Men's soccer and sports information will be taking advantage of the off-season months to catch up with some of our men's soccer alum to reflect on their experience at Dominican University (or Rosary College).  Today we catch up with Leo Elizalde from the class of 2013.


What have you been up to since graduating from Dominican?
Since graduation, I became a police officer for the city of Elmhurst and have been there for 10 years now.  I am also engaged to my fiancée, Jessica, and we currently live in Streamwood.  We have our 12-year-old boy and our four-year-old Rhodesian Ridgeback, Canelo.  I have also been coaching soccer at Wheeling High School and am going into my 13th year as the assistant boys' varsity coach. 

What do you miss most about Dominican?
What I miss most about Dominican are the challenging moments.  Whether it was early morning training sessions or playing nationally ranked teams, these moments always tested us as a team.  Looking back, we all overcame a lot both mentally and physically accomplishing everything we did on the field.  We won and won a lot.  I miss that grind with my teammates and all the achievements throughout our playing careers.  The way we overcame difficult moments and how we were pushed to give our absolute best by Coach Baumann has helped me throughout life. 

What was your most memorable moment while at Dominican?
I have many memorable memories throughout my career at Dominican.  One that means a lot to me is scoring the winning goal in the conference championship my freshman year.  This meant a lot to me because it meant a lot to my senior captains.  I learned so much from the seniors that year.  Because of their leadership and the team's commitment to doing what was necessary to be successful, we earned the right to play in the Final Four of the NCAA National Tournament.  We had a very strong senior group and great motivation to win.

What advice would you give to an incoming player?
Some advice for incoming players is that you have to be mentally tough to get through difficult times playing high level college soccer.  You have to have discipline and know how to smile when you are being challenged.  Welcome those moments and be calm in the experience.  If you can get your teammates all on board to do the same, then you will all accomplish great things together.  We did that in all of my four years in the program.