BEARING DOWN: Marco Pinheiro, left, chases down the ball in action last fall during his freshman season for the Washington University in St. Louis men’s soccer team. Pinheiro, a former Princeton Day School boys’ soccer star, made the WashU varsity squad as a walk-on as a freshman. He ended up getting into 15 games and making four starts. He is currently in preseason training at WashU as the squad prepares for its season opener at Webster on September 1.

When Marco Pinheiro started looking at colleges, he was initially focusing on schools that would further his soccer career.

Displaying his skills as a four-year starter and standout midfielder for the Princeton Day School boys’ soccer team and also playing for some high-level club programs, Pinheiro had the resume to play at the next level.

But as he got deeper into the process, Pinheiro shifted gears, deciding that he was more interested in finding the best fit for his deep interest in architecture.

Influenced by former PDS soccer star Pierre Hoppenot, who studied architecture and played soccer at Washington University in St. Louis, Pinheiro checked out the school and fell in love with it.

Pinheiro was accepted at WashU and decided that was where he wanted to go. After committing to the school, Pinheiro reached out to its men’s soccer head coach, Joe Clarke, to see if he might get a shot at joining the program.

“I e-mailed the coach and said hey I am coming I am really interested in playing soccer and originally I didn’t get a response,” said Pinheiro.

“My club coach actually called him and said I have a player who is going to your school and could help out your program.”

Clarke got back to Pinheiro and invited him to preseason. “He said he already had a big recruiting class and he wasn’t going to promise me anything but just come out and try out,” said Pinheiro.

While Pinheiro wasn’t overly confident coming into the try-out, he was able to impress Clarke right away.

“To be honest, I didn’t have too high expectations but I knew that with my skill hopefully I could do something,” said Pinheiro.

“I knew I was good enough but in the situation I wasn’t sure what would happen so I didn’t set any high expectations. Once preseason started, I felt really comfortable and the coach told me right away that I had a spot. He said I had my recruiting class, I have a JV team and a varsity team and right now I see you in between and we’ll see how it works out.”

Things ended up working out well for Pinheiro as he played for the varsity, getting into 15 games and making four starts as the Bears went 12-4-4 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division III tournament.

“I was pleasantly surprised,” said Pinheiro. “It worked out where I started a few games and got into pretty much every game.”

Getting on the field so much gave Pinheiro a good idea of the toughness of college soccer.

“I think playing academy soccer in New Jersey, the speed of play is already very fast and then coming to college soccer, it was mostly the physicality of it,” noted Pinheiro.

“In high school and academy, you are usually playing with kids who are around your age but here you are playing against some kids who are two or three years older. They are huge and always going to the gym so it was a lot more physical.”

Over the course of his freshman year, Pinheiro progressed mentally and physically.

“I was more of a rotation player, when guys needed a break I would go in,” said Pinheiro, who got one assist on the season.

“I played more of a defensive role, which I am used to. I think I grew a lot in the system that we played, getting comfortable with the kids around me. I am always getting better physically. We had offseason workouts and technically we are always working on our touches and everything. We are always working on our game.”

With WashU ranked 24th in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) and Continental Tire Preseason Top-25 Poll coming into the 2016 campaign, Pinheiro believes the Bears have the potential to be one of the better teams in the nation.

“We were actually a little disappointed because we thought we could have done more in the NCAAs, especially since we had a chance to win it in PKs,” said Pinheiro, reflecting on the team’s tough loss to DePauw in the second round contest.

“We only graduated one or two kids. We have a very good, deep team with a lot of returning players. The attitude right now is hopefully we can make a really deep run in the playoffs and challenge for a national championship.”

Pinheiro is hoping to have a greater impact as a sophomore. “Last year, the coach had meetings with all of the players at the end of the year and he definitely gave me confidence going into this season,” said Pinheiro.

“Hopefully I can get some more playing time and a few more starts. I see myself playing the same role in defensive midfield but we talked about moving me up and playing some attacking midfield too.”

But no matter what happens, Pinheiro had found a soccer home in St. Louis.

“The biggest thing I noticed is that it doesn’t matter, if you are a JV player or a varsity player, you are part of the Washington soccer family,” said Pinheiro, who enjoyed his architecture studies and did an internship this summer for Studio Hillier in Princeton.

“Everyone does everything together, we always eat together. People don’t look at you like oh you practice with the JV, it is you are part of Washington soccer.”