{"id":816747,"date":"2026-07-21T17:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T17:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/816747\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T17:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T17:00:08","slug":"eiu-mens-soccer-welcomes-large-incoming-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/816747\/","title":{"rendered":"EIU Men’s Soccer Welcomes Large Incoming Class"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eastern Illinois men’s soccer head coach Ruy Vaz<\/a> has announced the addition of 12 new players that will be joining the Panthers roster for the upcoming 2026 season.<\/p>\n

The group includes a mixture of four-year transfers, junior college and high school players that will mesh with the Panthers current roster that played through the spring.<\/p>\n

Joining the Panthers in the class are Pedro Arthur Albuquerque, Marcos Ayelo, Carmelo Bello, Lucas Comitre, Keidin Green, Bernardo Hanel, Sein Hatamoto, Shuto Ishikawa, Owen Johnson, Santiago Montoya, Kai Odagiri and Joao Peres.<\/p>\n

EIU opens its exhibition season on August 9 hosting Lewis & Clark Community College with the regular season opener on the road on August 20 at Omaha.\u00a0 The regular season home opener at Lakeside Field will be Thursday, August 27 against Wright State.<\/p>\n

Listed below are bios in each of the 12 incoming athletes\u2026

\n\u00a0

\nPedro Arthur Albuquerque (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) played the last two seasons at Monroe University in the Bronx, New York\u2026 played in four matches during the 2025 season after playing in two matches during the 2024 campaign\u2026 was a member of a team that reached the semifinals of the NJCAA East District Tournament\u2026 was named a third team NJCAA All-Academic selection as a sophomore\u2026 finished high school playing career at Montverde Academy in Orlando, Florida playing for coach Kevin Varnardo\u2026 earned the Eagles Award\u2026<\/p>\n

Marcos Ayelo (Alicante, Spain) played the last two seasons at Maryville University in St. Louis\u2026\u00a0 as a junior helped lead the team to the GLVC Tournament Championship as they advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament falling in the first round on penalty kicks…\u00a0 helped the team win 12 matches making 13 starts with 20 total appearances\u2026\u00a0 scored seven goals with one assist finishing second on the team in both goals scored and total points\u2026 had a two goal match during the season against Missouri St. Louis before scoring in the GLVC Tournament Championship match and NCAA Tournament contest\u2026 played in all 20 matches during the 2024 season with 12 starts\u2026 had one assist against Quincy\u2026 helped team reach NCAA Tournament first round finishing with 11 wins\u2026 was an All-Academic selection\u2026\u00a0 played 2023 freshman season at NCAA Division II Salem University in West Virginia\u2026 appeared in all 17 matches with one shot on goal for the year\u2026 played at the prep level for coach Oscar Diaz at \u00cdES Antonio Navarro SANTAFE\u2026 served as team captain in final two seasons\u2026<\/p>\n

Carmelo Bello (Madrid, Spain) played the 2025 season at Monroe University in the Bronx, New York earning second team NJCAA All-America honors\u2026 appeared in 13 matches making nine starts\u2026 finished with 13 total points scoring six goals with one assist\u2026 recorded a two goal match during the season against CCBC Essex\u2026 helped team post seven wins ending the season in the East District Tournament semifinals\u2026 played freshman season for current EIU head coach Ruy Vaz<\/a> at Cowley College in Kansas\u2026 appeared in 21 matches with eight starts on a team that finished as the NJCAA National Runner-Up with 16 wins\u2026 scored nine goals with four assists including a two-goal match against Kansas City Kansas CC\u2026 earned first team All-KJCCC honors\u2026 played at the prep level at \u00cdES Gonzalo Chac\u00f3n\u2026<\/p>\n

Lucas Comitre (S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil) played two seasons at Neosho County CC in Kansas\u2026 started all 43 matches over two seasons\u2026 in 2025 made 20 starts finishing with one goal and one assist scoring the goal against Patrick & Henry CC\u2026 in 2024 made 23 starts ending season with three goals and two assists\u2026 registered both a goal and assist in win over Southeast CC\u2026 earned first team All-Region honors as a defender in 2025\u2026 helped team win 15 matches in 2025 as they advanced to the NJCAA Division II National Tournament\u2026 as a freshman helped lead team to 20 wins as they lost in the NJCAA Division II National Championship match\u2026 finished career as the school’s all-time leader in matches played\u2026 President’s Academic List\u2026 attended Colegio Carlos Drummond de Andrade in native Brazil playing club soccer\u2026<\/p>\n

Keidin Green (Chiba, Japan) played two seasons at the College of Idaho in Caldwell, Idaho\u2026 played in 14 matches making 13 starts during the 2025 season\u2026 scored 12 goals with five assists to finish with 29 points and earn first team All-Cascade Collegiate Conference honors\u2026 led team in both goals scored and total points while ranking first in the conference in scoring\u2026 had four multiple goal matches during the season including a hat trick (3 goals) against Walla Walla CC\u2026 had two goal contests against Corban College, Providence (Mont.) College and Evergreen College\u2026 as a freshman in 2024 earned honorable mention All-CCC honors\u2026 appeared in 15 matches with two starts\u2026 scored eight goals with four assists to finish with 20 total points\u2026 added first career hat trick against Walla Walla CC\u2026 attended Yamabe High School in Nara, Japan playing for coach Daizo Okitsu\u2026 was the Nara Prefecture D1 League top scorer\u2026 named to National High School Championship Nara Qualifying Tournament All-Tournament team\u2026 helped lead team to Nara Prefecture Inter-High Championship\u2026 was the National High School Championship Nara Prefecture Runner-Up\u2026 graduated second in class as salutatorian\u2026<\/p>\n

