2026 Men's Soccer Roster
Roster
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Jersey Number 1
Rafa Ponce de León
- Class:
- Senior
- Position:
- GK
- Hometown:
- Pennington, N.J.
- High School:
- Pennington School
- Club Team:
- PDA
Senior (Fall 2025 at Northwestern)
Junior (Fall 2024 at Northwestern)
Sophomore (Fall 2023 at Northwestern)
Freshman (Fall 2022 at Villanova)
Prior to College
- Appeared in 16 games, starting in all of them
- Closed season with a 1.01 goals against average and a 0.746 save percentage
- Tallied five shutouts for the second time in as many seasons
- Wrapped up Northwestern career with 12 career clean sheets, a mark that ranks fifth all-time in Wildcat annals
- Made four-plus saves on seven occasions
- Tallied career-high seven stops in road clash with UCLA (Sept. 12)
- Added five saves in thrilling win over Rutgers (Sept. 19)
- Contributed on both ends of the field in 2-0 blanking of No. 17 Indiana (Oct. 31), recording six saves in addition to recording first career assist
Junior (Fall 2024 at Northwestern)
- Started in all 16 of his appearances
- Impressed in his first season as Northwestern's primary netminder, posting a 1.19 goals against average while tallying five shutouts, two of which came against Big Ten Conference opposition
- Had five outings with three-plus saves
- Made a pair of stops in a 1-0 road win at UIC (Sept. 2)
- Turned in another two-save effort as part of a 1-0 victory against Marquette (Sept. 9)
- Piled up four saves in scoreless stalemate with Wisconsin (Oct. 15)
Sophomore (Fall 2023 at Northwestern)
- Started in all three of his appearances, closing the year with a 0.33 goals against average
- Made collegiate debut in 2-1 win over Northern Illinois (Sept. 8), making a pair of stops against the Huskies
- Turned in a five-save showing en route to first collegiate clean sheet in 2-0 blanking of UC Riverside (Sept. 15)
- Added another shutout in scoreless draw with Green Bay (Oct. 3)
Freshman (Fall 2022 at Villanova)
- Did not see any game action.
Prior to College
- Started all four years at goalkeeper at Pennington School
- Posted a 44-12-2 career record over four years
- Recorded a clean sheet in 51% of matches
- Two Time All-State Honorable Mention
- Named Prep Player of the Year by The Trentonian
- Selected as 2021 High School All-American
- Played for PDA MLS Next
- Advanced to U17 MLS NEXT Final
- Named U17 MLS NEXT Best Goalkeeper
- Son of Monica Saldivar and Rafael Ponce de León Treviño
Rutgers Athletics Launches the Athletic Excellence Fund
Monday, October 06
R Fund, Knights of the Raritan are YouKnighted | Million Dollar Match
Friday, February 28
Rutgers x Nike Apparel Partnership
Thursday, December 19
Rutgers Athletics 2023-24 Year in Review
Friday, July 12
