McIntosh: Heart Of Purple And Gold
September 10, 2012 | Men's Soccer
By Jocelyn Perry
SEATTLE - For Bradley McIntosh, it doesn't matter if he is on the starting 11 or warming up from the bench. It's all about the team.
Instead of reeling off his individual accomplishments and goals, McIntosh speaks highly of the entire team. The 2012 men's soccer team came into the season after narrowly missing the NCAA tournament the year before, along with adding a staggering number of freshmen and transfers. That amount of change can seriously affect a team, but McIntosh believes this team is strong.
A 2010 graduate of Sammamish's Eastlake High School, McIntosh knows change. After playing club soccer for Crossfire and a stint on his high school team, he committed to UCLA and graduated early eager to start his collegiate career.
Not long after enrolling at UCLA, he tore the labrum in his hip. He went in for surgery in August and had to rehab for six months.
During the long rehab sessions, McIntosh had a change of heart. Growing up, the Redmond native always admired the University of Washington, his mother's alma mater.
"The UW was a very intriguing school for me," he says. "I hadn't had the best soccer experience in LA and that was really what I was going to school for. I decided to switch things up."
Head coach Jamie Clark initially recruited McIntosh out of high school and the 6-foot- 5 forward decided to come back home.
After sitting out 2011 due to NCAA rules, the redshirt sophomore took the field as a Husky for the first time. McIntosh scored his first UW career goal heading the ball off a corner against Wisconsin.
"I just want to keep progressing as a player and doing as much to help the team as I can," he says. "I would love to score a few more goals up top but if the team wins I will be happy. I think we have loads of potential with this team. I expect us to win the conference and make a good run into the NCAA tournament."
And it seems like things are falling into place for both the Huskies and for McIntosh.
The difference between this year's soccer team and previous years is the incredible amount of team unity. From his roommate Quinton `Beasletrix' Beasley to the coaching staff, McIntosh believes everyone is close.
"I think the strength of the team this year is how well we all get along with each other," he says. "I have never been around a team with this much cohesiveness and it makes it that much more fun. All the guys truly want to come to training and work hard for one another. It's an amazing feeling knowing the guy right next to you would do anything for you and I truly feel that way about this team. It is unbelievable and I know we are going to do special things this season because of it."
At a mere 20 years old, how did he become so selfless so fast? His answer is his grandpa Clarence Wright. "He always taught me to see the best in people and to also be a good person individually," adds McIntosh. "I think about him and the things he taught me when I was younger all the time."
He admires English midfielder Steven Gerrard, but surprisingly Liverpool isn't McIntosh's favorite team. The team he roots for is the Dragons, his seven-year-old cousin's U8 team. He likes to help coach the kids when he isn't fulfilling his duties for the Huskies or the Sounders U23 squad.
The communications and sales major dreams to one day become a professional soccer player. With his demeanor both on and off the pitch he will surely succeed in the years to come. As for this season, he believes this team has something special.
"We definitely have the talent and the coaching staff and the will and I am sure that we will have a season to remember."
