Former Marauder Soccer Standout Ryan Peterson Feeling at Home in Charlotte, North Carolina

It’s a safe bet that former Mount Olive High School soccer standout and current Charlotte Independence winger, Ryan Peterson, will forever keep his cell phone fully charged and turned on. He says, “You never know what can happen on a given day.”

True. In September, Peterson was sitting outside Dino’s Pizzeria in the Village Green Shopping Center in Budd Lake, on break from both making and delivering pizzas. Then his phone rang. “I'm sitting outside with the owner and I get a call from one of the Independence assistants, asking if I wanted to come down and see if I could make the team.” It was a Thursday afternoon, and Peterson packed, loaded his car, and drove down nine hours. Three days later, Peterson arrived in Charlotte for a Monday morning, 9 a.m. tryout. He was soon wearing Charlotte Independence blue. “From getting down here and making the team, making my first roster and getting my first minute, it’s something unreal,” he says. “You don't think it’s going to happen until it happens. And it happened quickly for me.”

Peterson played soccer all four years at Mount Olive High School, and he also in his senior season played soccer with the Players Development Academy (PDA). “My friend was on the younger PDA team,” Peterson says, “and at the time, his father said to me,’ Hey, you should come and try out for the older team. They're looking for kids.” I jokingly told him to set me up with a tryout and I'd go.”

Peterson got his tryout, and also a national championship. Peterson entered the title game against Bethesda-Olney of Maryland and scored his team’s second goal, cementing a 2 – 0 title win.

When Peterson entered Mount Olive High School as a freshman, the soccer team hadn't yet won a title. “The soccer team was never really a top tier,” he says. “When it came to Mount Olive sports, you heard about football, wrestling, and basketball. All the banners around the school reflected their conference championships, divisional championships, and state championships. Soccer was the only one without one.” Peterson and his teammates did all they could to change that, and finally topped the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference in 2013 with a 16 – 5 – 1 record during Peterson’s senior campaign. “We won that first title over our rivals at the rival school. We played Pope John (Sparta) and we needed to beat them to win the conference. And we won, 3 – 2, and I had a hat trick that game.” Peterson finished his high school career with 61 goals and 40 assists, and had multiple three and four goal games. He was named first team all-state, First Team All-Morris County and First Team NJAC All-Conference as a senior.

Peterson, along with some PDA teammates, originally committed to North Carolina State. After two years and no NCAA Tournament appearances, he and five others transferred, Peterson returning to New Jersey and to Rutgers University, who had recruited him while he was a Mount Olive Marauder. He was a Scarlet Knight his junior and senior seasons, and during his senior year, he played every position on the field and led the team in total points.

After college, Peterson played with the National Premiere Soccer League’s FC Motown for a season, where his team ended up winning the league and making it to the regional playoffs. After that, he signed with Detroit City FC, played for them for three seasons, and ended up winning the NPSL Member's Cup and, in 2019, re-signed with Detroit City FC, and won both the Member’s Cup and NISA Fall Championship in the first season of the National Independent Soccer Association.

Ryan Peterson (second from right) with two Mount Olive Soccer Coaches, Dan Grzywacz and Matt Cialone, and friends after winning the 2022 NPSL National Championship (credit: Mount Olive Soccer)

 Peterson headed back to North Carolina in 2020 and played during the NISA spring season for Charlotte’s Stumptown AC, who folded that same year. He then flew out to San Diego and played six games for 1904 FC. He returned to the NPSL’s FC Motown in 2022, and during the summer won with his club the NPSL championship. Peterson, who tallied the opening goal in the championship against Seattle’s Crossfire Redmond, thus far in his career has scored in every title match he’s played in.

Peterson, who turns 27 the day after Christmas, explains what it means to be a teammate on the soccer field. “As a teammate, you have to figure out that this is a team game. It's not an individual game. At any given moment, you have to put your own ego in check and realize that there's 11 guys out on the field at one time, not one versus 11. You have to know that honestly, and going into any given game you have to be able to sacrifice.”