VILLANOVA, Pa. – In late July 2023, Lorenzo Avalos found himself in a good place. The center back, a part of the San Jose Earthquakes MLS Academy system since he was 13, had given a verbal commitment to play soccer at Villanova in the fall of 2024.
 
"It just felt right," Avalos, a native of Salinas, Cal., recalled recently.
 
But then came a news jolt from Philadelphia: Mark Fetrow, Avalos' principal recruiter during his tenure as the Wildcats' Associate Head Coach, had been named head coach at Drexel University.
 
"When Fetrow left to go to Drexel," Avalos, now a Wildcats' sophomore, "my heart sank to my stomach. Eighty percent of the reason why I came here was my strong bond with him. I felt like I could really excel at this place. When he went to Drexel, I started panicking."
 
Avalos had not yet signed a letter of intent, leaving him free to re-engage with any of the colleges that had recruited him prior to his commitment. But the reality was that most schools had filled the openings they had sought him for.
 
"In the end, I made the decision to stick with this," Avalos says. "I still loved the school. Coach Carlin (former Head Coach Tom) is a great guy too so there were no issues there. But it did hit me hard."
 
In late November, Avalos awoke to a series of texts from his father, Gabriel, alerting him to the breaking news that Carlin had retired with Fetrow returning to Villanova as the program's new head coach.
 
"Oh, my goodness," he says now, "I was so excited when I saw that."
 
The partnership of athlete, coach, and program is off to a promising start. After enduring an injury interrupted 2024 freshman campaign, Avalos has established himself as a stalwart of the 'Cats 3-5-2 lineup along the back wall alongside freshmen Brody Crampton and Zach Miles. Villanova (2-0-1 overall) has surrendered one goal across its first 270 minutes of regular season soccer as it prepares for its next test, Friday night at Columbia (7 p.m./ESPN+).
 
The journey to Villanova for Avalos began early. One of four brothers (Gabriel, Cristian, Marcelo), Avalos was not quite three years of age when he began to play the game. With pee-wee matches scheduled for Saturdays at 10 a.m., a Friday night ritual was to go to bed in his full soccer kit.
 
"I woke up with my cleats on, ready to go," he states.
 
Father Gabriel Avalos' role loomed large in his third son's soccer rise.
 
"My Dad played a huge role, developing me not just as a player but as a person," Lorenzo Avalos notes. "There was a lot of extra training, and he was my coach when I was younger."
 
Lorenzo Avalos' passion for the game was matched by youngest brother Marcelo. Three years younger, Marcelo Avalos is today a gifted goalkeeper prospect with the San Jose Earthquakes Academy and is part of Mexico's U16 roster.
 
"We were always playing soccer in the house with the little foam balls, breaking glasses and whatnot," Lorenzo Avalos says. "We always had a very healthy competition throughout that entire process."
 
Lorenzo Avalos soon was playing for a local team in Salinas which led to an opportunity with a travel ball side in Santa Cruz, Cal. When he was 13, he received an offer to become part of the Earthquakes' MLS Academy.
 
"I got a lot of reps and learned a lot over those six years," he says. "I worked with some great coaches, and the facilities were top-notch. That was where I took off as a player. I decided that this is what I wanted to do with my life. This was Plan A, and I wasn't even thinking about Plan B. It's what lit this fire under me and kept me going through the adversity."
 
But it wasn't always easy.
 
"I think I had all the entitlement and all the ego in the world when I first got there," he says now. "With your smaller club, you're everything. You get to the academy, and you realize there are 15 of you. That was the biggest switch I had to make, just the perspective that I was choosing to do this."
 
His mom, Hildur Simonardottir, a psychologist by professional training, would gently offer her son a reminder whenever the daily grind got the better of him.
 
"She would tell me – 'you're choosing to do this,'," he states. "I learned to switch my mindset not to victimize myself, choosing the fighter mentality (instead). The perspective switch is the biggest thing that helped me when I got to that level. It's not all peaches and cream."
 
That reality was reflected a few years into his Earthquakes Academy stint. While many of his teammates were being signed to professional deals, as a center back Avalos faced a steeper climb. In general, players at his position take longer to develop as pro prospects. They tend to be signed later than midfielders or strikers.
 
"College was not at the top of my head then," he says. "Not even close. I wanted the route every little kid wanted – to go play for an MLS team, to be on the pro side."
 
He came to accept that, as he notes, "getting signed as a center back is pretty unusual at that age (15)." That led him to consider college soccer.
 
"I had to be honest with myself about where I was and where college could take me as a player and a person," states Avalos, now an Economics major at Villanova. "My parents were always very big on education. I didn't value that when I was younger."
 
After garnering strong interest from schools in his home region, Avalos received an email from Fetrow, who had watched him at an event in Southern California.
 
"I hadn't really heard much about Villanova other than March Madness basketball," Avalos states. "That kind of led me to get on a call with (Fetrow). Once we were on the call, his intent with this program really stood out to me. He told me how valued I would be, and it felt very genuine. He's a competitor, just like I am."
 
Avalos visited and ultimately selected the Wildcats. Then came the upheaval of fall of 2023 that only reinforced his view that he had chosen wisely. When the 2024 regular season began, he was earning regular minutes on a side dealing with substantial injury issues. Midway through the season, Avalos joined the overflowing training room, sustaining a torn labrum in his right hip that ended his debut.
 
"That was the first big injury I had in my life, and it came midway through the season, as I'm trying to prove myself," he says. "That was tough, standing on the sidelines and watching. Not only was I injured, but the team wasn't in a great spot."
 
Corrective surgery was performed in January, kicking off a lengthy rehabilitation process that didn't end until the start of training for the 2025 fall season. Avalos first game action didn't happen until the exhibition contest at Marshall on Aug. 9. Despite those obstacles, he has settled into a steady role as a cornerstone of the Wildcats' back wall.
 
"My experience last year is helping me now," Avalos notes. "Everyone on our back line knows that we have each other's back. We feed off one another. Even though we are a young team, we're really connected."
 
Now, the Wildcats put that connectivity to the test with a pair of road contests ahead (Columbia is followed by a Monday visit to Army West Point).
 
"Even with the good start, the key is to stay on an even keel," says Avalos. "It's great that we played well at home but to be a good team, we have to execute on the road. We're looking forward to the challenge."