PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland Men's Soccer adds another talented freshman to the class of 2025, signing midfielder Christian Mendoza.
Christian is a local Oregonian product who has a great technical proficiency in the game. He has elite ball security and our fans will see the ball glued to his foot," Portland head coach Nick Carlin-Voigt said. "Christian can play anywhere centrally or even as tucked in winger. He has a growth mindset and spent all spring with us learning our system as he graduated high school earlier. He has good experience training with the Timbers first team and playing games with the second team.
Mendoza joins the Pilots as a local product. Mendoza joins after recently playing with Portland Timbers 2 at the MLS NEXT Pro level. The Timbers Academy product played in 22 games with eight starts last season, scoring one goal. Mendoza is listed as the eighth best recruit out of the Pacific Northwest per TopDrawerSoccer and 144
th on the IMG Academy 200 list.
"It's no secret that we graduated two of the best four-year central midfielders in program history in Nick Fernandez and Sebastian Nava and we think Mendoza can help build our new looking midfield," Carlin-Voigt said. "The best is ahead of him as he transitions to the physical and high intensity running demands of college soccer."
This past season, the Pilots finished at 7-4-7 overall and 4-0-4 in WCC play, ending the year on a 10-game unbeaten streak that was the longest on the West Coast and the third longest in the country. They earned four wins over teams that finished in the top 35 in RPI this season as well. They have achieved a top 10 ranking nationally in each of the last three seasons and led the country in goals scored between the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
The Pilots have also had 12 players move on to play in MLS since Nick Carlin-Voigt took over as head coach in 2016. Eight players have been drafted, with Paul Christensen, Rey Ortiz, Kevin Bonilla, Jacob Babalai and Buba Fofanah all being taken in the MLS SuperDraft. Efetobo Aror and Nick Fernandez were taken in the first and second round in this year's SuperDraft as well, with Fernandez signing with the San Jose Earthquakes in February. Benji Michel and Kris Reaves each signed homegrown contracts with Orlando SC and FC Dallas respectively back in 2018 while Delentz Pierre and Brandon Cambridge each signed with Real Salt Lake and Charlotte FC in 2022 and Tommy Musto signed with LAFC in 2024.
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