With Major League Soccer coming to St. Louis this year, I have started watching a lot of it. I have especially enjoyed watching our new team, St. Louis City SC. Although there are no Chaminade alumni on St. Louis’ first team, there are some alumni spread out across other teams in the MLS.
Joe Willis, class of 2006, is currently serving as goalkeeper for Nashville Soccer Club. After his Chaminade years, Joe played college soccer at the University of Denver. He was named team MVP in 2008 and was put on the All-Conference team from 2008 to 2010. After his stellar college years, Joe was drafted by DC United in the MLS draft in 2011. In the very first game of his MLS career, he shutout the Vancouver Whitecaps. From 2012 to 2014, Joe struggled to find a starting spot on the first team. As a result, he was loaned out to DC’s affiliate, Richmond Kickers, and found plenty of starting reps. Following his loan appearance for the Richmond Kickers, Joe was then traded to the Houston Dynamo and was a backup in his first year at Houston. The next season (2016) Joe was able to start for Houston because the original starter was injured. When the starter came back, the starter ended up getting suspended for a red card. Joe was then named starter and eventually named the Houston Dynamo’s best defensive player that season. At the start of the 2017 season Joe picked up an injury and did not play for a while, but when he came back he led the team to the conference finals before being eliminated. For the 2018 and 2019 seasons, he was the starter and even led the team to a league cup win in 2018. After the 2019 season, he was traded to the club he is with now, Nashville, and has played the most games in his career with the team. Even through tough injuries and battles with other teammates for starting spots, Joe has persevered and has had a very successful career.
Next, Tom Barlow, class of 2014, is a striker for the New York Red Bulls. After graduating from Chaminade, Tom went to the University of Wisconsin, where he scored 23 goals in 78 games. After his college seasons ended, he would play with developmental league teams while he wasn’t playing for Wisconsin. Because of his impressive performances at Wisconsin and in his developmental league teams, he was drafted to the New York Red Bulls in the second round. In his first season, he made an immediate impact on the second team of New York Red Bulls, scoring a playoff-advancing goal in the team’s playoff run. In his second season, Tom contributed to the second team even more, scoring 11 goals in 16 matches before being signed to the New York Red Bulls. In his very first game, he scored the game-winning goal to lead the team to a 1-0 victory. He finished the season with 5 goals in 14 games with the first team. He continued to show his clutch factor in the next few seasons, scoring many game-winning goals in crucial games. Tom has put forth a great example of hard work and dedication to soccer, and it is benefiting his career.
Both Tom and Joe have shown great examples of what Esto Vir means. They each have encountered a lot and put in all the work needed to be successful, and they are great role models for us as Chaminade students.
