Brandeis Alumni, Family and Friends

Brandeis Pride on the Pitch

August 11, 2025

Westchester Soccer Club owner Mitch Baruchowitz ’96 brings alumni together for a day of competition and connection.

At a recent Westchester Soccer Club match, a group of Brandeis alumni were seated so close to the on-field action that errant balls regularly ended up in their laps. After the game, alumni enjoyed special access to the home team’s locker room to take pictures and get player autographs for their children. 

Such are the perks of sharing an alma mater with a professional sports franchise owner. As the announcer explained over the stadium’s loudspeakers during the game, these alumni were the special guests of Mitch Baruchowitz ’96, who launched the team last year. 

Regardless of the outcome, the game may have been one of the sweetest for Baruchowitz this early in his ownership tenure, as the match served as an opportunity to partner with Brandeis to celebrate the team’s inaugural season. More than a game, he says the day was a chance for alumni from multiple generations to connect with one another. 

“Bringing professional soccer to a community that loves the game is an extension of one of the guiding principles of my career, which was first shaped by my time at Brandeis: connecting people and trying to create the greatest amount of good,” says Baruchowitz. “To be able to tap into that and find support with my former classmates is a small, but gratifying part of the dream realized.”

From college tennis to professional soccer

Baruchowitz started the club and was admitted into the United Soccer League (USL) last year. The team plays in USL League One, a Division III professional league based in Mount Vernon, New York.

Given his own athletic background – he’s a former Brandeis tennis star – Baruchowitz says it had been a lifelong dream to own a sports franchise. The opportunity to build a soccer team from the ground up was a particularly irresistible proposition.

“You want that reward, walking into that stadium, hearing people and families cheering,” he says. 

His vision is greater than just overseeing a sports team, however. In Baruchowitz’s mind, it’s about building a community, a local point of pride, a family attraction, and growing the sport in the United States ahead of the 2026 World Cup. 

“I had no idea what I was getting into,” he says, noting how everything from staff to trainers to the analytics department needed to be built from the ground up. “But I always had an attitude of, ‘I can find a way,’ now that’s carrying over into soccer.”

Finding his way

“I can find a way” is a mantra Baruchowitz has honed since college. He first heard about Brandeis after his brother, Adam Baruchowitz ’94, enrolled two years earlier. After Brandeis, he went to law school before moving into financial trading.

During this period, a friend and colleague of his was paralyzed after being struck by a car and moved to Colorado to explore medical marijuana for pain management. Baruchowitz stayed in touch, following the legal and financial side of the budding cannabis industry in the state. As time went on, he began to see a potential market. Soon, he co-founded Merida Capital Partners, a private equity fund specializing in cannabis industry investments. Today, Merida holds investments in more than 50 companies.

Staying connected

Baruchowitz has remained involved at Brandeis as well. He has spoken at the International Business School, visiting entrepreneurship and sports analytics classes. In 2021, he made a $250,000 research gift to the university. The Baruchowitz Family Fellowship for Dysautonomia Research is aimed at gaining insight on life-altering conditions that affect the nervous system, like postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, which his ex-wife suffers from.

Meanwhile, the Westchester Soccer Club is bringing Brandeisians together in a number of ways. 

At the game in July – where alumni were routinely catching errant balls kicked out of bounds – the alumni in attendance were there to meet and take pictures with players, sit in on an owner’s briefing, and, of course, watch the game. On the day-to-day front, a few alumni have also become investors in the club, while Rachel Ross MSBA ’25 runs the team’s social media channels. And that, to him, is a true point of pride. 

“I have connected with a lot of former classmates who want to chip in and help. It’s been an incredible and fast journey and I have really benefited from all of my Brandeis relationships. Now it’s time to go out and win!”

This story was adapted from a previous article published by The Justice.