After two years of being apart, the Farina brothers will reunite as Spencer announced he will join his brother and play soccer at Notre Dame.

“I am very excited to play with Jeffery,” said Spencer Farina. “Believe it or not, in the time we’ve both been playing soccer, we have only ever played on the same team for one relatively unimportant indoor tournament last winter. I look forward to the opportunity of finally being able to play with him on a consistent basis.”

Farina played New Trier soccer on the freshman team his freshman year, but made the jump to varsity his sophomore year and stayed on for his junior year. This year however, Farina will be playing for the Chicago Magic PSG on the under 18 academy club.

“I loved my time playing soccer at New Trier, however the coaches I talked to (not just at Notre Dame) told me if I wanted to play collegiate soccer at a high level, I would need to join an academy club,” Farina explained.

Notre Dame is coming off an 11-5-3 season and an NCAA Tournament berth. Farina’s brother Jeffrey is coming off a freshman season in which he scored two goals and had seven assists. He was also named to the ACC All-Freshman Team and the All-ACC Academic Team. According to Spencer, he also has big goals both on the field and in the classroom.

“I think the thing that separates Notre Dame from the other schools I looked at was their combination of great academics and a great soccer program. Having both was really important to me,” said Farina.

Spencer plays the same position as his brother (Forward), so he will have to earn his stripes as a freshman.

“I think the most difficult part of the transition will be dealing with less playing time then I am used to. Very rarely at a school like Notre Dame do freshman get to play a lot of minutes, and with my brother there playing the same position and style, I will have to work very hard to earn my spot on the field,” said Farina.

Notre Dame has been having a ton of success as of late on the soccer pitch. They were ranked number one in the nation last year going into the NCAA Tournament. They made it to the round of 16 before losing to Virginia.

“I have had an opportunity to watch Notre Dame play a lot over the last couple of years and I do feel that they play in a manner that fits my style,” said Farina. “I like to try to hold the ball up to allow faster players to make their runs up the side at which point I feed them the ball. At Notre Dame, they play a style that allows a player such as myself to succeed.”

Thanks to the leadership of Farina, New Trier won 21 games last year, with Farina tallying eight goals and fifteen assists. With Farina leaving, this year’s Trevians team is very young. There are seven underclassmen (six sophomores and one freshman) on the team. New Trier returns only five players from last years team, including Louis Shaw, Daniel Ladik, Jacob Moskowitz, Matt Gallo, and this years’ team captain Michael Gallo.