Feature Story – Jake Rozhansky: Overcoming youth adversity, college and overseas turmoil and his return to the United States

FOXBOROUGH, MA– From quite a young age, it was clear that Jake Rozhansky was meant to become a professional soccer player. From youth adversity to USMNT attention, all the way to collegiate success and turmoil, as well as international turmoil, his journey from Maryland to college to Israel and back to the United States is quite the story.

Jake Michael Rozhansky (Hebrew ג’ייק מייקל רוזנסקי ) was born on July 4th, 1996, to parents Roman Rozhansky and Irina Matthews in Germantown, Maryland. His parents are both of Soviet Union descent. His Father from Belarus and mother present-day Ukraine.

Rozhanksy stated that his dad really got him into playing soccer, and he also believes he rekindled his dad’s interest in soccer.

“So, my dad played a little bit when he was growing up, nothing seriously, nothing at a high level, and I don’t know, you give a kid the ball to mess around a bit, and I fell in love with it, and that was when I was 3-4 years old.”

Rozhansky went on to add that sports weren’t an immediate option for him, as he was struck with a diagnosis at an early age.

“A year or two after I was born, I wouldn’t walk, and my mom looked at me at times and would notice that I wouldn’t even try to stand on my two feet and my mom immediately knew something was wrong. She took me to multiple doctors and multiple doctors said that I had Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis… They said that he was going to have to get steroid injections in his knees, and that he wouldn’t be able to walk by the time he was a teenager. He’ll be in a wheelchair… that was shocking to my mom, I was 1-2 years old when kids start crawling and walking around and my mom was like, ‘this is not going to happen, were not doing that’, and luckily through one of my mom’s clients, her client’s dad got me connected with one of the best ortho doctor in after-hours who said I had arthritis in my knees, said I’d be in pain at times, but to let it play its course.”

Rozhansky had trouble playing during his youth due to this as he would struggle with his knees giving out at times. The latest instance was when he was 13 years old when his knee gave out while playing and there wasn’t much he could do, other than Motrin.

“Thankfully, I grew out of it. I had multiple doctors tell me I wouldn’t be able to walk. I had my last episode when I was 13 and a lot of it has had to do with my involvement with me being active. I’m not an athlete compared to other players.”.

Rozhansky played youth/club soccer for Matt Pilkington for Bethesda Olney. The club merged later on with Tacoma Park Rangers, starting in 2006. He played for the club for 4 years prior to Rozhansky entering High School.

Jake Rozhansky hoists the Regional Championship in 2013. Image Courtesy of Jake Rozhansky.

Following his youth career, Jake attended Montgomery Blair High School, in Four Corners, Maryland from 2010-2014. He only played one season for the Blazers in High School, and instead elected to return to play at the club level for the Olney Rangers.

“You hear about it in the movies, you play High School, and all your friends are there at the games, it was like a dream…  I felt like I was the best player… I was 5’5 100lbs, and then coach looked at me and was like ‘yeah you’re on JV’, so, I think we won every game except for one, and I thought the whole thing was bullshit.”.

The second year, Rozhansky tried out again and made Varsity but had a conversation with Matt Pilkington and decided to quit. He went on to help Pilkington coach as well as Train with his youth teams.

Entering his junior year, Pilkington approached his players and told them, “Club or High School, not both” and the team re-entered the club season before transitioning to Academy.

Rozhansky returned to the Rangers and played for the club from 2011-2013. During this time period, Rozhansky was called up to multiple United States Youth National Team camps, for both the U17 and U20 squads. During his 2013 season with the Olney Rangers, Rozhansky won the Golden Ball at the 2013 US Youth Soccer National Championship.

” We missed the final, I thought we were the best team in the country, but I was given best player, which is unbelievable, but I felt disappointed by missing out on the final.”

Jake Rozhansky poses with the golden ball of the 2013 US Youth Soccer National Championships. Image Courtesy of Jake Rozhansky.

