Four years ago, Alex DeSantis led Belchertown High School to a state Division 3 championship. That same year, he was named the Daily Hampshire Gazette Boys Soccer Player of the Year.
Now a senior on the UMass men’s soccer team, a school just about 10 miles from his hometown, DeSantis is looking for a new crown: an NCAA championship.
On the field, DeSantis isn’t the most physically imposing player while his quiet demeanor makes him one of the less chatty players. DeSantis, instead, lets his play do the talking.
In 17 games this season, the senior forward has tallied seven goals and five assists, leading the Minutemen to a 12-2-3 record and a No. 25 ranking in the United Soccer Coaches Poll, the first time the program has been ranked since 2008.
“He’s kind of a quiet kid, but he leads by example,” said UMass head coach Fran O’Leary, who took over the job prior to DeSantis’ sophomore season. “He’s a leader of this team.”
DeSantis did not seriously consider UMass as an option until he took a tour of the school in March of his senior year at Belchertown.
After seeing minimal time on the field during his freshman season, DeSantis started 11 of 19 games as sophomore and had three assists.
By his junior year DeSantis established himself as a threat on both sides of the ball and finished with three goals and four assists.
“My freshman year I think we were 3-14 or something,” DeSantis said. “We’ve slowly gotten better each year and this year I think we’ve become who we really are as a team.”
DeSantis had a goal and an assist in Saturday’s 4-1 win over George Mason that clinched a home Atlantic 10 Tournament quarterfinal game. The Minutemen return home Wednesday to face Fordham in their regular season finale. With a win UMass will clinch the A-10 championship.
DeSantis credits the team’s success to the game-by-game mentality implemented by O’Leary.
“One thing he’s been preaching is not focusing on wins or losses,” DeSantis said. “But focusing every day on getting better and every game being better than the last one, and every practice being better than the last one, and I think that’s why we’re really clicking this year.”
DeSantis earned the trust of O’Leary during his sophomore year and has started every game since.
DeSantis proved his cool composure could also make him a threat in high-pressure situations.
“When there’s an important situation where we have a free kick, we already know who’s taking it,” O’Leary said. “We know he can deliver like he has many times before.”
DeSantis, a biology major who plans on going to medical school after he graduates, said early obstacles in his collegiate career have made him more resilient.
“There’s gonna be a lot of setbacks and there were a lot of times especially early on in my career where we were getting killed and it was just disheartening,” he said. “Having to come back from that was a challenge, it was brutal, but it shaped me in a good way.”