ETHAN DUDLEY SIGNS CONTRACT WITH CHARLOTTE FC MLS NEXT PRO

Yesterday afternoon Charlotte FC announced that former Jacksonville Armada FC U-23 player, Ethan Dudley, has signed an MLS NEXT Pro contract with the Club. Ethan Dudley is a 22 year old graduate student and defender for the Northwestern University Wildcat soccer team. Standing at 6-4, he hails from St. Johns, Florida and attended Bartram Trail High School where he was a three-time all-conference selection and a First Team All-State honoree. Before joining the Wildcats, Dudley spent three years at Florida Gulf Coast University, where he played in 48 games and made 31 starts. In 2021, he recorded one assist in 13 matches and was named the ASUN Defensive Player of the Year and selected to the ASUN All-Tournament Team, ASUN All-Academic Team, and CoSIDA Academic All-District. In the 2022 season with Northwestern University, Dudley started all 17 games, leading the team in minutes (1522), goals (4), and points (10). His most notable performance came against Michigan State where he converted from the spot in for the game-winning goal to send the Wildcats to the Big Ten Tournament.

During his time with the Armada, Ethan proved himself to be a dedicated and skilled athlete, consistently demonstrating a high level of talent and sportsmanship. Ethan Dudley spent the past two summers with the Jacksonville Armada FC U-23 of the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL). During his tenure with the team Dudley tallied 17 starts and netted 3 goals in the process. Armada FC U-23 Head Coach, Tommy Krizanovic, had this to say about Ethan's departure: “We are all very excited for Ethan to sign with Charlotte FC. At the academy he’s always been a standout on and off the field and with the qualities he has as a player we were convinced that one day he could make the jump to professional soccer. Our younger players now have another role model to look up to now and see that there is a pathway. We are all very proud of Ethan and wish him the best of luck on his next chapter.”

When asked how the Jacksonville Armada helped him on his journey to becoming a professional Ethan replied, “I think it's an organization that gave me the right structure to develop as a young athlete. I think it helped me a lot in terms of learning different systems, getting really good technically, and just having a very professional environment to be a part of every summer. My junior and senior year when I played with the Armada it just gave me a really good environment to develop me and my game.”

Dudley also emphasized, “The people who make up the club have instilled in me the right character, and how I need to think, and how I need to compete. That's everyone, that's coaches, that's operations, that's the president. Being a part of the club will get you in the right environment to give you the right mentality, and instill the right character in you that's going to make you want to be successful. They're going to hold you accountable to everything you do and push you to be the best you can be.”

When talking about his ambitions at his new club Ethan stated, “My goals are really to start and play in every game at the MLS Next Pro level, contribute, and just be a really good teammate. I’ll let God take care of the rest, I just want to be what God has created me to be and just use my platform to promote that. Be disciplined, work hard, stay hungry in the process. Now that I’ve achieved my dream of becoming a professional athlete, I need to do the work to sustain that and be successful. For me it's about making a good impression, having good character, working as hard as I can, and letting God take care of the rest for me."