It took nearly six years for goalkeeper Jamie Lowell to return to the East Coast after moving from New Hampshire to Seattle, Wash. Then, after four years at the University of Maryland, Lowell decided to move further north to the goalposts of Tenney Stadium.
Lowell, originally from Brentwood, N.H., played his last few years of high school soccer across the country in the Seattle Sounders MLS Academy. He trained with and even played for their second team, Tacoma Defiance (Sounders II at the time) in the USL Championship, the second division of American soccer featuring professional adult players from all around the world.
Coming out of high school, Lowell held offers from powerhouses like Clemson, Michigan, Kentucky and Maryland. In the end, he chose Maryland due to its fans and the ability to play right away.
“They have the best fans in the country,” Lowell said about the crowd at Ludwig Field.
Before his move across the country, Lowell played for Seacoast United in New Hampshire, starring on their under-18 team as a high school freshman. That garnered interest from those high-level Division I colleges, as well as professional clubs like Columbus Crew and New England Revolution as well as the Sounders. Unless Lowell stayed local and signed with the Revolution, there was to be an element of travel as the Crew play in Columbus, Ohio, and the Sounders are on the West Coast.
Ally Bain, the director of Seacoast at the time and a close friend of Lowell’s, got in contact with Seattle and set up a trial. Lowell ended up choosing the West Coast-based side over the local Revolution in part because of the livability, as well as the Sounders’ reputation. The MLS team has won two MLS Cups, four US Open Cups and one CONCACAF Champions League. The academy side is not as successful, but has continuously developed talented players that have gone on to have successful careers.
In Seattle, Lowell lived with a family in a homestay program, which was not available at the Revolution due to his distance from its home at Gillette Stadium. He and his parents would have had to drive 90 minutes south nearly every day, which was not feasible. Moving across the country alone, under the age of 18, is a huge challenge, but Lowell took it head-on.
Lowell was not always a goalkeeper, though; in fact, his main sport going into high school was lacrosse. His goalkeeping journey only started after watching a highlight tape of Iker Casillas, the legendary Spanish Real Madrid goalkeeper.
“I started watching videos [of Casillas], and I said ‘oh, I gotta try that,’” said Lowell.
Moving ahead to his first season at Maryland, Lowell was immediately thrust into the spotlight as he played eight games, seven of which in the very tough Big 10 Conference, and even appeared in a national tournament game.
“I played in the USL Championship games before, I didn’t feel a ton of pressure,” he said.
That was the spring season of 2021, as his freshman fall season was cancelled due to COVID-19. That gave Lowell an extra semester to bond with his new team and coaches, but also fight for his spot with fellow goalkeeper Niklas Neumann, who Lowell says is one of his best friends despite their yearly position battles.
Then, in the fall of 2021, Lowell felt a pop in his hip while taking a goal kick.
“I couldn’t really move, so I sat down. I was out for the fall, and I tore my meniscus in our first spring game,” said Lowell, who had his fair share of injury struggles early on.
Lowell began the 2022 season on the bench as Neumann started. Neumann was fresher and healthier after Lowell missed all spring with injury and spent a lot of time rehabbing. He did make an impact upon returning, though, playing in six games towards the end of the season and going undefeated. Maryland won four of those six, and Lowell let in just one goal per game while making 18 saves across the matches.
Heading into his senior year, Lowell knew his side was not going to be as talented as it had been previously. A lot of players had graduated or transferred out, and it was shaping up to be a tough year.
“[It was] more about making sure we maintained the standard,” said Lowell. “It was a tough year, probably the toughest year for me in terms of soccer, then hurting my back and shoulders.”
Lowell only played in seven games as a senior as Maryland missed the national tournament for the first time in over 20 years. After the season, Lowell made the decision to leave Maryland and enter the transfer portal. The Terrapins were bringing in Laurin Mack, a goalie from Germany, who, according to Lowell, was an immediate choice to start over him. Mack’s presence on the team was a deciding factor for Lowell to hit the transfer portal.
Once he entered the portal, Lowell had a few different schools reach out to him, but Marist caught his eye due to the connection they had with his roommate.
Lowell’s roommate at Maryland was Steph Copetti, a transfer from Marist, who led the Red Foxes in scoring during their MAAC championship season in 2021. Upon hearing about his contact with Marist, Copetti was adamant that his roommate check it out.
“We got Steph’s recommendation, and we kind of hit it off; he’s a great kid,” said head coach Matt Viggiano.
After some thinking, the New Hampshire native chose to move further up north and a full three hours closer to home by becoming a Red Fox.
Lowell’s career at Marist started with a tough slate of non-conference games; he conceded 10 goals in three matches to powerhouses like Wisconsin, Marquette and Cornell. In MAAC play, though, Lowell played to a 3-3-2 record with 27 saves, allowing just 1.60 goals against average.
Injury followed Lowell to Marist, however, as he ended the 2024 season with an ankle bone injury in his side’s playoff game against Quinnipiac. Backup goalkeeper Drene Idrizi stepped in and played well, but the Red Foxes were ultimately eliminated in the semi-finals by eventual champions Iona.
Lowell was also one of the captains on that team despite it being his first season with the side. All three of the captains in 2024 were transfers, as midfielder Andrea Nguionza joined Marist after one season at Virginia Commonwealth University and defender Stephen Betz moved south after four years at Syracuse, including a national championship in 2022.
“There were so many leaders on that team,” said Lowell. Lowell and Betz were the only two graduate students on the 2024 team, but there were four seniors as well as three juniors. The seniors, who totalled nearly 23 full games worth of playing time, were led by attacker Richard Morel, who led the team with eight goals.
“He pushed his group; he was the vocal guy before games,” said Viggiano about his goalie.
2025 started out magnificently for Marist, as they went unbeaten in non-conference play — Lowell kept three clean sheets in those six games — and, after winning their first two conference games, got to 17th-ranked in the whole country.
“It was very great, and we deserved it, but it was scary because at some point we knew the wheels were gonna fall off,” said Lowell. “You just hope you can catch it.”
The wheels did in fact fall off when Fairfield came to Poughkeepsie and smacked the Red Foxes, 5-1. Lowell did not even play the full 90 minutes.
“It was tough getting smacked down at your own place,” said Lowell. “I’m the goalie, I’ll take the blame for everything that goes in the goal.”
Lowell recalls the team feeling upset in the locker room after, without much joking around. Everyone wanted to bounce back.
“I’d say we honestly handled it decently well in the locker room,” said Lowell. “We were pissed, upset, but if we had come in laughing and joking around, I’d have been more scared.”
The bounce back never quite came; Marist missed the playoffs after going 4-4-2 in conference play. In a season full of extreme highs — Marist went undefeated in their first six games and was ranked as high as 17th in the country, a ridiculous achievement for a MAAC school — it ended with the lowest low as they fell apart and failed to make the MAAC Tournament.
Lowell did finish with good numbers — 48 saves with a 1.40 goals against average and an 8-4-4 record — but his career ended without a trophy.
A long career, which took a winding path, finally reached its destination. Looking ahead, Lowell is done playing soccer and will move on to the professional sphere, where he wants to work in corporate finance before potentially moving on to law school.
Edited by Max Rosen and Michael Schiavone
Photos from Kira Crutcher and Ricky Torres
Graphic by Isabel Cortese
For more coverage of Marist Athletics, follow @cfmarist on Instagram, X, TikTok and Bluesky. Sign up to receive daily alerts here.