Jesus De Vicente has had a long voyage in college soccer. The graduate defender has played in the architectural beauty of Valencia, the mountains of West Virginia, the nigh endless cornfields of Iowa, underneath the skyline and whipping winds of Chicago and eventually in the embrace of the Commonwealth and the nighttime lights of Klöckner Stadium.
Now the star defender is readying for an NCAA Tournament run with high expectations for him and No. 2 seed Virginia. The Cavaliers will open their tournament Sunday after a bye, and for De Vicente, who has started every game this season and is second on the team in assists, it marks the peak of his five-year career at four schools.
In today's landscape of transfer portal mercenaries — players searching for a financial splash or just looking for a better fit — it is most common to see successful players move up or at least reposition horizontally. De Vicente played in 10 games in 2020 as a freshman at West Virginia, making five assists. He had all the success to keep playing at the Big 12 powerhouse, a perennial top 25 team, or move somewhere similar.
He ended up in Council Bluffs, Iowa, in the NJCAA at Iowa Western Community College. Mike Brown, the coach at Iowa Western, heard about De Vicente through a string of contacts. He placed a call looking to secure himself a new left back.
“He really just needed a reset,” Brown said. “I was happy to extend that lifeline.”
From that one phone call, the two built a bond spanning further than soccer. Brown said he had experienced similar struggles adjusting as a freshman player and was uniquely able to understand how De Vicente was feeling. Brown knew all De Vicente needed was another opportunity.
“West Virginia is a very different place to where I’m from,” De Vicente said in an interview this season. “Soccer was great. But in the end, I didn’t settle myself over there.”
Iowa Western is a junior college program, marking a rare step down. But it is no middling program. Under Brown, the Reivers have won two NJCAA Division I national titles, in 2024 and 2021, and enjoyed a 97-10-12 record across six seasons. De Vicente himself led the way to that first national title and in some ways was the piece the Reivers needed to get over the hump. Having lost the national championship the year prior in double overtime, the 2021 title felt that much sweeter.
With Brown as a mentor, De Vicente began to flourish into one of the best left backs in the nation, earning second-team NJCAA All-American honors in 2022. He had overcome his initial struggles moving to the U.S.
De Vicente used his two years at Iowa Western as a springboard. He returned to NCAA Division I in 2023 for the University of Illinois Chicago. During his first season in the Windy City, De Vicente recorded 11 assists, good enough for second in the entire nation. He followed that up with a First Team All-MVC selection, which made him an attractive option for the Cavaliers in the transfer portal.
For De Vicente, the opportunity to play for Virginia was an easy one to choose.
“The history of this place speaks for itself,” De Vicente said. “The magic of this stadium is insane.”
He made an immediate impact this season, scoring in the season-opener against San Diego State and netting a pair of assists in a massive upset against then-No. 1 Wake Forest, another in a win against then-No. 2 NC state. But more than his on-field success this season, he has loved forming relationships with the rest of the team.
“Everyone on the team,” De Vicente said, “they’re all amazing people, amazing players, and [my time here is] always a special moment that I will always remember.”
De Vicente’s seven assists this season have him tied for sixth in the ACC, and he has starred on the outside of Virginia’s 3-5-2. Coach George Gelnovatch diverged from a question in his postgame press conference after the Cavaliers’ ACC Tournament semifinal win by expressing disbelief at De Vicente’s missing out on All-ACC honors.
“By the way, how this guy didn't get on the All-ACC team is beyond me,” Gelnovatch said, patting De Vicente on the shoulder. “I just got to say it.”
Throughout it all, Brown has remained in his corner. The two regularly share phone calls, and Brown praises De Vicente not just as a player but for his character as a young man. The pair will always be linked in their successes, their shared experiences, their familiar histories and, most significantly, for how they mutually benefited from each other.
As the Cavaliers enter the NCAA Tournament, De Vicente will look to end his college career with a championship. Even with the national spotlight illuminating his every move, those chilly Iowa nights playing in front of just a few dozen fans will always be with him.
“One of the best decisions I’ve made in college soccer,” De Vicente said. “I’ll be grateful for the rest of my life to Mike Brown.”
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