After the 2013 season with Olney Rangers, Rozhansky switched clubs and joined the Bethesda Olney SC. While with the Olney, Rozhansky’s club took part in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy, where his club managed to qualify for the national final. He was among teammates Jeremy Ebobisse (San Jose Earthquakes Forward), Chase Gasper (Houston Dynamo Defender), Carter Manley (San Antonio FC Defender), and Gedion Zalalem (Den Bosch Midfielder).

“I was super lucky to play with the guys that I did… We were a bunch of rag-tag kids from Maryland, and we kind of stayed together our whole youth and that’s why I kind of think we did so good. We spent the same together under the same coach and held continuity.”

“We joined the academy, and we scrimmaged D.C. United as a club team and killed them. Matt, our coach, got us good opportunities to get into the academy, we were one of two non-MLS affiliated teams, and we had the most goals scored by a humongous margin, and we only played for pride… Unfortunately, we got the National Final and thought we already won, and we lost to PDA, a team we beat previously in the year. It was crazy, we had a lot of fun, and played with amazing guys… Training pushed us to be better, it’s a way for us to be competitive and I’d argue that bare Carles Gil, Gedion Zalalem is the most talented player I’ve ever played with.”

Jake Rozhansky with Virginia Cavaliers. Image Courtesy of A10 Athletics.

“I had a lot of college interest to be honest, the one crazy thing was that Maryland didn’t show me any interest and I lived 15 minutes from the campus. I spoke to Georgetown, Wake Forest, however, it came down to UVA and Duke. I visited UVA, thought it was the most beautiful campus and thought this was where I wanted to be.”

Jake joined the University of Virginia Cavaliers and attended the University from 2014-2015. During his time with Virginia, he won the 2014 National Championship in his freshman season. Along with the title, Jake was recognized as on the ACC All-Freshman Team, and the College Cup All-Tournament Team. He tallied 1 goal and 4 assists in 23 appearances, missing only 2 matches.

Jake Rozhansky poses with the 2014 NCAA Division I National Championship Trophy. Image Courtesy of Jake Rozhansky.

Following the completion of his freshman season, Rozhansky appeared in 6 matches for the D.C. United U23s in the Premier Development League. He tallied 3 goals during his time with the squad.

Ahead of his sophomore season, Jake was called into the United States U23 Men’s National Team to participate in a college identification camp in the lead up to the 2015 Concacaf Men’s Olympic Qualifiers.

Jake Rozhansky (6) poses while with the United States U23 Men’s National Team. Image Courtesy of Jake Rozhansky.

In his sophomore season, he was named the All-ACC Second Team where he led the Cavaliers in scoring, where he tallied 4 goals and 1 assist in 14 appearances.

Following the completion of his sophomore season, Jake trialed with SC Freiburg.

Entering the fall season of 2016, Rozhansky ran into a massive roadblock with the University of Virginia that led for him to transfer schools.

“I was happy at UVA, I came in thinking I was the best player there, I won the National Championship with the squad, however, things weren’t easy for us. That UVA squad sat in and defended a ton, and I will do whatever is necessary for a team to win, but after that year, I met with the coaches and told them I was happy that we won, but that I didn’t want to sit back and defend teams, I wanted to destroy them. I came from a team that would dominate teams and I came to college to develop as a player, and this wasn’t going to get me better.”

The coach re-assured Rozhansky that things would change in the Sophomore season with the best recruiting class coming in, and that things would change, however, nothing changed.

Rozhansky stated, “I was so disappointed. UVA told me that Generation Adidas was coming for me, they were going to offer me after my sophomore season. and that UVA were pushing for me to go to MLS after my sophomore season.”

“In my sophomore season, I hurt my groin, missed 9-10 games, got misdiagnosed for my injury, which I found out I had a strain in my groin which led me to get injections in my groin, which led my relationship with the coaching staff to go downhill… I returned to the NCAA tournament, did well and managed to score 1 goal and got an assist, then in the second game, we went away versus Maryland, which was probably one of my best games of my career. Sash came up to me after the game and told me that he made a mistake not recruiting me, and the season was over.”

When Rozhansky returned to the University of Viriginia, he met with the coaches and they told him, “Thank you for your services, you’re done, go pro.” when he didn’t receive any offers.

