Auston Kranick Shares About Unique Soccer Career That Started in Murrysville

It’s not often that soccer players from western Pennsylvania have the chance to play the game in European soccer club academies. In a country with a huge population, it’s almost unfathomable how our soccer tradition on the men’s side hasn’t caught up too much with the rest of the world yet. But, little by little, we are making the necessary moves to improve the soccer landscape in this country. One of the many players who would be excited to see it is current Flower City Football Club midfielder and Murrysville, Pennsylvania native, Auston Kranick.

(Photos courtesy of Flower City Union FC)

Kranick sacrificed a good chunk of his teen years traveling around Europe to be a part of Genoa Cricket and Football Club’s U16 Academy team in Italian Serie A in Italy, with ChievoVerona’s U17 in Italian Serie A, and with West Ham United’s International Academy. Mostly, these opportunities took place in the winter through summer months in order to stay committed to Franklin Regional’s nationally ranked high school team that he was an integral part of. No matter where this soccer journey has taken him or will continue to take him, his foundation started by being a player in the Murrysville Area Soccer Association (MASA).

“This big community of soccer growing up helped me meet people I am still friends with to this day. I was surrounded by a close-knit and supportive community. The bond with these people started because of soccer, but it carried over into life. Our group really stuck together over the years and it pushed me to be a better player and person in general.”

The crew of 2018 through 2020 graduates at Franklin Regional helped to bring the first ever WPIAL championship in boys’ soccer back home. To this day, hoisting the championship trophy is one of his proudest moments and fondest memories from his athletic career. Players on his high school team are continuing their days as athletes all over the country, and in Kranich’s case, even abroad at points.

In order to take on the opportunity to play abroad, Kranick was homeschooled and remained a resident of Murrysville to keep his eligibility in order at Franklin Regional. When he was not living abroad in his middle and early high school days, he was representing Arsenal FC, a local western Pennsylvania club team or he was playing at the FC Barcelona Academy in Grande, Arizona as well. When there was an opportunity to be had, Kranick found a way to chase his dream of playing professional and figured out all the finer details in life as life went on.

He left his high school and club career with having been a four-year letter winner, a three-time All-Area selection, a two-time All-District, Offensive MVP, and section champion, a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Pittsburgh Tribune Review Player of the Year Finalist, an all-state selection, a WPIAL champion, a state semifinalist, and a three-time State Cup Champion with Arsenal FC.

While there were opportunities to play abroad following his high school graduation in 2019, he decided that a full scholarship at Oakland University in Michigan was his best chance to improve his skills before going abroad. While it only ended up being one year of college soccer, this year was one filled with personal growth that helped him realize he needed to work on some personal things and that college was an endeavor best served for later in his life.

His agent helped him to find an opportunity at just 19 years old to play professionally through a pandemic nonetheless. At first, Kranick was worried that he made the wrong decision of foregoing his college eligibility to play professionally. But now, there’s no question he made the right decision. Over his career, he’s had stints with the Pittsburgh Hotspurs, Corpus Christi FC in the United Soccer League 2, Fort Wayne FC in United Soccer League 2, and now with Flower City Union FC in the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA). Now in his second season with Flower City Union, the Westmoreland County product is hopeful he can help this club improve their record while also advancing his way through the ranks to play at the highest level possible.

“My job is to go play a game,” he said. “I never had a backup plan. I always wanted to play soccer. It has been my whole life. To wake up and call myself a professional athlete is something I am truly thankful and blessed to be able to do. Flower City is a new organization and Rochester is a great soccer community. It’s up to us to put the X’s and O’s together to help this team win. There were a lot of lessons learned last year, but for the 2023 season, I think this is going to be a really good year for this club.”

With the 2022 season being the first for Flower City, it meant an opportunity to find what worked and what did not work. Not to sugarcoat it, the team did not perform as well as everyone hoped. But, it did not deter him from hanging tough because he knew he had the support from his siblings (Travis, Sydney, and Haylee) and his mom Sheryl back home. These four are the reason he continues to chase his dream and the people who have helped him maneuver the soccer landscape the way that he has.

“I owe everything I have to my mom. She is my rock and number one supporter. The hours she spent driving me to practices and tournaments, the hours she worked to buy me flights, the nights she wouldn’t eat so I could have more fuel for practice all mean so much to me. The work that my mom did to give us the opportunity to grow up in Murrysville is incredible. I literally don’t know how she did it. She’s a superhero.”

After this season with Flower City, it is unclear what direction his playing career will go. Throughout the USL and NISA, it is common to have year-by-year contracts and for players to have various opportunities both in the United States and abroad after the conclusion of each season. For now, he’s committed to playing the best soccer of his life for soccer fans in Rochester, New York. At just 22 years old, his best soccer is still in front of him.

“I’m trying to get to the highest level that I can. It doesn’t matter where it is. I just want to be the best player I can and unlock the peak of my abilities,” he said.