St. Dominic High School cheering on alums Ream, Sargent on Team USA

ST. LOUIS (KMOV) - They’re from the same hometown, went to the same high school, and played on the same club team. Josh Sargent, 22, and Tim Ream, 35, are making history as Team USA competes in the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

On Tuesday, students at their alma mater, St. Dominic High School in O’Fallon, Missouri, watched the U.S. beat Iran on a giant projector screen in the school’s new atrium.

“It was awesome, it was so thrilling, so exciting, and when they scored the goal, everybody went crazy,” said Greg Koeller, head varsity soccer coach at St. Dominic.

Koeller, who’s been in the role for the last 21 years, said it’s incredible to watch two former student-athletes compete at the global level.

“The whole town, the whole greater St. Louis community is so proud of them,” he said.

Ream is a 2006 graduate of St. Dominic High School and played varsity boys soccer all four years of his high school career. Koeller remembered when he first encountered a young Ream.

“Tim came about as a freshman and we brought him up to varsity right away and I put him in the backfield right away and he was a starter for me from the get-go,” he said.

In 2004, during Ream’s junior year, the team won the school’s first-ever boys soccer state championship. Ream’s name accompanies his other teammates on the school’s state championship banner.

“By the time he was a junior, everybody knew he was top talent,” he said.

Ream would go on to play soccer at St. Louis University, graduating in 2009. Upon graduation, he played with the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer, where he was a finalist for MLS Rookie of the Year in 2010.

After playing two seasons in MLS, Ream headed to Manchester, England, to play with Bolton. After four years, he signed a contract with Fulham FC in 2015.

More than 10 years after Ream first walked the halls of St. Dominic, Josh Sargent followed in his footsteps but would take a slightly different path.

Ream played both soccer and basketball during his time as a Crusader, but Sargent ended up playing varsity basketball as a freshman, Koeller said. Sargent and Ream both played club soccer outside of school, too, he said.

In his sophomore year, Koeller said Sargent moved to the U.S. Residency Program in Bradenton, Florida, to train with the national youth men’s soccer team.

“It wasn’t until he left to play with the national team and I told him I was on the very first national team, youth team, that we made a really strong connection together,” he said.

Bummed Sargent wouldn’t get to take the field in a high school game, Koeller said he understood the situation and believed Sargent had unlimited potential.

“His talent level from the beginning has been incredible,” he said. “What he’s able to do is amazing talent.”

On the international stage, he became the youngest player to score for the U.S. at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup at the age of 17 in May 2017.

Josh Sargent signed for Norwich City from Werder Bremen during the 2021/22 summer transfer window.

“We are so proud and it’s definitely unique,” Koeller said. “I think it speaks to the caliber of soccer we have here in St. Louis. The region has sent a lot of players to the national team and it’s quite the honor.”

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