Before he had celebrated his fifth birthday in Lausanne, Switzerland, Lyam MacKinnon's interest in soccer had already been piqued.
 
Rita MacKinnon, his grandmother, was an accountant for UEFA, the governing body of European football. During visits, he would often leaf through books with images of some of the continent's legendary performers.
 
 "I was really young," recalls MacKinnon, who will begin his junior year at Villanova this fall, "and I remember watching the EURO's 2004. That is the first soccer memory that I have. I was really into soccer at that point. I just really liked it."
 
Flash forward to the present, where MacKinnon prepares to enter his third season as a central cornerstone of the Wildcats' attack when preseason camp begins in August. Over his two seasons, he has created consistent opportunities, leading Nova in scoring during the abbreviated spring 2021 campaign (two goals, two assists in nine appearances).
 
"We were a young team that really started coming into its own towards the end of the season," MacKinnon says. "The results weren't what we wanted, especially early, but we came a long way and I'm really excited to see where that can take us this season."
 
MacKinnon sought to emulate his UEFA heroes in a park near his home in Lausanne with young friends learning the game. A few years later, he was selected from a large pool of candidates to be part of a regional side within Switzerland. It was an early indicator that his soccer skill might take him beyond his hometown and ultimately led to club opportunities as he moved through the teenage years.
 
While playing for Lausanne Sport's U21 Reserve Team, a first division club in his hometown, a friend, Jeremy Jaquier, left Switzerland to play college soccer at Longwood University (he later transferred to James Madison University).
 
 "I just saw that his experience looked very good," MacKinnon states. "He's a very good player and that gave me a perspective on what the playing level is in U.S. college soccer. I had my high school degree, so I realized that America could be a good place to come to pursue elite soccer and my studies."
 
Video highlights of MacKinnon came to the attention of Villanova head coach Tom Carlin. The Wildcats' staff made contact and MacKinnon began researching the University and its soccer program. Carlin later came to Switzerland to get a first-hand glimpse of MacKinnon in game action and they later shared a conversation in Geneva.
 
 "As Coach Carlin explained the culture of the program, it was clear to me that this was an ambitious program and I wanted to have an ambitious challenge in front of me," says MacKinnon. "That's what convinced me to come."
 
Of course, journeying across the Atlantic Ocean for four years of college is no small undertaking. Yet there was a very distinct choice that may have tipped the balance in favor of pursuing an international experience.
 
"I considered staying in Switzerland," he says now. "The problem with that is that there is no affiliation between sports and college there. Trying to do both things at the same time is really difficult, just from a scheduling standpoint. If I had games away, it could overlap with an important class. Or there could be conflicts with class times and team training.
 
 "It was either one or the other in Switzerland. America offered both."
 
There was no trial run. When MacKinnon boarded a flight to Philadelphia International Airport in August 2019, it was to begin training with his new teammates for the fall season.
 
 "It came really fast," he says now.
 
The first thing he noticed as he began working alongside his new teammates at the Higgins Soccer Complex was the temperature.
 
"It's a very different climate," he says with a smile. "It's way more humid than what I was used to."
 
Yet in a short amount of time, the new forward/attacking midfielder was having an impact. In his collegiate debut he scored a goal and added an assist in a 5-0 home pitch victory over Delaware. The next week he scored the game-winning goal in wins over Temple and Fordham.
 
"I was really excited to come into a new environment," he states. "I think that played a role in my success in the first 4-5 games. I had a lot of energy playing in new places against different competition."
 
As the 2019 campaign churned on, though, the realities of BIG EAST soccer took hold. Space was harder to come by against opponents who had watched video of his early exploits. Defenders were not afraid to use their size and strength, especially inside their own 18-yard box. And the compact slate of games – 18 regular season matches and two scrimmages in a 12 week span – conspired against the newcomer.
 
"I started to realize it was wearing on me as we got further into the season," MacKinnon states. "The game was way more direct than in Switzerland. In Switzerland it's more possession oriented and here it's more transition oriented. It goes from one box to the other."
 
MacKinnon was named to the Philly Soccer Six All-Rookie team and finished second on the team in points in what was a productive debut. He was part of a promising crop of rookie Wildcats that included fellow internationals Josh Belluz and Viktor Benediktsson that loomed as the foundation of an exciting chapter in program history.
 
The Wildcats were immersed in the spring schedule in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. The University quickly shifted to virtual classes for the remainder of the semester, all athletic events were cancelled, and the bulk of the student population sent home. For MacKinnon and some of his fellow international teammates, including Benediktsson, Theo Quartey and Seidu Shamsudeen, the situation was more muddled thanks to varying travel restrictions.
 
And then it became even more complicated for MacKinnon.
 
"I had COVID, so I ended up in the Health Center for eight days," he says. "Those were the longest eight days of my life."
 
In April, MacKinnon did make it home to Lausanne. Switzerland was in a lockdown at that point before a downward turn in cases allowed for some movement in the summer. MacKinnon did his best to stay fit, but it was a challenge.
 
In August, he returned to Villanova amid uncertainty about what athletics competition might look like in the midst of a pandemic. The Wildcats were able to train in small pods of four athletes or less. The regular season was pushed back into the spring and at that point there were no guarantees it would happen.
 
"That period was really tough," MacKinnon says. "You know your next game might not be for six months. But our coaches did a great job of coming up with different ways to compete that helped."
 
In mid-January, the Wildcats reconvened and began full practices for a truncated season that began with a stirring 1-0 victory over national power Akron in a scrimmage in Pittsburgh on Feb. 8. Yet the reality of an untested roster that had played precious little 11 v 11 soccer together soon became apparent.
 
The regular season opened with four straight home games, a place where Villanova has had much success in recent seasons. However, the conditions were rugged – a snowpack of a foot or more in some places surrounding the field, frigid temperatures and, in some instances, rain and snow. With a short training runway, the Wildcats quickly fell into an 0-4 hole. But wins at St. John's and a 4-1 triumph over Connecticut at home in March signaled improvement as Nova headed into the home stretch of the BIG EAST season.
 
Alas, the final three regular season matchups were cancelled due to COVID-19 issues within each of the opponent programs. The 'Cats then scheduled a friendly at No. 4 Wake Forest, generating plenty of quality in a 1-0 loss to the Demon Deacons. The final record stood at 2-8.
 
"Once we found our soccer identity, we were starting to see how we could control parts of the game," MacKinnon states. "I think the UConn game was where we got a result and played well. It's a shame that those last three games were cancelled. I was interested to see how we could continue to develop.
 
"Coach Carlin said this season was about figuring stuff out for ourselves. Once we figured that out, it was just about maintaining that performance. Even after two weeks without a game we played fantastic at Wake Forest. We didn't get the result but I think that game showed what the future is for this program."
 
As for 2021, MacKinnon hopes to provide more opportunities in the attacking third of the field.
 
"We've been very solid on defense and in goal," he notes. "As a forward, to me the biggest thing we need are goals. We've always been dangerous on offense, but there have been too many times we have missed the finishing piece.
 
"For me, I've had to adapt to a different style of play. I need to be more efficient when we are attacking."
 
Soon MacKinnon will return home for a few weeks before rejoining his teammates and coaches back at Villanova in August as the group begins its preparation for a chance to build on the foundation already in place. Now established as a BIG EAST mainstay, MacKinnon hopes to help the Wildcats climb the ladder to success this fall.
 
"For us, we want to maintain what we showed at the end of the season," he says of the 2021 regular season, which is slated to get underway in late August. "Our group, the juniors, has two years of experience with this. The challenge now is to get results. That's what we need to accomplish, I think."