Men’s Soccer’s Antonio Pinto’s First Season of Success

On a hot summer day in August, first-year forward Antonio Pinto stepped onto Hoyne Field to play his first Division I regular season match against Oakland University. Twenty minutes into the first half, Pinto recorded his first collegiate goal to assist in leading the Ramblers to a win — establishing his role as striker on the team.  

Today, Pinto is ranked 56th of the top 100 freshmen in the country. With two games remaining in the season, he leads the men’s soccer team in goals and has helped lead the Ramblers to victory — many times being the lone scorer in a match.

Going into the season, Pinto said he didn’t expect to have the impact he’s had thus far with the team and attributes his success to not only himself, but to his teammates and the coaches for believing in him.

“I think it’s a great accomplishment, but also mainly focus on the team,” Pinto said. “Without the team, I wouldn’t have been able to get any of those goals, so I give a lot of credit to them because I’m getting a lot of great crosses from our teammates or great moments, chances, passes, so without them I wouldn’t even be able to score those goals.”

Among the teammates Pinto works with on the pitch is his older brother, second-year goalkeeper Frankie Pinto.

The pair officially joined the Ramblers this past January — with Antonio committing to Loyola February of his junior year of high school, and Frankie transferred from Augsburg University. 

Head coach Steve Bode said on the field they compete hard against each other but come game day, they’re also each other’s biggest fans.

“They are quite the characters,” Bode said. “Totally different kinds of personalities but Frankie being the older one, really does his best to help Antonio along and he’s definitely the big brother looking out for him and wants to see him have success. So, it’s a pretty sweet relationship that you can see between the two of them.”

The Illinois natives grew up playing soccer together and with only a year difference between the brothers. Pinto said prior to Loyola, they often played for the same soccer clubs and academies, such as Chicago FC United.  

Although he started playing at four years old, Pinto said the reason he started playing was to follow in the footsteps of his older brother. It wasn’t until he had been playing for a few years, he began to take the sport seriously.

When Pinto was 10-years-old, Chicago FC implemented a youth development academy program in August 2016. The start of this program and its tryouts were the start of Pinto’s decision to take the sport more seriously.

“I didn’t make the team,” Pinto said. “So, then, after being cut I kinda started taking soccer more serious, and I realized I wanted it to be my desire. So, from 10-years-old on, I started working really hard, and then I made my way up to the academy when I was about like 12-years-old.”

Pinto went on to play for the academy for six years and amidst these years, Bode said the coaching staff had been monitoring him since he was just 16-years-old.

Watching him at Chicago FC United, Bode recalled an event where Pinto scored seven goals, and he said his skills as a striker were evident as Pinto was consistently on the stat sheet.

“One of the things we saw in Antonio was, it was very clear that he was a natural goal scorer,” Bode said. “He’s the type of player that when you watch him, maybe he’s not the biggest, maybe not the fastest, but he is a guy that knows where the goal is, and he loves to score goals.”

During the recruitment process, Pinto said he wanted to stay near home, and he knew Loyola had a strong team. During his visit on campus, he was drawn to the welcoming nature as well as the intensity of the team, leading to his early commitment.

With Pinto’s start in January, Bode said he was able to take more time to adjust to the demands of Division I soccer. Despite the success he’s had on the field this fall, his first month was an overwhelming start, but he never complained and continued to show up and put in the work to settle in.

Pinto had also been dealing with a lower back injury at the start of the preseason. It wasn’t hindering his ability to practice or perform, but it did serve as a mental blockage for him. He said he was able to push past it before the season started. 

Pinto’s desire to continue to learn was a trait Bode saw in him during recruitment, and his ability to adapt has been what helped him overcome the uneasy start.

“He’s not satisfied with the status quo,” Bode said. “He wants to keep getting better, keep growing and keep learning. So again, in his time here, that’s exactly what he’s done, and I think he’s just gonna keep continuing to do that. So that real growth mindset to adapt, improve, become a better goal scorer and forward for us was one thing.”

When it came to settling in off the field, Pinto said some of the older players had been intimidating at the start, but he quickly became close to them once he got to know their personalities. They were able to help him out of his comfort zone, and they acted as a guide through this season by giving him advice on academics or the field, Pinto said. 

In particular, he said he’s become close with his roommates, second-year midfielder Luka Ivancic, second-year defender Daniel Firs and his brother Frankie.

Bode said Pinto has an enjoyable personality to be around and is someone who is easy to talk to. His ability to joke around and talk smack has helped him build a rapport and connections with his teammates as well. 

As his first season nears its end, Pinto said he’s going to push as hard as he can in these crucial upcoming games. In reflection, he said he’s grateful for his teammates for pushing him all season, and for the coaches for believing in him when times were hard.

“So far, my first season, I think it’s everything I could’ve dreamed of,” Pinto said. “Getting the opportunity to play the amount of minutes I have, score the goals that I have, get the assists in the key moments and just build the culture I have and build the friendships.”