ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Seven minutes after coming on as a halftime substitute, Tampa Bay Rowdies trialist goalkeeper Nico Campbell faced his first big test as Atletico Mineiro’s Patric Cabral lined up a free kick on the right.

Cabral’s near-post delivery found the head of Rodrigo Prado, skipped off the turf, past Campbell’s left hand and into the back of the net. Campbell slumped to the turf.  

“As a goalkeeper, as a trialist, you don’t want to let anything in,” Campbell lamented after Saturday’s Florida Cup contest. “Even if it’s a cracker, a good goal, you don’t want to let it in. So of course I’m mad about that, but I moved on quickly from it and the game went on.”

For hundreds of players like Campbell, who are looking to earn their first professional contracts this preseason, moments such as this don’t often make or break a team’s decision on whether they want to offer a contract. The PDL’s No. 2-rated goalkeeper in 2016 after a standout season for the Des Moines Menace, Campbell has looked solid in the two halves of action he saw over the past two weeks for the Rowdies.

Coming in after a strong career for the University of Valparaiso, the Jamaican is working on trying to lock up a place behind returning Rowdies starter Matt Pickens. A PDL All-Central Conference selection for the Menace last year, the experience he took from the day-in, day-out rigors of competing in Des Moines have helped make his first professional training camp a little less daunting.

“That helps build your confidence,” Campbell said. “When you play a lot of games, you keep getting good training and coaching, that helps you get there. When you do that more often, when you get to these stages, it would be a step up, but it wouldn’t be very difficult to go there.”

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As Nico Campbell looks to make his case to be part of the team, Rowdies Head Coach Stuart Campbell is putting together pieces for the roster he will take into the 2017 season. With agents and players reaching out regularly looking to get a chance to be seen, the offseason is a busy time for the Rowdies’ staff as they look to supplement the players already under contract, or the new additions they’ve targeted independently, with those looking to earn a spot.

Stuart Campbell believes the Rowdies’ participation in the Florida Cup this year was an advantage, as he got to test players not only in training, but in two competitive games against Germany’s VfL Wolfsburg and Brazilian side Atletico Mineiro over the past two weekends. While the performances in those games mattered some, though, there was much more to the evaluation process.

“The way they train, and the way they act behind the scenes. We’ve got a good spirit behind closed doors, so anyone that comes into the club - they have to build on that,” said the Rowdies’ Head Coach. “That’s one of the key things. The decision [to sign a player] wasn’t really going to be made on how good you are against two really, really good teams. We wanted to see the fundamentals, and I think we had some good performances from [the trialists].”

Another former PDL player on trial with the Rowdies over the past two weeks was Jaime Siaj, who featured this past summer for the PDL’s Charlotte Eagles while also starring for Division II Pfeiffer University. Siaj had four goals for the Eagles in the regular season, another two in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, and then exploded for 19 tallies and 16 assists as Pfeiffer reached the Third Round of the NCAA Tournament. As such, while roster spots may be few, Siaj doesn’t believe it’s a cause for pressure on those looking to earn one.

“If they brought us here, it’s because they saw something,” Siaj said. “I don’t think that’s a pressure, it’s actually a motivation because we knew there were a few spots, so we have to fight for them.”

And regardless of whether Siaj or Nico Campbell is on the Rowdies’ roster when the season starts, the experience they can take with them from their first experience in the pro ranks will be something that will stand them in good stead no matter where their professional career begins.

“If you can be in training camp at a level like Tampa Bay, you get the consistency of training every day,” Campbell said. “The environment is all about soccer. That helps me, the two weeks that I’ve been here, it helps me to grow a lot. I’ve learned a lot since I’ve been here.”

“We are still missing two rounds of the draft, so let’s see what happens there,” Siaj added. “I’m looking forward to finding a team and playing somewhere.”