Dillon Nesteruk remembers the first conversation he had about playing soccer at UMBC.
As a high school sophomore at Eastern Tech in Essex, Nesteruk was on a road trip to a tournament with his club team’s head coach Adauto Neto, the Baltimore Blast legend and president of the local club program BRAUSA, and Neto’s son Taylor Calheira.
Neto asked Nesteruk where he wanted to play in college. Nesteruk listed the top local programs: Maryland, Georgetown, Loyola, Mount St. Mary’s and Navy.
“But what about UMBC?” Nesteruk recalled Neto asking. After all, Calheira, then a sophomore at Concordia Prep, was thinking about signing with the Retrievers, too.
“That’s where the journey started,” said Nesteruk, who along with Calheira is preparing for his junior season at UMBC this fall.
“I was in the same boat,” Calheira said. “I didn’t really know much about it but my dad was like, ‘This is an opportunity.'”
Roughly four years after that conversation, Neto’s suggestion has led to a budding career for Nesteruk. The 5-foot-10, 160-pound central defender is coming off a stellar sophomore season that saw him start all 19 games and play a team-high 1,766 minutes for the Retrievers, who went 8-8-3 on the year.
Entering his freshman season in 2020, Nesteruk wasn’t expected to play much, said UMBC head coach Pete Caringi. First, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed play until the spring of 2021 and the team ended up playing an abbreviated eight-game season.
Team captain Jordan Ehart was set to anchor the central defense along with Icelandic product Örlygur Ómarsson. But after Ómarsson left the team midway through the season, Nesteruk was tapped to start alongside Ehart for the final three games of the campaign.
“When he first came in, my expectation for him was hopefully he gets some playing time and he would grow as a player,” Caringi said. “Fortunately for him, he went in and he did a good job.”
Ehart, a Mount Saint Joseph graduate, took the freshman Nesteruk under his wing and helped him finish his first college season on a high note.
“Dillon is the hardest-working guy and he’s humble,” Calheira said. “He realized, ‘I know there’s two guys in front of me,’ but he was very focused. When the opportunity came and we lost a centerback, he got to grow into the minutes.”
Nesteruk’s quality play caught the attention of Caringi, who quickly tapped Nesteruk as the full-time starter alongside Ehart in 2021. Nesteruk, who has a self-deprecating streak, shrugs off the early success of his college career.
“I don’t think I’m good under pressure but I took on the pressure and performed,” he said. “I love the sport, I worked hard to get here. I had absolutely nothing to lose.”
In addition to playing in all of UMBC’s games, he scored his first career goal in a 3-2 comeback win against NJIT, which helped the Retrievers clinch a spot in the America East tournament.
UMBC will often send defenders up on set pieces and corner kicks, Caringi said, but hadn’t done so with Nesteruk up to that point. During practice, the week before the NJIT game, that changed on a recommendation from Caringi’s assistant coach Anthony Adams.
“Anthony said, ‘You know, every time Dillon goes up [for a corner] he looks dangerous,'” Caringi said. “And it was in the back of my mind. And ironically in the biggest game, when we needed the goal, he went up and he scored.”
When the ball hit the back of the net, Calheira ran to embrace his teammate and best friend. Long conversations in their UMBC dorm room had led to this moment as the fruits of Nesteruk’s hard work paid off.
“I was speechless,” Calheira said. “He told our coach he was going to score and when he did I ran to him and hugged him and just said thank you.”
The consistent playing time, plus the timely goal, resulted in a tremendous confidence boost for Nesteruk, Caringi said.
“That’s the growth of the player,” the coach said.
Nesteruk attributes his success in part to his relationship with his grandfather Viktor Nesteruk, who got him into the sport and still gives him feedback after every game.
“He taught me soccer and how to correct my mistakes. He told me, ‘Go out and do not care what anyone thinks,'” Dillon Nesteruk said. “‘Play the way you know how to play and don’t overcomplicate. Play for yourself and for the enjoyment.'”
One early mistake that helped Nesteruk adapt to the rigors of college soccer came during his freshman year against Stony Brook in his first career start.
Ehart passed to Nesteruk, who was between his own 18-yard box and midfield. The freshman tried to slot a pass between two Stony Brook players rather than dribble forward into open space. One of the opposing forwards pounced on the errant pass with a sight on goal. Fellow UMBC freshman Jago Lott had to drag down the charging attacker and was given a card for the foul. Stony Brook then proceeded to bang in a goal on the ensuing free kick.
“I am thinking everyone hates me. It was clear it was my mistake,” Nesteruk said. “After that I learned the lesson — when you are a center back with space in front, take it. There was no pressure, go into space and take it. And as a result, you free up a midfielder.”
These are the kinds of real-time lessons that make Nesteruk such a valuable piece for UMBC, a team full of talent hoping to win the America East Conference and make a run in the postseason.
The 2021 season ended in disappointment with a 4-0 loss to then No. 7 New Hampshire in the America East semifinals, a stinging defeat that was not representative of how good UMBC was last year, Nesteruk said.
With a full season as a starter under his belt, Nesteruk has transformed from a quiet freshman to a vocal team leader, Calheira said. That newfound confidence is evident in Nesteruk’s aspirations for the upcoming season, which begins Aug. 26 against Fairfield. He seeks nothing less than an America East title — and getting some revenge against New Hampshire would be an added bonus.
“That’s what Coach Pete has drilled into our brains,” Nesteruk said. “That’s the culture.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of UMBC Athletics
Issue 276: August/September 2022
Originally published Aug. 17, 2022