From a Wisconsin school with little soccer tradition to No. 3 in the MLS draft: Meet Logan Farrington
Not when he was a tot wearing West Ham United FC pajamas.
Not when his English-born father first put a black-and-white ball at his feet.
But as Logan Farrington remembers it, it wasn’t long after that he decided he wanted to play soccer professionally. No, not wanted to. Would. He would play for a living.
This is quite the stretch for a kid growing up in Racine, for someone who would get into school in Union Grove for the academics only to play for a program that had never had a winning season in the sport.
And yet here Farrington is.
Eleven days after his college career ended in the NCAA semifinals, FC Dallas traded up to pick him at No. 3 in the MLS draft. Last week he took part in the league’s rookie symposium in Miami and then went on to Dallas to get settled for training camp. In a little more than a month, the regular season begins.
It’s time to reset goals.
“I believe it’s just a step,” Farrington said in a recent interview as he was wrapping up his holiday visit with family and friends.
“I don’t know who said this, but there were a few English professionals who said you’re not a professional until you play your first hundred games. Then you’ve made it. I kind of live by that. I might have the title of being a professional, but by no means have I made it. There’s still a lot of work to do.”
Logan Farrington is the highest MLS draft pick from Wisconsin
Plenty of Wisconsin players have made it to the MLS, the 29-team league is the highest level of professional soccer in the United States and Canada that launched in 1996.
There have been other first-round picks with Wisconsin connections, but it doesn’t appear any went higher than Farrington, who finished his college career with Oregon State after three years at UW-Milwaukee.
Six players born, raised or schooled in the state played in MLS games last season, according to wisconsinsoccercentral.com:
Ethan Finlay, a midfielder who played for Marshfield High School, completed his 12th season, the last two with Austin FC, and has started 214 of his 313 games.
Esmir Bajraktarević, who was born in Appleton and played for SC Wave Academy, has played in 16 games over the last two seasons with the New England Revolution. Bajraktarević, 18, was recently called up to the U.S. men’s national team.
Two are former University of Wisconsin athletes: Chris Muller from Schaumburg, Illinois, who has played in 146 games over six seasons including two with his hometown Chicago Fire; and Tom Barlow from St. Louis, who has 123 MLS games over five seasons with the New York Red Bulls.
Luis Barraza, a four-year player at Marquette University from El Paso-Juarez, started 24 games in goal for New York City FC and also played five in 2021.
Milwaukee-born but Las Vegas-raised Matt Polster has played 186 over eight seasons.
The most tenured MLS player to have played for UWM is Tony Sanneh, who appeared in 130 games in eight seasons from 1996-2009.
UW had two first-round picks in 2018 (Chris Mueller sixth by Orlando City SC and Mark Segbers ninth by the New England Revolution) and had one player selected last month, goalkeeper Nate Crockford, who went to D.C. United in the third round.
Logan Farrington and Union Grove High School soccer grew together
Farrington, 22, grew up the son of a devout West Ham fan who maintained his allegiance well after moving to the U.S. in his mid-20s. Although the family lived in Racine, he followed the path of his sister, Bristol, to attend school at Union Grove.
The irony for someone so enamored of the game is Farrington would play it at the high school level for a program with little WIAA history. But he and some of his teammates from the Milwaukee Bavarians club team, which plays in the spring, were able to leave their mark.
“We had our first positive year, and Sean Jung, who was the coach then and is still the coach, helped me out a lot as a player and gave me a lot of freedom to grow as a player,” Farrington said.
“They actually just won their first state cup this year (WIAA Division 2), so I was very proud to watch them do that. I know what it was like when I was there, and it’s slowly becoming a soccer school, which I love to see.”
Farrington’s soccer journey runs through UW-Milwaukee to Oregon State
Farrington committed to UWM, where he played for three seasons, leading the team in scoring twice and becoming a first-team all-Horizon League selection in 2021, ’22 and ’23.
From there Farrington transferred to Oregon State, where he scored 15 goals and 27 points and became a United Soccer Coaches and Top Drawer Soccer all-American and Pac-12 player of the year on a team that came one game short of a berth in the national championship game.
If getting to Division I was a breakthrough in Farrington’s rise in soccer, he said, then having the opportunity to play on the West Coast was a launching pad.
“If you haven’t experienced it outside of Wisconsin, the soccer culture, it’s a big shock,” Farrington said. “I went out to Ventura County (California) Fusion, which is a USL2 team, which is like a college league in the summer. I went out there for two summers.
“I’m playing with players from UCLA, Portland, Oregon State, Washington, all these big, big soccer schools, and the culture there is so different. People breathe soccer out there. That’s what I loved about it, because I’m the same way.
“That opened my eyes and made me realize I needed to go to a place like that.”
What can Farrington expect as an MLS rookie?
Less than a week after the Beavers were knocked out of the tournament by Notre Dame, Farrington was picked third in the MLS SuperDraft. To get him, FC Dallas sent $300,000 in general allocation money and its 15th pick to Inter Miami FC.
Here’s where Farrington is trying to not get too far ahead of himself.
He believes he was a worthy third pick. He’s confident his Ventura County and Oregon State experience made him as ready as he can be. And he’s heard all the right things about Dallas’ plans for him to be a contributor as a rookie.
But it’s still new.
“I’m very, very excited,” he said. “As you know this has been a dream, playing at the highest level for me is so fun and I enjoy putting my boots on every day and going out to the field and playing.
“So I think the next two months for me, they’re going to be difficult just because it’s a new environment, the players are going to be the top players in the country and it’s a job, so you know there’s going to be a little more pressure and stress. I think I’m going to have a lot of fun.”
Farrington is hopeful FC Dallas can improve on a 11-10-13 record and first-round playoff exit, but he makes no predictions. As for himself, year one is more about development than statistics.
“Becoming a better player,” Farrington said of his definition of success in 2024. “Getting on the field is a big one, because a lot of rookies struggle to get minutes, and I think getting minutes early on in the season is a good goal to have. See if I can work my way into the team and earn a spot. Then from there, hopefully the goals start flowing.”
He’d like to play his way into national team consideration in the coming years, too, but that would just be an extension of his growth.
Can one MLS player make a difference to the Wisconsin soccer culture?
Although Farrrington is about to become the most successful professional athlete from Union Grove High School – he thinks there might have been someone who played baseball, but he’s not sure of a name – he has kept in touch with his roots. That’s something he plans to continue.
The passionate Milwaukee soccer community doesn’t have a pro team of its own but is on track to get one in the second-level pro USL Championship in 2026. Now it’s about to get another rising pro player from the area for whom to cheer.
These are little steps, but if Farrington can help bring attention and develop interest in the sport that’s consumed him nearly all his life, then that’s a worthy goal too.
“I use the high school example a lot just because I feel like that’s such a drastic effect I can see,” Farrington said. “I like to think I changed the culture at Union Grove to an extent, as well as a bunch of other guys who came through the program. … I was just as happy that they won state cup this year as I would have been if I won it. Because I know what years and years of guys had gone through at that program not having a winning season before us, because I know (many) of those guys and how much support they gave me when I was there.
“So I want to do the same thing (at higher levels). … I’m hoping I can become a better player, I can build a good reputation and people can realize, wow, it’s possible to make it out of Milwaukee. And hopefully more people follow.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Union Grove soccer player Logan Farrington is Wisconsin's top MLS pick
