Soccer
Favorite athlete: Dak Prescott, because he has worked hard for everything that he has earned in life and is a great person on and off the football field.
Favorite team: The Dallas Cowboys because my Dad raised me as a fan and I am very connected with the franchise and its players.
Favorite memory competing in sports: Scoring the two goals in our 2-1 win against CB South at South this year. One of them being a header off of a corner and the other being a game winning penalty kick.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Almost every time I started for East in my junior year, they would announce my name wrong. It got to the point where I was completely used to it and the whole team found it funny.
Music on playlist: Mostly chill Indie rock/R&B with a small mix of early 2000s rock.
Future plans: Attend college for History and live in New York City, potentially during college and definitely once college is done.
Words to live by: Expect nothing, appreciate everything.
One goal before turning 30: Own an apartment in NYC.
One thing people don’t know about me: I collect records, some of them being older like Pink Floyd, but some being newer like Tyler the Creator and Tame Impala
By GORDON GLANTZ
Before his senior season ended with a broken collar bone, Alden Iurato was proving to be the definitive captain for the Central Bucks East soccer team.
“This year Alden was an easy and obvious choice for captain and has lived up to the role in the most incredible of ways,” said coach Josh Isaacsohn. “He is consistently one of the most focused, dedicated, hardworking and caring, friend,
student and East community member. He is simply a young man who gets it right all of the time and shows others how to get it right as well. He does this through example as his actions speak volumes about the kind of person he is and the kind of amazing family he comes from.”
Since the injury, his leadership has never been in doubt.
“Unfortunately, Alden took a bad fall during a recent game and broke his collarbone,” said Isaacsohn. “This major setback was a heartbreaker for all who play with or care for Alden. However, even while in the hospital and after returning home, Alden continues to consistently show incredible strength, maturity and leadership.”
Before the injury, Iurato was having a dream season that included both goals in a 2-1 win over rival Central Bucks South – the eventual Colonial Division champion. It was an injury that was as devastating emotionally as it was physically.
“It has definitely been a much different experience,” said Iurato. “I already knew I was going to have to step up a bit more as leader from last year. I have been at the practices, just out there leading the guys in most of the drills. Before the games, I am talking my team up and getting them excited and ready to play. I feel like I’ve done well with that.
“Once I got injured, it didn’t really change. I am doing all the same things that I had been doing. The only difference was that I’m not out there playing with them. I’ll still talk with them on the bench and stuff like that.”
Iurato admits that it was difficult to come to grips with suddenly losing his senior season.
“At first, it was super tough,” he said. “I remember that night, after I first got hurt, just thinking to myself about how I wasn’t ever going to play again, so that was really tough.
“It took me maybe a week or two and I just kind of accepted it. I know I can’t change it now, so I just do the best that I can.”
Unique Situation
Iurato’s transition to high school soccer – after playing the sport since a young age — was eased by the fact that he goes way back with Isaacsohn.
“Actually, he was my fifth grade teacher,” said Iurato, who wanted thank his assistant coaches, as well as Isaacsohn, for their support and guidance. “In all honesty, while I don’t remember too much from fifth grade, I do remember him being a great teacher.
“He just did a lot of hands-on stuff and connected a lot with the kids. It was great already having that connection when he became my coach, because he knew what I could do and I knew what he wanted.”
The feeling was mutual.
Said Isaacsohn: “It has been my pleasure to know Alden since elementary school. Since a young age, Alden has always carried himself with confidence, shown amazing empathy toward others while always being the hardest worker in the classroom or on the soccer field.”
Off the Field
Alden – the son of Amy and Brian Iurato – is also an avid collector of vinyl records.
“It started a couple of years ago when I found a couple in the basement that used to be my dad’s records,” he said. “They had an old record player that they put up in my room, and I started playing them, and then they got me my own record player for my birthday. I have bought a bunch of records since then, and I have them in my room.
“I like to look for them. There is one really good store on the boardwalk in Wildwood, where we go to the beach in the summer.”
Depending on where he attends school next year, Iurato’s soccer career may or may not include playing at the club level.
He is an excellent student with honors and AP classes, and he currently carries a weighted GPA in the rarified air of the 4.27 range. He plans to major in history in college.
“Some of my top schools are NYU, Boston College and William & Mary, but those are like my reach schools right now,” said Iurato, who is a member of the National Honor Society and various other clubs and organizations around school, some as a founder or co-founder. “I already got into the University of Pittsburgh. I also applied to Fordham and Richmond, and I’m working on a couple of more but all on the East Coast.
“I honestly don’t know yet what I want to do. I really enjoy history, so I was thinking I would go to school for that and then, hopefully, decide later.”