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Alex Zaroyan is a self-described “soccer junkie” for good reason. As a student at Cal State East Bay, Zaroyan worked for Match Analysis, a California based-company focused on utilizing tactical and statistical analysis to judge player’s performances.

Obsessed with the numbers behind the game, Zaroyan learned how to read heat maps and express on-field production through quantitative data. His work aligned perfectly with his passion. His work produced results. And that’s why Syracuse hired him.

Zaroyan joined SU women’s soccer’s staff just eight days prior to its opening game against Delaware. But in his two months with the Orange, Zaroyan has brought an emphasis on looking at the stats behind each game to spur development. He works with a student analytical team to break down the squad’s play. And on Oct. 9, Zaroyan was picked among more than 270 applicants as a participant in the United Soccer Coaches 30-under-30 program.

Initially an athletic training student at Cal State East Bay, Zaroyan’s role at Match Analysis narrowed his future aspirations. With the company, Zaroyan worked an entry-level job, tasked with tracking a specific player throughout a game. His assignments updated every 24 hours and he completed them on an iPad after class and on the weekends.

At the time, Match Analysis was partnered with Major League Soccer. Zaroyan pivoted from analyzing post-game statistics and moved to live tracking for MLS games. Every contest, Zaroyan and his colleagues were assigned different zones to cover. Working with a 12-second delay, the team picked apart each movement.

Zaroyan tracked more than 750 hours of soccer with Match Analysis. He worked on matches in the MLS, Liga MX (Mexico), and international competitions with the U.S. men’s and women’s national teams. It allowed him to view spacing and structure from a different perspective.

“When you watch the game for as many hours as you do, either through a job or in general, you start seeing a lot of different things,” Zaroyan said.

Zaroyan transferred to Temple University at the end of his sophomore year. His departure also meant the end of his two-year tenure at Match Analysis. Zaroyan said he moved because he wanted to pursue sports management and become a coach.

Arriving in Philadelphia, Zaroyan emailed around 100 college programs within a three-hour drive. Only two programs replied, one being Ursinus College — a school with an undergraduate population of under 2,000. He spent his senior year coaching at Ursinus, before taking charge at Angelina College in East Texas. Then, he moved onto Tennesse Martin, where he helped the Skyhawks win 17 games and capture the 2021 Ohio Valley Conference title.

In 2022, Zaroyan won the assistant coaching job at George Washington. After losing its senior class, the program was looking for an identity. Zaroyan turned to analytics. He looked into the team’s passing percentage, breaking down the success rates of their attacking runs.

“I loved that we had those statistics,” said Lauren Prentice, a junior forward on George Washington’s 2022 squad. “I think that’s one great thing he brought to the program, that new knowledge and skill.”

The following year, Zaroyan joined Syracuse’s staff. Since his arrival, he’s tried revamping the way the team looks at the game, working with sports analytics students.

Ian MacMiller, a junior at SU, heads the analytics cohort. During matches, he pulls live video and records stats from the sideline. The rest of MacMiller’s group sit in the stands, jotting down game metrics onto a shared excel sheet.

At halftime, the student team compiles its findings to reveal points of improvement. MacMiller tells Zaroyan and SU’s coaches, allowing them to craft adjustments.

“Alex (Zaroyan) really wants to use the data,” MacMiller said. “He wants to know the details of why certain metrics are low and use it to allow it to help in decision making.”

During his first year working with the program, MacMiller said the analytics team struggled to translate its discoveries in a helpful manner for practice and gameplay. Zaroyan’s addition has eased the transition.

“Because of his (Zaroyan’s) background in analytics, he’s become our main guy to go to,” MacMiller said. “He knows what the data means so we are able to communicate what we see with him and he’s able to understand it from both an analysis side and a coaching side.”

Published on October 24, 2023 at 12:38 am

Contact Aiden at: amstepan@syr.edu | @AidenStepansky