They continued to push him to either to go to MLS or to go to Europe, and Rozhansky said without an offer, he’d like to pursue his degree and continue at UVA, which didn’t bode well with UVA.

“I went home to Maryland, and was training with Tyler Rudy, and we finished the session and told me to look at my phone, where I had 1,000+ text messages and 1,000+ twitter notifications as Steven Goff, MLS Insider for the Washington Post tweeted, ‘UVA head coach confirms Jake Rozhansky is leaving UVA, pursuing opportunities in MLS or overseas.’ ”

Rozhansky had texts from everyone congratulating him when the whole story wasn’t true. He stated, ” I called my coach, and he said ‘we talked about this’ ” which didn’t bode well again with Rozhanksy.

To make matters worse, Generation Adidas approached Rozhansky and said that he would not be offered a contract as he had a bad season and would have to return to college for another year if he wanted to obtain a contract.

Rozhansky returned to UVA for the 1st day of junior year, attended a team meeting, and then met with the coaches and requested his transfer papers just two-days before the start of the new season.

Jake Rozhansky appears above in his Maryland Terrapin debut. Image Courtesy of Jake Rozhansky.

While driving back to Maryland, Rozhansky had been in contact with Georgetown, UCLA, Stanford, Akron, and Maryland. He drove straight to the University of Maryland and signed the papers.

Jake officially transferred schools and joined the University of Maryland Terrapins and attended the University from 2016-2017.

While with Maryland, Jake managed to win the 2016 Big Ten Conference and 2016 Big Ten Tournament in his junior season. He tallied 3 goals and provided 8 assists and was named to Jewish Sports Review’s Division I All-American Team.

Jake Rozhansky poses with a teammate after winning the Big 10 Championship. Image Courtesy of Jake Rozhansky.

Entering the summer of 2017, just before his senior season, Rozhansky returned to training with the D.C. United U23s. However, the squad was not in any league and only performed in exhibition matches.

During the summer, Rozhansky once more returned to the United States Men’s National Team. He was selected to compete in the 2017 Maccabiah Games. Jake went on to appear in all 6 matches where he went onto to capture the Golden Boot as he registered 6 goals. The United States went on to win the Gold Medal against Great Britain, where Rozhansky registered a hat-trick in the final.

On the Maccabiah Games, Rozhansky stated, “I decided to do it, I’m very glad I did, we went and won, I did really well… It’s probably the best trip of my life up to this point. It’s basically an Olympics with all of these Jewish athletes from multiple-different sports, and I met some of my best friends there, and winning was ultimately the best part.”

“It was an amazing experience and honestly that is what brought me to playing in Israel”.

Jake Rozhansky poses with the United States Men’s National Team after securing a 3-0 victory in the 2017 Maccabiah Games Final. Image Courtesy of Jake Rozhansky.

Following the Maccabiah Games, Rozhansky entered his senior season at Maryland. Prior to the start of the season, Rozhansky was named team captain. He registered 4 goals and a team high 9 assists in 19 appearances, which led him to be named to the All-Big Ten First Team.

On his time with Maryland, Rozhansky stated, “Maryland was excellent. I got to experience two huge schools for two years… I didn’t want to leave UVA, but I thought it was the right decision… My only regret is that I didn’t win a National Championship with Maryland, like I did at UVA, because my teams at Maryland would destroy either of my teams at UVA.”

After graduating from college, Rozhanksy got his citizenship to Israel.

“I got my citizenship to Israel shortly after I moved there. I graduated Christmas time around 2017, 2 weeks into the start of 2018, I got my citizenship to Israel. I got it because it would allow me not to be a foreign player, that’s the main reason why… I had thought about it before because I got trial offers and it would simplify things… I spoke with lawyers looking at my family history because my parents were born in the Soviet Union and were refugees… So, it made things easier for my future.”

Just days later, Rozhanksy was selected to participate in the January 2018 MLS Combine, however, he dropped out and chose to pursue a deal overseas instead.

