Matteo Samori relishes a challenge.
Last winter, Samori jogged to Washington, D.C., just to see if he could do it. In May, he hopped on a bike, trekking 240 miles from his dorm at UMBC to New York City. A GoFundMe he started to raise money for mental health awareness ticked upward as he pedaled. Samori wanted to do something good while pushing his body and mind to their breaking point.
“I’ve always wanted to test my limits, see how far I can go,” said Samori, a 19-year-old from Vancouver. “I never want to have that fear that in 60 or 70 years where I would have wanted to do more but didn’t.”
Samori sees his soccer career through a similar lens. The 5-foot-10, 160-pound sophomore forward for UMBC men’s soccer has dreams of playing professionally. Midway through his second season with the Retrievers, Samori has shown great potential.
Eleven games into the 2025 season, Samori has operated as a 12th starter, the first player off the bench. He has played at least 39 minutes in every game but one, bagging two goals — both game-winners — and two assists for the Retrievers under third-year head coach Anthony Adams. Samori’s contributions have already matched his output from last season and helped UMBC get off to a hot start, winning four of its first five matches. Though like any competitor, Samori is eager to prove he can do more.
“Football is a very mental game and you have to be mentally sharp, whether you’re starting or coming off the bench,” he said. “It doesn’t really make a difference if I’m starting and playing 90 or 80 or 70 minutes or if I’m coming off the bench and playing 70, 60 or 50. I want what’s best for me and what’s best for the team. So with every minute that I get, I want to make the most of it.”
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Samori had finished his freshman season and made a home at UMBC. On the field, he had shown promise, making 15 appearances off the bench, scoring two goals and assisting on another. He logged 440 minutes, second-most among freshmen. The Retrievers finished 8-7-4 (4-2-1, America East) before falling to eventual champion Vermont in double overtime of the conference tournament semifinals.
In April, Samori came to Adams with a wild idea. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and he wanted to ride a bike to New York City to raise money for the cause.
Adams was dubious at first. Samori’s experience with cycling was limited. Samori had ridden bikes as a kid with his sisters in Vancouver, though he estimated he’d never ridden more than 10 miles. But prioritizing mental health was a critical tenet of the culture Adams is cultivating with the team, so the head coach quickly got on board, seeking support from the athletic department.
“I encouraged him to find something he wanted to bring some awareness to and try to raise some money,” Adams said. “He took that on and we tried to promote him as much as we could.”
Samori partnered with The Hidden Opponent, a nonprofit advocacy group that raises awareness for student-athlete mental health, specifically targeting the stigma within sports culture.
“The awareness part was big to me. A few of my friends struggled with [mental health difficulties],” Samori said.
After three weeks of training, just before midnight on a weekday in May, Samori got on his bike, strapped a headlamp and GoPro to his helmet and headed out. By 1 a.m., he was in downtown Baltimore; 110 miles later, he was in Philadelphia around 8 a.m., when he took a quick break to rest and refuel.
When Samori arrived in New York City nine hours later, he was in rough shape. Legs aching, mind in a daze, he had braved the predawn chill and pitch black of the bike paths and dirt trails he had ridden along rather than risk the danger of more populated roadways.
“I felt horrible, in all honesty,” he said. “I’m not going to tell people it was amazing, it was super fun — no, it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.”
Samori overcame the mental and physical strain of the ride, capping his trip with a FaceTime call to his parents from Times Square and a huge Chipotle burrito. The GoFundMe he created for the endeavor surpassed $1,000 for Hidden Opponent.
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As a young player with the Vancouver Whitecaps FC Academy in MLS Next, Major League Soccer’s youth league, Samori was a star. He led the team in scoring and dreamed of signing a professional contract. After discussing his options with his family and coaches, Samori opted to attend college to get his education and pursue his soccer dream.
Though recruited late, Samori was welcomed by UMBC coaches and players. Soccer helped him ease the loneliness of living nearly 3,000 miles from his family and girlfriend.
“I felt like I was valued,” he said. “I wasn’t just a number, which was my leading factor in committing here.”
In his third collegiate game against Saint Joseph’s, Samori scored his first career goal. Seeing the ball hit the back of the net assuaged the mental stress of moving across a continent to play soccer in a strange city with new teammates.
After the 2024 season, nearly the entire UMBC roster turned over. Ten players graduated and two more transferred. Samori was one of a handful of returning players who were asked to take on bigger roles for Adams in 2025.
After the fast start this season, a 1-1 draw with William & Mary in mid-September was followed by four straight shutout defeats, including a closely contested 2-0 loss to then-No. 7 Vermont.
Against George Mason Sept. 20, Samori had three of UMBC’s eight shots, with the team outshooting the Patriots, 16-8. In his estimation, Samori could have bagged a hat trick, but some keen defending by George Mason denied his attempts.
“I should’ve, I should’ve,” Samori said of his missed opportunities. “It’s always good to get one in the back of the net, but it’s harder to see it get deflected off the line or go just wide. That game it was challenging, but I’m sure that in the coming games, something will change. I’ll just keep shooting, keep my head up and do what I do.”
There’s that resilient attitude, cropping up when adversity strikes, whether it’s fighting through a tough stretch of games or making a wrong turn down a dark bike path outside Philadelphia. It’s what makes him an ideal player for Adams, who relies on him to be ready to go at a moment’s notice.
Samori said he isn’t finished with his off-the-field initiatives. He has more planned but isn’t quite ready to share the details. Regardless of what he has in the works, he’ll do it for the right reasons — and he will be ready for the challenge.
Photo Credits: Courtesy of UMBC Athletic Communications, Matteo Samori
Issue 295: October / November 2025
Originally published Oct. 15, 2025