Maryland. fans and his teammates by scoring in his first
meant that
As a freshman at Boston College, Davies four preseason games. After that, “I put a lot of
helped the team to a spot in the Sweet 16 of the expectations on myself,” he says. “I thought I’d
Davies
NCAA Tournament, losing 1-0 to eventual score 15 goals and be the leading scorer in the
champion Indiana, and earned Big East Rookie league.”
would miss
of the Year honors and freshman All-American But things didn’t go quite according to plan.
status. But at the start of his sophomore year, as “The first couple of games I did really well,
the dream of playing professionally in Europe but I didn’t score,” he remembers. “Then the
the rest of
was drawing closer to reality, he went down to a pressure started building and building. After the
fifth game I still hadn’t scored yet, and in Europe
the season.
you have to score or they find somebody else. So
Winter 2009 49
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