“In my senior season, I did really well, and throughout the year I knew I was going to go to the draft and was pretty sure I was going to go to Toronto FC. I spoke to them a lot throughout my time with GM Tim Bezbatchenko, and my agent told me that they were kind of the wavelength that if Jake was available that they’d be taking me… I was excited, but the season ended, and a couple of teams after the Maccabiah games asked me to stay…  Maccabi Netanya asked me to come on trial for 10 days… I spoke with my agent who spoke to Itamar Keinan, the Sporting Director of New Mexico United, who told me to go and if nothing, to come back and go to the combine, I went, did really well, and on the last night of my stay, Maccabi Netanya played Maccabi Tel Aviv at the national stadium, the coach came up to me after the game and offered me a 3-year contract.”

After calling his mom who told him, “Do whatever you want to do, it’s your life.”, Rozhansky dropped out of the MLS Combine and chose to sign on January 11th, 2018, to a 3-year contract with newly promoted Israeli Premier League club Maccabi Netanya.

Less than one week later, on January 19th, 2018, He was selected 44th overall in the 2018 MLS SuperDraft by the Columbus Crew, who retained his MLS rights for two seasons.

On getting drafted, Rozhansky said, “I wasn’t even sure that I could be drafted, because I announced that I signed with Netanya, so I called my agent and was like ‘I got drafted?’ and he was like ‘yeah, Columbus want to take the chance on keeping your rights’, but I never did.”

Jake Rozhansky celebrates with teammate in a match for Maccabi Netanya. Image Courtesy of Jake Rozhansky.

Rozhanksy made his professional debut of Maccabi Netanya on January 29th after he replaced Aviv Avraham in the 84th minute of the 2-1 victory over Beitar Jerusalem. Rozhansky went on to make 13 appearances for Maccabi Netanya before his 6-month contract ran out. Following the completion of his contract, Maccabi elected to extend his contract for two additional seasons.

On his time with Netanya, Rozhansky stated, “I joined Netanya, and we finished in 4th in the upper playoff, which was crazy for a team that just got promoted to finish that high is really good. They took my option for 2-more years, and I had a chance to start but was behind Dia Saba, an attacking mid who had 20+ goals in both the promotion year and the first year I was there. He was visiting Champions League teams, and they saw me stepping into his role as they were looking to sell him, and he ended up signing a contract extension with the club, which meant I’d be coming off the bench… I spoke with my agent, and we looked for loan options.”

“Hapoel Katamon wanted me, and it was really a mutual thing between me and Netanya, and they wanted me to do well and comeback, so it worked out…”

To begin the 2018-19 season, Rozhansky played in 5 matches for Netanya, before the club’s coach elected to loan him to Liga Leumit side Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem.

On his time with Hapoel Katamon, Rozhansky stated, “Statistics wise, I wasn’t great, but I was doing well.”

Jake Rozhansky holds the 2018-19 Toto Cup Leumit Trophy after winning with Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem. Image Courtesy of Jake Rozhansky.Rozhansky made his debut for Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem just one day after being loaned to the club where he came off the bench in their 1-0 victory over Hapoel Petah Tivka. His first career start for the club came in the Toto Cup Leumit Final, where his squad went on to win their first ever cup title.

Congrats to local @Jroz12 on scoring his first professional goal over in Israel to help his @HapoelKatamon side beat 1st placed Nazareth Illit!

Rozhansky is an alum of the @OBGCRangers, @BethesdaAcademy, Montgomery Blair HS & @umterps #RepDMV | #DMVBred pic.twitter.com/JqRVoR4s77

— DMV Soccer (@DMVSoccer96) May 6, 2019

Rozhansky went on to appear in 28 matches (11 starts) for Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem where he tallied 1 goal and 0 assists. He registered his 1st professional goal with the club on April 15th versus Hapoel Nazareth Illit.

Rozhansky stated, “Come the January window, the club made some… toxic decisions where it hurt the locker room… It led the club to go down a dark path, lose a handful of games in a row, which led to the coach who wanted me to get fired. ”

“The new coach came in and didn’t like me… I wasn’t fluently speaking Hebrew, so it was a complete mess the second half of the season. We went from automatic promotion to not making the playoff. It was sad to see the club doing so well to explode like it did… and in the end, all I wanted to do was to return to Netanya because it would be better.”

