Ross Friedman (soccer)

Friedman is Jewish, and was born in Columbus, Ohio, to Tod and Cheri Friedman, and his hometown was Bexley, Ohio.[2][3][4][5][6] He was a member of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Columbus.[7][8] He began his soccer career at the JCC and on the Columbus Torah Academy recreational FIFA team.[8] He attends both Temple Israel and Beth Jacob Congregation in Columbus.[9]

Friedman attended Bexley High School in Bexley, Ohio where he was a four-year letter winner and captained the Boys' Soccer Team his junior and senior years.[10] During his tenure at Bexley, he led the team to two state semi-final appearances,[11] earning first team All-MSL as a junior, first team all-district, first team all-state and NSCAA all region as a senior.[12] Friedman also played for the Crew Soccer Academy that finished 3rd at the Development Academy finals.[10]

Friedman committed to Harvard University (Government, Economics '14) in 2010.[13] He played in 14 games as a freshman, starting four and scoring the game-winning goal against the University of Massachusetts.[10] As a sophomore, he started all 17 games and led the team in points with six assists and six points, receiving an All-Ivy League Honorable Mention.[14] Friedman attained two all-time records at Harvard his senior year by having 12 season assists and 17 career assists, also ranking 6th in the NCAA in assists and 5th in assists per game.[11] He was named 2nd team All-Ivy League as well as named to the Academic All-Ivy League.[10] He helped the Columbus Crew Junior win the 2010 and the 2011 Super-20 championship[11] and was named the all-tournament teams in 2010 and 2012.[14] He was also a member of the fraternity AEPi at Harvard.[15]

In 2013 Friedman helped Team USA capture the gold medal at the 2013 Maccabiah Games in Israel, leading the tournament in assists.[16] He scored on his penalty kick in the overtime shootout in the championship against Argentina.[16] He said playing in the 2013 Maccabiah Games "was the best and coolest experience in my whole soccer career."[3]

Friedman signed as a Homegrown Player with Columbus Crew on January 8, 2014.[14] He was loaned out to their USL Pro affiliate Dayton Dutch Lions in March 2014.[17] On November 18, 2014, the Crew declined his option.[18]

Friedman then played a short while for an Israeli club in southern Tel Aviv.[15] In 2015, a significant injury forced him to retire.[15]

Friedman then began a career in real estate, working first for Rockbridge, a private investment firm specializing in hospitality investments, from 2015-18.[15] In 2018 he and some partners started Main + High Investments, a private equity and real estate firm in Columbus.[15]