Lions rookie makes a splash
Lions rookie Daryl Dike defies expectations as steady scoring threat
Orlando City striker Daryl Dike’s breakout season helps team to first playoff berth and portends bright future.
This wasn’t the rookie season Orlando City leaders envisioned for striker Daryl Dike.
When the Lions selected Dike fifth overall in the MLS draft in January, executive vice president of soccer operations Luiz Muzzi said he didn’t expect Dike to make a splash in his first year. The front office and coaches had come to a consensus — the best move for the then-19-year-old would be a gradual transition into the league.
Ten months and eight goals later, Dike defied all projections and showed no signs of slowing down.
With star striker Dom Dwyer injured, the rookie stepped up to make an indelible impact on the Lions’ attack. Dike quickly carved out a spot as the starting striker for a team on its way to making history.
It wasn’t in the plans, but Dike’s breakout rookie year has lifted the Lions to new levels.
“For me, that’s what soccer is all about, right?” Orlando City CEO Alex Leitão said. “When you have that opportunity to do your best, you take it.”
Dike’s entire career has been
about exceeding expectations. He grew up in Oklahoma, a state that isn’t known for producing soccer stars. On top of that, he played for his local high school, Edmond North, rather than an elite club team.
Since Oklahoma isn’t a major recruiting destination, Virginia head coach George Gelnovatch relied entirely on film before offering Dike a full ride scholarship.
That’s a rarity for Gelnovatch,
who won five ACC titles and two NCAA championships in his 24 years at Virginia. But he recognized the raw potential of Dike’s frame and the hunger of his movement.
After seeing his older brother Bright at Notre Dame, Gelnovatch trusted that Dike could be honed into a major offensive threat.
Dike entered college heavier than he is now. Gelnovatch said he wasn’t exactly overweight, but he’d bulked up in a way that wasn’t ideal for a soccer player.
After his freshman season, Dike dropped 12 pounds and focused heavily on his technique. He spent hours drilling runs and finishing, learning how to cut dynamically and hold the ball up at his feet. During scrimmages that spring, Gelnovatch says the switch flipped.
“At that point, I was clearly saying — this guy is gonna be special,” Gelnovatch said.
When Dike chose to declare for the draft after his sophomore season, Gelnovatch worried he wouldn’t get enough playing time as a rookie. Before the pandemic, it seemed the coach’s forecast was accurate as the Lions focused on gradually increasing Dike’s professional minutes.
The MLS is Back Tournament changed everything, when the frantic nature of the tournament led to Dike making his pro debut in the Round of 16. Although he tallied more yellow cards than goals, the minutes set him up to springboard into the regular season.
Even as he awaited playing time, coach Oscar Pareja noted Dike was patient and proactive about his development.
“Sometimes with the young players, we need to take the responsibility, be patient and wait for the right moment,” Pareja said. “I don’t think that we have to play them just to play and impress. We need to play them in a situation that is good for them as well and with Daryl we created an important process. We let him feel comfortable with the competition, work with the players and I feel proud because he understands that this is something that you learn with time.”
Throughout his rookie season, most conversations about Dike center around his size.
Yes, the kid is big and strong. At 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds, Dike often is a wrecking ball, sending smaller defenders bouncing off his hips and shoulders as he hammers into the box.
“He’s a monster,” midfielder Mauricio Pereyra said. “He’s so big, he can protect the ball like nobody on the team.”
Those who have watched Dike the longest, however, say there’s a lot more to him than just pure brawn.
A fellow Virginia product, Orlando Pride rookie Courtney Petersen watched Dike grow up as a player in Charlottesville. The pair grew closer after they were both drafted by Orlando clubs, helping each other get acclimated and providing a social bridge between the younger players on both teams.
For Petersen, watching Dike’s run this season has felt like a “big sister” moment. But she feels that amid all the hype of his size and strength, fans and analysts miss out on another trait that makes him deadly — the velocity of his movement both on and off the ball.
“I think a lot of people talk about how strong he is and how he can just, like, plow through players, but it’s also his speed,”
Petersen said. “You don’t really know what he’s gonna do. You give him an inch of space and he’s just gonna rip it.”
Teammates and coaches alike describe Dike as a fierce competitor, a description that might not seem to fit with his broad smile and jovial appearance off the pitch.
While some players have night-and-day personalities, that’s not the case for Dike. He’s just as buoyant on the field as off it.
After Dike scores, his celebrations are goofy and light-hearted — dancing with his tongue out, holding a hand up to his ear, impersonating a mummy after scoring while his head was wrapped up in bandages due to an injury.
“It’s funny because that bubbly personality, I don’t know if I can separate the two,” Gelnovatch said. “That personality carries him over to the field. He’s bubbly on the field, too. It’s just a different level of it. That bubbliness just becomes a little more fiery.”
For Orlando fans, teammates and coaches, the most exciting thing about Dike is that he’s just getting started.
The rookie’s on-ball movement and first touch has visibly improved with each match, leading to highlights like his ruthless finish in the fourth minute against Nashville. That improvement comes from a sharp hunger for constant improvement.
“Every single practice, every single training session, every single day, I try to learn from all the players around me and all the coaches around me and try to make myself the best player that I can possibly be,” Dike said. “I think that’s the main goal and luckily I’ve been blessed with being placed in a good environment with all the people around me in a great club to do that.”
More than his size or speed, Gelnovatch feels Dike’s intelligence is what has allowed him to earn a starting role so quickly.
He graduated in the top 5% of his high school class the same year he won state Gatorade Player of the Year, a rookie who spent his downtime in the MLS bubble taking online finance classes from Virginia.
Dike is quick to dive into film and ask questions, particularly with veterans like Nani, Pereyra and Dwyer. His coaches and teammates note the way he listens to advice, as if he’s processing and applying information in real time.
“I think that Daryl has grown up really fast,” Pereyra said. “Confidence is really important in the striker. In the beginning, he had some moments, and he was asking for help in how it was better to move and how it was better to play and he really listened to everybody in those kinds of things. That’s why he has grown up so fast and that’s why he’s having this confidence.”
The same question has swirled around Dike as he devoured his rookie season — what’s next?
He finished third for MLS Player of the Year with 10.79% of the vote, trailing behind two of the biggest stars of the league — LAFC phenom Diego Rossi and Philadelphia’s Brenden Aaronson. U.S. men’s national team coach Gregg Berhalter has expressed interest in working with Dike.
“I’m curious, and I can’t wait to see it,” Gelnovatch said.