Men's soccer senior Rey Ortiz recently sat down to share his remarkable story with the Portland Sports Network. Ortiz is a 'Dreamer' and chronicles his path from Mexico to the University of Portland. Despite many hardships, including losing his mother to cancer at a young age, he navigated his way to a college scholarship, turned into an All-American midfielder, and will graduate in December with a major in organizational communication and minor in criminal justice.

He was the first recruit that Pilot men's soccer head coach Nick Carlin-Voigt contacted when he took over the program in the spring of 2016. Ortiz helped lead the Pilots to their first postseason appearance in seven years as a freshman and the team's first West Coast Conference title since 2002.

Now he is mentoring his younger siblings and preparing for life after college. He wants to pursue a professional soccer career after graduating and then move into social work to help underprivileged members of the community.

The Portland men's soccer team is on the road tonight at Seattle U and then Sunday at Wisconsin. The team returns home to host CSUN on Friday, Sept. 20 at 7 p.m.