Following the completion of the 2018-19 season, Rozhansky returned to Maccabi Netanya, was informed by Maccabi Netanya manager Slobodan Drapić that he was no longer in the club’s plans and that he should look for a new club.

Rozhanksy stated, “When I returned to Netanya, things had changed, new players came in, the coach basically told me, ‘You didn’t do well at Katamon, you’re not in my plans’, which was difficult, because they saw what had happened at Katamon, and it really affected me.”

After hearing that from his coach, Rozhansky stated “In my mind, I was like, I don’t give a f— that he said that to me, I was training on my own trying to make it clear that I want to be here, but he basically told me, ‘If you stay here, you will not be a part of training, you will train with the fitness coach’, so, I spoke with my agent, I was 22-23 at the time, wanting to play, I was on great money, I wanted to play…”

“Another team, Hapoel Afula hired a coach that spoke English that I knew well, that really wanted me, and said that they’d sign me if I broke my contract with Netanya.”

After ending his contract with Maccabi Netanya, Rozhansky joined Liga Leumit club Hapoel Afula F.C. on June 21st, 2019. His contract was a one-year deal with an option for a second season. However, the start of the season did not go to plan for Rozhansky. Just 2 weeks before the season began, it was revealed that Rozhanksy was 1 of 7 players that could not be registered by the club due to club financial issues.

“The manager of the team, not the coach, the manager came to me and says, ‘We don’t have money to register you’, I was like ‘are you guys f—ing kidding me?’, and I was like, ‘oh my god, what do I do’, I spoke with my agent, they told me they’d figure it out, and I just continued to train.”

After close to 2 months, Rozhanksy was registered. He stated, “I’m getting you registered for the next game, I fought with the club for so badly, to get you registered… I was excited, I was going to start the next game, and then 2 days later, the coach walks in and I could see something was wrong, and they fired the coach that signed me… so, they bring in another coach, who didn’t work out.. he was there for a couple of months, then they brought in a 3rd coach… it was a nightmare.”

Due to the confusion, he was ineligible to participate in the Toto Cup Leimut.

Jake Rozhanksy (12) looks to make a pass in a match for Hapoel Afula F.C. Image Courtesy of Jake Rozhansky.

Throughout all the ups-and-downs, Rozhansky went on to make 30 appearances with Hapoel Afula. He scored 1 goal for the club, which came in 1-0 victory over Hapoel Ramat Gan on December 9th.

At the end of the 2019-20 season, Rozhansky departed from the club.

Maccabi Herlizya logo. Image Courtesy of Maccabi Herzliya FC.

On September 3rd, 2020, Rozhansky went down a division to sign with Liga Alef club Maccabi Herzliya FC.

He made his debut for the club on November 20th where he started in a match versus Ironi Ashdod in the fifth round of the Israel State Cup.

Rozhansky went on to make 12 appearances for the club before departing in early March of 2021.

On why he joined Herzliya, Rozhansky stated, “I joined Herzliya to do well with them, but I wanted the opportunity to come back to the States and had a contract where I could leave at any time, so it worked out.”

“I told Clint that I wanted to leave, and Clint was like, ‘If there is an opportunity next year, I will call you again, and then, I spoke to Clint again, and he said, ‘come now’… and that’s how I got to the Revs.”

New England Revolution II announce the signing of Jake Rozhansky on April 1st of 2021. Image Courtesy of New England Revolution II.

Following his departure from Maccabi Herzliya, on April 1st of 2021, Jake Rozhansky signed with USL League One club New England Revolution II. The league is the fifth tier of the United States soccer league system.

Upon his signing, he was immediately installed as team captain by Head Coach Clint Peay.

“I flew from Tel-Aviv to Boston, then within 2 days, I flew to Fort Lauderdale, I got to the locker room after 2-3 sessions of training, and I had the captain’s armband on the hook of my locker room. I called my mom because Clint had not told me, I was very surprised and very honored.”

