HANOVER, N.J. — Success for Red Bulls II isn’t easily defined.
Is it developing players for the New York Red Bulls? Is it winning games and trophies?
The fact is, for head coach John Wolyniec, the two aren’t mutually exclusive.
In a lot of ways, the priority of producing MLS players, a lot of the things you need to do to do that are the same things you need to do to win,” Wolyniec told Pro Soccer USA. “There’s a lot of alignment there.”
And there’s been a lot of success, from both definitions, for Red Bull II this season. Four players — Florian Valot, Ben Mines, Ethan Kutler and Brian White — have all competed and had their own success, with the Major League Soccer team.
Meanwhile, Red Bull II was 13-8-13, good for fifth in the Eastern Conference and a fourth consecutive playoff berth. Red Bull II will face host Charleston Battery in the USL Eastern Conference quarterfinals Saturday at 7 p.m.
“We’ve produced a team that has played our style in a good way, had some bumps in the road for sure, but has come out in a pretty good spot and now have a lot of momentum going forward,” Wolyniec said.
Under the leadership of Wolyniec, a former Red Bulls fan favorite, Red Bull II is one of four teams — along with Louisville City FC, Charleston Battery and Sacramento Republic — to make the playoffs every season since 2015, the year the team was formed.
Since 2015, Red Bulls II has earned the third-most points in USL (Louisville City FC and Sacramento Republic) with 207 and second-most out of Eastern Conference teams (Louisville City FC). No team has scored more goals in USL (259) since 2015.
The club lost in the conference semifinals to the Rochester Rhinos in 2015, won the title in 2016 and lost to eventual champion Louisville City FC in the conference final on PKs a year ago.
The current New York Red Bulls roster is littered with players who have come up through Red Bull II, including regular starters Tyler Adams, Aaron Long, Sean Davis as well as Derrick Etienne and Vincent Bezecourt.
Each player who has come up this year has done well. Mines scored on his debut — a 4-0 win over the Portland Timbers, Valot started 13 of the 14 games he appeared in with three goals and five assists, Bezecourt had two assists in five MLS starts and White also scored his first MLS goal in a 1-0 win over the Houston Dynamo.
Wolyniec is proud of both successes. But he’s also not satisfied.
“My standards are high though. Obviously it’s great to see Ben Mines score a goal in his first MLS game, but I want to see him play consistently. I want to see him move himself up and become a starter and push toward some bigger things,” Wolyniec said. “As much as we can take pride in those certain moments, I’m looking more for games, seasons, careers.”