New York Red Bulls' Dylan Nealis, a former state champ at Massapequa, always attacks challenges head-on

Thirteen years later, the memory still resonates with Keith Stanley.

Really, how could it not?

The year was 2013, and Stanley was the coach of the Massapequa High School boys soccer team. He was holding tryouts when a sophomore named Dylan Nealis walked over to him to ask a question:

Could I be on the team?

Stanley knew Nealis came from a soccer family. He was the fourth of four, following ground tread by older brothers Jimmy, Sean and Connor. Stanley knew the youngest Nealis to be talented.

But he had a squad that had the potential to be a state champion.

So Stanley asked the-then teenager a question: Did Nealis think the coach needed him to win a title?

What stood out to Stanley then and now was the surety, the confidence with which the hopeful replied.

“He said, ‘Yeah, I think you do,’ ” Stanley told Newsday. “That’s what he said to me and I just kind of laughed because I loved the answer.”

Call it swagger. Call it belief. Call it whatever you like.

Nealis' response left an impression with Stanley. As did Nealis’ talent. And so he made the team. A few months later, in Middletown, in the state semifinals and finals, the kid whose self-assurance helped him land a spot on the powerhouse squad fully repaid his coach’s conviction.

Stanley said Nealis was "just a difference-maker in 10th grade. We won the [semifinal] and state championship [game] 1-0 and 1-0, and he scored both goals . . . in the 10th grade.”

The epilogue to Stanley’s story is that the back-to-back game-winning goals in elimination games were the first and second of the season for Nealis.

Nearly a decade-and-a-half has passed and Nealis now plies his trade for the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer. But the 28-year-old’s innate ability to influence, which Stanley experienced first-hand so long ago caused Red Bulls coach Michael Bradley to volunteer plaudits of his own following the team’s 1-0 win over NYCFC at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 18.

“You need the right leadership. You need the right experience,” Bradley said after the Red Bulls (9-11-6) passed NYCFC for eighth place in the MLS Eastern Conference playoff race with eight games remaining in their regular season. “He's been excellent. When we've needed him to play center back, he's been there. When we've needed him to play right back, he's been there. When we've needed him to be captain, he's been there. So his commitment, his work ethic, his understanding of how we want to play, that part has been a big, big plus for us this year.”

Much like Stanley, the foundation for Bradley’s relationship with Nealis was laid during a conversation.

During a customary get-to-know-you-phone-call after Bradley was hired in December, the coach asked Nealis if he would consider moving to center-back due to the amount of right and left-backs on the roster.

What did he say in response?

“I told him let’s do it,” Nealis told Newsday. “I told him I’m comfortable anywhere on the back line. Even before this year, I’ve played certain games at center back whether it’s in a back four or back three. So I’m pretty comfortable anywhere. I told him wherever you need me, I’ll be ready to play. So I think he took the message pretty well and trusted me to play as a center back where I haven’t played many games but have experience there. It was just an awesome feeling that he trusted putting me there and we got some good results early on.”

And now Nealis wants more.

He hungers for an MLS Cup. He craves the 31-year-old franchise’s first MLS championship. Not only because of what it would mean for the club, but what it could portend for the future of soccer on Long Island.

“It’ll come,” Nealis said. “It’ll come.”

If that day arrives, there could be a distinct Long Island flavor to the celebration. Because a not-insignificant portion of the fan base makes the 75-minute drive from Long Island to Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey for Red Bulls matches.

Among them are Nealis' parents, Mary and Jim.

Nealis said that him being a member of the Red Bulls is "hopefully inspiring younger generations that come out and see — or even watch on TV — that someone from Long Island can make it to that stage, make it to the MLS."

He added: “Listen. We call it Strong Island. There’s a lot of Long Island pride for people that come from Long Island, so we like to think that it’s the best place in the country and we’ll argue with anyone on that.”