Rozhansky went on to make his club debut in the 2021 season opener as the Revolution II went on to defeat Fort Lauderdale CF 1-0.

During the 2021 campaign, Rozhansky appeared in 23 matches (started every match). He registered 0 goals, tallied a team-high 6 assists and had 9 yellow cards.

On completion of his first season in New England, Rozhansky stated, “I thought I was one of the best players in league one, and Curt re-iterated that to me. The whole goal was to sign with Revs II and within a season, to be elevated to the first team. At the end of year meeting, I told Curt that I think that I deserve to be the first team, and he agreed. He then said however, ‘It’s up to Bruce’. A few weeks later, Curt told me that he’d be in contact with me, and I was at the MLS Cup Final between Portland and NYCFC, I had friends playing, and he said Bruce didn’t want to bring me in for preseason and that it was his decision.”

On hearing Arena would not be taking the midfielder, he said, “I was disappointed, I told him I didn’t want to do another year at Revs II, and I told him, ‘Thank you for everything, I’m leaving.’, A few weeks later, Curt called again, and we had another conversation… I was talking with my agent because he was trying to get me into preseason even though I was told no. I thought I had another month because I thought I was going to USL and then 2-days before Revolution preseason, Curt told me he’d get me in, but I had to sign a contract first. So, I did, I believed in myself, I showed up not as fit as I should’ve been, but I believed in myself, drove 8 hours from Maryland, went to preseason, went to LA with the first team and really didn’t get a chance under Bruce.”

“He told me I wasn’t as fit as a player should’ve been for a player fighting for the second team. I told him, regarding the circumstances that I felt hard done by, I played in 1 preseason game out of the 3, and I thought I did really well, but that led into my second Revs season.”

Following the completion of the 2021 campaign, the New England Revolution II left the USL League One and joined the newly launched MLS NEXT Pro. The league is the third tier of the United States soccer league system.

Rozhansky re-signed in mid-February with the club prior to the beginning of the 2022 season.

Revolution II midfielder Jake Rozhansky (32) looks to make a pass in an MLS NEXT Pro match versus Toronto FC II. Image Courtesy of the New England Revolution II.

During the 2022 campaign, Rozhansky appeared in 22 matches (starting in 20), where he registered 0 goals, 4 assists, 5 yellow cards and 1 red card. The club failed to make the MLS NEXT Pro Playoffs and finished in 7th place in the Eastern Conference Standings.

“That conversation with Bruce earlier affected my season, I still did really well, not as good my first, my first was really really good, but that whole situation took the wind out of my sails… that led me into my third season where I was out of contract, and I don’t think Curt went into my 3rd season saying the club was going to sign me because that was my chance, and I didn’t get called-up, and I didn’t think he was going to sign me, but he thought I’d be a good leader, so I re-signed for my 3rd year.”.

The 2023 campaign was Rozhansky’s best season with the New England Revolution II. The defensive midfielder appeared in 28 matches (starting in 23). Rozhansky registered his 1st professional goal with the club on March 27th, 2023, in the club’s 3-2 victory over Atlanta United 2. It was his lone goal of the season. He went on to add 6 assists, and 9 yellow cards to his season tally. The club made the 2023 MLS NEXT Pro Playoffs after finishing in 2nd place in the Eastern Conference Standings (4th best in the league). The club managed to win 2 playoff matches. The squad won the Conference Quarterfinals match 3-2 versus 7th seed Philadelphia Union & then won the Conference Semifinals 2-1 versus 4th seed New York Red Bulls II. The club was unfortunately defeated 1-0 at home in the MLS NEXT Pro Eastern Conference Finals versus the Columbus Crew 2.

“The 3rd season was the most talented team we had for my time with the Revs. The first two years laid the groundwork, and I really liked the style that we played. We added good pieces, Peyton, Malcolm, Esmir, though Esmir had already gone to the first team, Tiago, Jack, I could go on, I can’t remember all of the names, however, we added a striker that would score multiple goals in Jordan, we were solid at the back with Pierre and Victor, we had Colby who had experience, we had very good goalkeeping between Jacob, Nico, and Max, all really good goalkeepers.. We were a really strong team that progressed as the year went on”.

