With the growing number of students who travel from other countries to attend USI for the educational experience, another group of international students are coming along with them: athletes.
Of these international athletes are nine players who are all stand outs on the field. The men’s tennis team has a pair of European stand outs; the baseball team has two athletes from our neighbors to the north and the men’s soccer team has a total of five athletes from three different continents.
This strategy of recruiting from around the world is extremely innovative for the school’s competitive edge over its opponents. It allows each coach to select from a larger number of prospects from the massive pool of players that wish to play NCAA Division II athletics.
Jack Joyce from Bournemouth, England, and Joel Stern from Mjoelby, Sweden play on the men’s tennis team.
Joyce played tennis, football and cricket for Bournemouth School in England. He also tied for second on the team in the 2014 season in singles matches with a 21-7 record.
Stern was ranked in the top twenty in the nation between the ages of 15 and 18 before coming to tHE U.S. to play at USI. Stern was the winner of the boys 18 regional championship and played Division III tennis for Linkopings TK in Sweden.
Last season, Stern led the Screaming Eagles in singles with an overall record of 24-8.
The baseball team features two Canadian players; Pitcher Andrew Mercer of Mount Pearl, Newfoundland, and Pitcher Zach Webster of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Mercer lettered in baseball and volleyball at Mount Pearl Senior High School before playing two seasons at Highland Community College in Kansas. In last year’s season, Mercer had a USI single season record ERA in 35.2 innings on the bump.
Zach Webster, a transfer student from Southeastern Illinois College, graduated from Malvern Collegiate after lettering in baseball and hockey. He was also named MVP in baseball in 2009 and 2011. This will be Webster’s first season with the Eagles.
Among the five international men’s soccer players are Carlos Gallegos and Carlos Mayser from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Steve Sokol from Perth, Australia, Tobias Rebert from Schloss Holte-Stukenbrock, Germany, and Pedro Castro from São José dos Campos, Brazil.
Carlos Gallegos, a sophomore transfer from Western Nebraska Community College, comes from Bolivia where he lettered in soccer at Uboldi High School.
Before coming to America to play soccer, Gallegos played club soccer for Blooming Soccer Club. This is his first season as a USI soccer player.
Carlos Mayser, a Senior from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, transferred from Kankakee Community College in 2011. Mayser graduated from Espiritu Santo in Santa Cruz.
After Redshirting in 2011, Mayser appeared in all 18 games for 2012. In 2013, he appeared in all 17 matches again and is now in his final season with the Eagles.
Steve Sokol, a sophomore transfer from Edith Cowan University in Australia where he did not play soccer, graduated from Hale School in Wembly Downs, Australia.
Before his collegiate career at USI, Sokol was a member of the Joondalup U18 team in 2011 and a member of the U23 team in 2012. He is currently with the Australia National Traning Center. This is Sokol’s second year with the USI men’s soccer team.
Tobias Rebert, a freshman out of Schloss Holte-Stukenbrock, Germany, received second place with the SC Verl U17 in the third youth league of Germany. He allowed the fewest goals in the league, playing in 19 out of 22 matches.
Rebert was chosen as the best keeper in the Riewenherm Cup. For the FC Güterlsoh U18 team, Rebert received fourth place in the third league of Germany.
He played in 15 out of 22 games and was once again the best keeper in Delbrücker Budenzauber. For the SC Roland Beckum, Rebert was the second keeper and came in 6th place in the Oberliga after playing in all 34 games.
Pedro Castro, a sophomore out of São José dos Campos, Brazil, came to USI from Caravel Academy,where he graduated after earning first-team All-Conference accolades by putting up 24 points on 10 goals and four assists in 15 games.
Castro appeared in six matches during his first season with the Eagles last year.
With so many athletes from so many different places, the Eagles have a large advantage over their competition.
Generally, some countries are better at different sports than others. By bringing in soccer players from places like Europe and Southern America, USI is tapping into a vast database of talent that usually exceeds that of the United States.
Bringing baseball players from Canada is also a common recruiting technique as Canada is the only other country to sport a team that competes in the MLB.
Tennis is a European sport that Europeans excel at, so it would only make sense to have a couple of European tennis players lead the Eagles.
All in all, whether you agree with international recruiting or disagree, the facts are simple; the ultimate goal is to win and the USI athletic coaches know this. That is why they are going to recruit the best players to play for them and in some cases, those players are going to need a passport along with their admissions application.
