Traveling Goalkeeper Velasco Finally Finds Home at Loyola

Third-year goalkeeper Gabe Velasco joined the men’s soccer team this season following a transfer from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). Despite being on the roster for two years, Velasco saw no playing time with the Tar Heels. Since joining the Ramblers, he has tallied over 700 minutes of play and 30 saves in his first season.

Born in Venezuela, Velasco started playing soccer at three years old after his family moved to Memphis, Tenn., where he grew up playing the sport. He began playing competitively at eight years old when his family moved to São Paulo, Brazil for his dad’s job.

During his time in Brazil, Velasco played for the Brazilian club Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, where he said he began developing his skills as a goalkeeper through Futsal, an indoor soccer game where teams are composed of five players each, and a heavier ball is used.

Velasco also began playing as a goalkeeper with Corinthians Paulista and attributes part of his goalkeeping abilities to developing his skills during his early years in Brazil.

“It was a really good opportunity, and then also the level of play in Brazil is really good,” Velasco said. “Everyone lives and breathes soccer over there.”

Two years later, Velasco said he and his family moved back to the United States, where he spent his time in Memphis playing for Lobos Rush, a youth all-star soccer team in Tennessee. Later, at 11 years old, he was selected to play in Italy for the Montecatini Cup, a youth soccer tournament where the best players from Rush all-star teams are chosen to compete.

Velasco began playing for IMG Academy — a boarding school for student-athletes in Florida — at 12 years old, where he spent his last middle school year and entire high school career. 

In his junior and senior years with IMG, Velasco started as a goalkeeper for an MLS Next U19 squad, with his team making it into the tournament both years. He said as an older player, he was able to take on more of a leadership role on the team.

“I kind of really had to carry myself in a way that portrayed something good to the younger audience,” Velasco said.

With his commitment to UNC early in his junior year of high school, Velasco said it was a good fit for him at the time. He wanted to be close to his parents, and they had recently moved to Wake Forest, N.C. He said he saw playing for the Atlantic Coast Conference as a good opportunity.

The competitive and demanding environment Velasco faced at UNC helped him improve, he said, but during his second and final season with a 40-man roster, Velasco said he wanted the opportunity to do more than just train with his teammates — he wanted to be back in the game.

“I definitely missed the game a little bit,” Velasco said. “I was like, ‘Yeah I really want to play or get a shot to play again.’ Even coming to Loyola, I mean, there was no guarantee I was going to play, but at UNC I already knew that opportunity was kind of closing down, maybe at another place it was going to be a fresh start, and I could get that opportunity, so that’s kind of how it went.”

Although Velasco said the program at UNC had been a good opportunity at the start, one of the things he said contributed to his decision to leave was it felt like they could forget about you as a person.

“I really wanted to go to a place where one: I could play, have the opportunity to play, but also make sure the coaching staff really sees the person as a person,” Velasco said. “With UNC what happened was sort of that, the coaches, they’re obviously very goal oriented, they’re focused and they could forget about the people aspect, about the people there.”

When he made the decision to enter the transfer portal, he said his mindset was focused on more than just getting playing time — it was also finding a school where he could have a genuine conversation with the coaches and know they care.

Head coach Steve Bode said Loyola’s assistant and goalkeeper coach Ricardo Pinto had known who Velasco was before Pinto rejoined Loyola’s staff in 2025. He had even attempted to recruit Velasco as a high school prospect.

When Velasco’s name popped up in the transfer portal, the knowledge of his skills as a goalkeeper helped accelerate the recruiting process, as they didn’t have to watch film or talk to other coaches about him, according to Bode.

“That was important because he was highly recruited by a lot of schools,” Bode said. “He was looking for a new start and thought that Loyola could be a good fit.”

One of the aspects which drew Velasco to Loyola was how they involved his parents in the decision and asked to have a Zoom call with them. Velasco said Loyola felt more involved in the human aspect he was looking for with a team.

During the recruitment process, Bode said meeting with a player’s parents is important to them and helps the coaches get to know more about the prospective player. During the meeting with Velasco’s parents, Bode said he could tell the quality of human beings he and his parents were.

Once Velasco joined the Ramblers in the preseason, he arrived fully prepared and was competing right away for the starting position, according to Bode. Velasco had an immediate impact on the team and on the coaches, and his teammates were quick to embrace him, Bode said.

Now, as a frequent starting keeper, Velasco said both his leadership and communication skills have improved in how he directs his teammates on the field. Bode also mentioned how he’s noticed him becoming more comfortable vocally and hopes to continue to see his confidence grow in that aspect.

Off the field and as a fluent Spanish speaker, Velasco said he enjoys hanging out with the players hailing from Spain — first-year defender and midfielder Joaquin Rodriguez and fourth-year forward Hugo Urdiales — as well as his roommates, third-year goalkeeper Alejandro Ortiz and graduate midfielder Kike Morales Bilbao. During his free time with his friends, Velasco frequents the riverwalk, Navy Pier or the Nutella bar as he enjoys sightseeing in the city.

As Velasco chases his dreams of going professional after college, he has begun to settle into his role with the Ramblers and has loved his experience thus far, specifically how he can communicate on a more human level with the coaching staff.

“I think some of the things that [Velasco] has told me was that he really enjoys our team and our culture,” Bode said, “You know, not only are we trying to win and chase championships, there’s also a camaraderie within the team, that they enjoy each other, they want to be around each other. So that’s something I think he maybe didn’t get, or it wasn’t like that at his previous institution.”