Foxborough, Massachusetts: Revolution II midfielder Jake Rozhanksy looks to receive the ball in an MLS NEXT Pro Playoff match versus Columbus Crew II. (c) David Kilburn

Rozhansky went on to comment about the coaching changes that affected the unit as a whole.

“We still don’t know what happened with Bruce. They never told us. We hear stories, we see what the media says, but we are in the same exact boat that you guys are in. I 100% have no idea what happened. The decision was made, Curt got elevated… we had Marcelo as a coach for a bit, and then he got elevated when Richie was removed, and then Rob & Brad came in… it was confusing.”.

“Unfortunately, with the coaching changes, I’m going to be honest, I think it definitely affected us. We were on a run, we were comfortable, we were in a system, and when all of that stuff changes, it’s hard. Even if a coach gets fired, which was not our case for the second team, but it sucks that it happened. We were on such a good trajectory… I don’t think that changes if we weren’t affected by the changes… Regardless, we should’ve beat Columbus, it was heartbreaking end to our season.”

Reflecting on his time with New England, Rozhansky said, “I was proud on what I did for 3 years, and how I held myself up with mental struggles, and I honestly felt I was hard-done by, and I wanted to hold myself to a standard as the captain of the team, and I wanted to help my teammates and to have the last season to be the best that we had, it was special.”

New England Revolution II end of season roster decisions. Image Courtesy of New England Revolution.

Following the completion of the 2023 season, the New England Revolution II announced their end of season roster decisions on November 3rd. The club had announced that Jake Rozhansky was 1 of 6 players whose 2024 contract options were declined, meaning that Rozhansky was a free agent.

“This year, the club told me the club wasn’t bringing me back… However, I would’ve told the club to decline it. The club was really good about this, they knew where I wanted to be, I knew they wanted to get younger… The writing was really on the wall. Curt had really good things to say about me, as do I about him, it kind of came down to me taking time from a younger player or their opportunity, so it kind of was mutual.”.

Since his departure from the Revolution, Rozhansky has been searching for a new club.

In regard to his offseason. stated, ” I went to Argentina in the offseason to go to an extension of the Maccabiah Games, it was the pan-am games, which takes place in South America, and the coach who coached me in 2017 asked me to come play, so I did… and I wanted to get back with the guys…  I’m going to be honest, I’ve been in contact with my agent, nothing had come up like that, so far, that I could say no to… I still love the game, and there is still a lot of time. I also have a lot of other interests that I have been pursuing. I have been helping a lot of guys on the Revs with money decisions and investing, so I’ve had a lot of people telling me I should get into finance and advising… I thought about being an agent and I really don’t want to do that.”

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Rozhansky right before the season ended started working with a finance group, The Bulfinch Group, in Needham, MA, where he has his own wealth management practice, which is one of his goals, to help players so that their futures are set up.

“Players don’t really have an education in those things, so I’ve been doing that in my offseason, I don’t know what the future holds, and I have always been a player that goes crazy after practice, as that ran from 9-12, and I always ran into, ‘what do I do from 12 to when you go to sleep’, and I like being busy, I like helping people, so it’s been a journey.”.

Rozhanksy went on to add that he holds a coaching license and that it could be in the cards to pursue a coaching career…

He stated, “I think it’s definitely in my calling to coach. People at the Revs have said it, Curt has made comments to me about it… Players and management have not said it bluntly, but they’ve alluded at it… I just have to find the right time and place to do it.”

“There are a lot of things that are going on, I’m my own boss now, and I’m trying to be successful and prepare myself correctly for the future, as I know soccer won’t be there forever, as a player, but I love it to death, and I want to be a part of the game in some way.”

Rozhanksy is continuing to live in Boston, with his girlfriend and is excited for the potential opportunities and future that lies ahead.

Be sure to follow Jake on social media below:

Instagram: Jake Rozhansky (@jroz12) • Instagram photos and videos

Twitter: (2) Jake Rozhansky (@Jroz12) / X (twitter.com)

LinkedIN: (2) Jake Rozhansky | LinkedIn