Loyola Marymount University
Harvard West High School
Harvard WestLake Middle School
Chivas USA Academy Soccer-U18. 2014-2015
Striker FC USA Academy Soccer- U16. 2013-2014
Striker FC USA Soccer- U15, Pre-Academy. 2011-2013
Santa Monica United Soccer Club – U12, U13 & U14. 2009-2011
Pacific Coast Soccer Club – U9, U10 & U11. 2006 – 2009
Jun Chong Tae Kwon Do – 2001 T0 PRESENT
Matthew Alexander Gooden is a college-bound freshman with highly rated “academic”, “athletic” and “artistic” talents. He will attend the Frank R. Seaver College of Science & Engineering at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) the fall of 2015. Matthew is the eldest son of Lisa Maree Campbell Gooden, Esq. and Gary Anthony Gooden – Jamaican nationals (and naturalized US citizens). He was born (on April 22, 1997) and raised in Los Angeles, California, where he resides with Lisa, Gary, and his younger teenage brother, Marcus.
Matthew graduated on June 5, 2015, from Harvard Westlake School, a top 20 nationally ranked college prep school. A recipient of academic and athletic scholarships from LMU – Matthew’s current goal is to strive academically and Orchestra, Tuba obtain a civil engineering degree, play at the highest level of competitive college soccer, as well as potentially play professionally. Matthew is also a talented artist- both visual and musical – and enjoys music production. His musical repertoire can be found online on SoundCloud (soundcloud.com, Search “Emzhi”).
He is very focused both in and outside of school. He commenced playing soccer (AYSO), baseball and basketball at age 4, ultimately focusing on soccer at the competitive “Club” level (Coast Soccer League) at age 8, then the more competitive “pre-Academy” level at age 14, and onto the elite “Academy” level at age 15. Matthew started Taekwondo at age 5, attained his 1st Dan (1st degree black belt) in 5 years, at age 10, and then his 2nd DAN (2nd degree black belt) at age 14. While in 6th grade at the St. James Episcopal School and well on his way to being a well-rounded student athlete with top ISEE scores, Matthew was accepted into all of the 5 independent schools (Buckley, Windward, Oakwood, Campbell Hall and Harvard Westlake) to which he had applied for middle school (7th grade). While at HW (middle and high school) he exceled in Track and Field, setting and holding the high school record for the 330 meter hurdles, and played Varsity high school soccer as a freshman and sophomore (while still also playing at Club and then pre-Academy levels outside of high school). Top scorer for HW during the 2012/13 CIF season, he was also awarded top soccer player for the school as well as being “All Conference First Team CIF”. However it was his hard work, and talent as soccer player in the elite US Soccer “Academy” level outside of high school, that provided him the opportunity to play not just on the US West and East Coasts, but also internationally at the annual Dale Farm Milk Cup in Northern Ireland (UK) in 2012 and 2014. Matthew’s academic profile from a top 20 nationally ranked college prep school and his achievements as an elite US “Academy” level player, meant that by the time he was a high school junior he was a well-rounded student athlete being closely reviewed by over 25 coaches from Division 1 colleges and universities, ultimately verbally committing to LMU before the Fall semester of his senior year.
10th Grade Art by Matthew A. Gooden
Self-Portrait based on Van Gogh’s “The Night Café in Place Lamartine in Arles”, Hand Morphing into a Squid
1st Dan 2007, 2nd Dan 2010, 2nd Dan 2014