Bernardo Hanel (Canela, Brazil) played the 2025 season at Indian Hills CC helping the program win the NJCAA National Championship\u2026 appeared in 21 matches with four starts as team won 12 matches\u2026 had two goals and two assists during the season including a goal against Montgomery College in the NJCAA Pool A Tournament\u2026 played freshman season at Lincoln Trail College in Robinson, Illinois\u2026 started all 14 matches while serving as team captain\u2026 finished the season with eight shots\u2026 played club soccer in native Brazil while attending high school at Danton Corr\u00e9a da Silva\u2026<\/p>\n

Sein Hatamoto (Okayama, Japan) played two seasons at Casper College in Wyoming appearing in 31 matches with 28 starts\u2026 as a freshman in 2024 made 13 starts with 16 total appearances\u2026 during the 2025 sophomore campaign had 15 starts on the pitch\u2026 passed out two assists in 2025 coming against Lamar CC and Otero College\u2026 helped team win ten matches while reaching the NJCAA Region 9 semifinals\u2026 named second team All-Region and earned Region 9 All-Tournament team honors\u2026 team won 11 matches during freshman season reaching Region semifinals\u2026 played for coach Yoshiaki Takahara at Okayama Gakugeikan High School\u2026 helped team qualify for the 102nd All-Japan High School Soccer Championship\u2026 led team to the round of 16 at the 2023 All-Japan High School Sports Festival\u2026<\/p>\n

Shuto Ishikawa (Chiba, Japan) played the 2025 season at Angelina College in Texas\u2026 appeared in 15 matches making 11 starts\u2026 finished season with four assists including a two assist match against Miami Dade College\u2026 added other assists against Texas Southmost College and LSU Eunice\u2026 began collegiate career in 2024 playing at Murray State College in Oklahoma\u2026 finished season with five goals and seven assists helping team win 18 matches while reaching the NJCAA Division I National Tournament\u2026 appeared in 17 matches with 14 starts during the year\u2026 registered a seven point match with three goals and one assist against Northern Oklahoma College Enid\u2026\u00a0 attended Chiba Meitoku High School\u2026 played club for Jef United Chiba U-18…<\/p>\n

Owen Johnson (Chicago, Ill.) played soccer for coach Miguel Cedeno at Kenwood Academy….\u00a0 was a two-time All-Conference selection helping Kenwood win the 2025 Midway Cup and Metro Conference Championship\u2026\u00a0 also earned varsity letters in baseball and golf while lettering four times in soccer\u2026\u00a0 played club soccer for Chicago Edge SC\u2026 honor roll\u2026<\/p>\n

Santiago Montoya (Homestead, Fla.) played the last two seasons at Barry University in Florida\u2026 as a sophomore in 2025 appeared in seven matches with three starts\u2026 scored lone goal of the season late in the year against Florida Tech\u2026 as a freshman in 2024 started all 14 matches for the year\u2026 scored first career goal against St. Leo with an assist during the season against Nova Southeastern\u2026 named to Sunshine State Conference Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll\u2026 was born in Medellin, Colombia but grew up in Florida graduating from Florida Virtual School\u2026 played high school soccer for coach at Kameron Clark at Columbus High School in Miami leading the team to 20 wins over two seasons\u2026 played club for PSG Academy Miami, Miami United and Strikers Miami Elite\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kai Odagiri (Kamakura, Japan) played 2025 season at Otero JC in La Junta, Colorado appearing in four matches in goal for an Otero team that won the NJCAA District 9 championship\u2026 finished with a 3.00 goals against average for the season with a clean sheet against Gillette College\u2026 finished season with 13 saves\u2026 opened collegiate career in 2024 playing freshman season at Phoenix College\u2026 appeared in 12 matches with ten starts finishing year with a 0.93 goals against average\u2026 posted four complete match shutouts while seeing partial time in goal during two additional shutouts\u2026 finished season with 33 saves\u2026 helped team win 17 matches and reach the NJCAA Division II National Tournament\u2026 attended Hiratsuka Gauuen High School playing soccer for coach Jiro Hiratsuka\u2026<\/p>\n

Joao Peres (Londrina, Brazil) played 2025 freshman season at Tusculum University in Tennessee\u2026 appeared in 15 matches making 13 starts\u2026 had one goal during the season coming against Lincoln Memorial\u2026 attended Colegio Londrinense\u2026 played at the club level in his native Brazil for Capeconense, Londrina EC, Portuguesa Santista and Portimonense SC\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eastern Illinois men’s soccer head coach Ruy Vaz has announced the addition of 12 new players that will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":816748,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-816747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=816747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/816748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=816747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=816747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=816747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}