MUSKEGON – Alec Belcastro is a talented offensive soccer player who wanted a chance to apply his scoring skills, on a team that wins a lot of games.

He found it three falls ago, when he played one season for Hope College and scored 10 goals for a team that made it to the NCAA Division 3 national tournament.

Unfortunately, the need for more moderate college costs forced Belcastro to leave Hope – which he loved – and transfer to Trinity Christian College in Chicago, where the tuition is cheaper, the academics are good, but the soccer team has not had a winning record in some time.

He scored one goal last season for Trinity, playing more of a defensive role out of necessity.

But now he’s landed with the Muskegon Risers, in his first season of semipro soccer, and Belcastro suddenly has the best of both worlds.

He’s leading the Risers, and is fifth in the National Premier Soccer League, with four goals so far this season. Even better, the talented Risers are 4-0 heading into their Thursday night home matchup with Carpathia FC at Oakridge High School, and are ranked No. 1 in the 96-team NPSL.

Needless to say, Belcastro is enjoying his soccer experience this summer.

“I think the level of play is just very high here,” said Belcrastro, 23. “Coach Stu (Collins) knew what he wanted to produce on the field when he put this team together, and it’s pretty cool to be part of this crew.

“We have a lot of dynamic players on this team. I’m having the time of my life.”

Thursday’s game will be even more special for Belcastro, because his parents, Todd and Amy Belcrastro, are visiting from their home in Washington, Pennyslvania and will be at the game on Thursday.

The Belcastros had the trip planned for quite some time, but had no way of knowing they would be coming to see Alec playing some of the best soccer of his life, on the best team he’s ever played on in his life.

“He loves it here,” Amy Belcasto said. “This is the first time we’ve been here since he played at Hope. It’s very exciting.  He’s really excited. He facetimes us after the games. He’s really happy. He loves the coach and he loves that he’s scoring.”

Belcastro said he’s excited about having his parents at the game, because they haven’t had a chance to watch him compete very much since his high school days.

“They’re my favorite people, and it’s awesome to be playing in front of them again, because they’ve only seen me play in college a handful of times in person, and only one time in the past two years,” Belcastro said. “It gives me extra inspiration when I know they are able to physically be at the stadium.”

So does that mean Alec will score a goal for his parents on Thursday?

“I guarantee they will see a great brand of soccer being played,” Belcastro said with a smile, skillfully deflecting the question. “There will be a goal scored by somebody, and it doesn’t matter, as long as we win!”

Heartbreaking to leave Hope College

Belcastro has done an unusual amount of moving around in his collegiate career, for a variety of reasons.

He was accepted by the U.S. Naval Academy while still in high school in Pennsylvania, and had a spot on the Midshipmen soccer team, but a coaching change was made and he was dropped from the roster before he ever got to Annapolis.

That led him to the U.S. Army Academy at West Point, where he played one season as a freshman. But he didn’t see a lot of playing time at the prestigious institution, and wasn’t sure he was cut out for the cadet lifestyle.

“West Point really wasn’t for me,” said Belcastro, who scored one goal in his one season there. “I wasn’t given that much of an opportunity, and lifestyle-wise, it was very regimented, and I couldn’t really see myself going into the Army. But experiences are experiences, and you learn from them.”

Belcastro ended up at Hope College in Holland for the 2019 college season and immediately started to show off his skills.

He scored 10 goals (including five game-winners) and nine assists, and was named the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Newcomer of the Year.

Belcastro not only loved the college and the soccer program at Hope, but West Michigan in general, a place where he and his family had never been before.

That’s why he found it so tough to leave Hope after one year and transfer to Trinity, and why he jumped at the opportunity when Coach Collins invited him to play for the Risers this summer.

“I loved Hope,” he said. “That was my favorite school. It went tremendously well. The only reason I found Hope is because the coach at Navy (who had recruited him out of high school) ended up at Hope, and that lined up with the time I was leaving Army.

“Things just didn’t work out at Hope tuition-wise. It’s an expensive school, and I had to do what was best for me and my family. But it was very heartbreaking to leave. I just went to Hope last season to play against them at their stadium. It was my first time back to play a game there, and that was an emotional game for me. Some of my closest friends are from Hope, and the college gave me an incredible soccer experience.”

Mutual respect between coach and player

Coach Collins discovered Belcastro when Davenport University, where he serves as an assistant coach, played against Hope a few years back.

“He played against us at Davenport in 2019, and I’ve been following him from there,” Collins said. “He and I have crossed paths a few different times, and we finally managed to get it worked out. He was looking for a team, I wanted to recruit him, and it all sort of aligned.”

Collins said the position Belcastro is playing this summer – right wing back – isn’t designed for a goal-scorer, but the young forward has managing to find the net, anyway.

“He’s done a great job,” the coach said. “He’s scoring goals from a position where you would traditionally not score, but he shows intuition for the game and has a high soccer IQ. He’s a very intelligent player.

“He’s very good on the ball. You’ve got to be able to do three things with the ball – receive, release and move it, and he does all three at an exceptional level. Most people can’t do all three.”

Belcastro said he loves Collins’ unique coaching style and believes he will be a far better player because of the experience.

“He’s stanchly held in his convictions, and he’s not much of a compromiser,” Belcastro said. “He’s stubborn about his standards and it works. He definitely gets people to produce on the field.

“He’s very charismatic. He’s very fiery one minute, then the next minute he’s laughing and being one of the guys. It makes you want to play for him even more.”

All of that makes Belcastro’s parents very happy, because their son has an opportunity to learn from a great coach, grow as a player and compete alongside talented teammates.

“We’re very proud of the person that Alec has become academically, and as a player, we’re very grateful for the opportunity that Coach Stu has given him,” Todd Belcastro said. “As a parent, it warms your heart when your child is happy.”