HERRIMAN, Utah (Wed., January 9, 2024) – Real Salt Lake signed one of its two 2024 MLS SuperDraft first-round picks, DF Kevin Bonilla, who was selected last month No. 18 overall out of the University of Portland. As a Pilot in the 2023 season, Bonilla was a MAC Hermann Trophy Semifinalist, receiving distinction in college soccer’s Heisman Trophy equivalent. Bonilla is signed for the 2024 MLS campaign, with Club options for the 2025, 2026 and 2027 seasons.
“This is such an exciting time for me, I’m very grateful for the opportunity,” said Bonilla, who has already arrived at the Club’s Herriman training facility ahead of this weekend’s preseason kickoff. “For RSL, which hasn’t seen me much since I was young kid, I’m excited to show out for the Club; RSL is known as a place that will play the young guys and give us a chance, especially if the performances are there. Just being able to train every day and knowing that you have that opportunity if you perform, that gives us confidence – just look at what happened with DF Emeka Eneli last year, what a perfect example.”
Bonilla, a dual U.S. / Honduras international from the Univ. of Portland, has been a highly-regarded prospect, the Dallas native distinguishing himself as one of the top outside backs in the country. The reigning West Coast Conference Defender of the Year, Bonilla is the first Portland Pilot to be drafted in the first round of the MLS SuperDraft since 2010, when RSL took MF Collen Warner. The 22-year-old senior – still an underclassman with a year of eligibility remaining due to a Covid-19 year – was also named to TopDrawerSoccer’s Best XI, the All-West Region First Team and the All-WCC First Team as well.
“I’m excited to just have the opportunity, to be honest with you,” said Bonilla, well-versed in both the MLS Academy and college soccer landscapes. “It's been a tough road the past couple years in terms of my family stuff and other things going on. But just the team believing in me and giving me the opportunity is all I could ask for. Now it's just on me to put the work in.
“I think first goal for anybody is to play, I understand that it's going to take me impressing and me doing what I do. And you know, the whole reason RSL brought me here is for a certain reason in terms of how I play this year and past couple years. So I understand the challenge at hand and I'm ready for it.
Bonilla joins 2022 selection Jasper Löffelsend (Pittsburgh, No. 81 overall) and 2023 picks Ilijah Paul (Washington, No. 7), Bertin Jacquesson (Pittsburgh, No. 16) and Emeka Eneli (Cornell, No. 25) as recent college draft picks to sign first-team MLS deals with the Utah Club. Several others in recent years have signed MLS NEXT Pro or USL deals with Real Monarchs as well.
“I know RSL has had a great Academy over the years. One of my teammates from last year, Delentz Pierre, just moved there. He's only told me good things. And I mean, if they’ve brought in players like Diego Luna and Delentz and all their Academy players out of there, it's only means good things for me. I mean, definitely a good impression from the beginning. At a place like RSL who had an amazing year last year, I think, it'll work out.
“The only thing I'd say to the fans is that I appreciate them and I'm excited for the stadium and for the energy. Know you're bringing in a kid who’s brought it out the mud and has come from nothing and that he's got a family and a couple of brothers behind him who support him through anything and he's seen it all. So whatever is thrown at me, whether it's a good or bad thing, I know I'll be able to handle it.”
Real Salt Lake will resume preparations for the Club’s 20th MLS season this weekend, when Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni welcomes several players to the Zions Bank Training Center in Herriman.
The 2023 RSL side amassed the Club’s seventh 50-point season all-time, and just the second since the 2014 campaign. Finishing 11th overall out of 29 teams, RSL crashed out of the postseason by the thinnest of margins for a second consecutive year (Austin 2022, Houston 2023), dropping a road shootout tiebreaker in Texas. Other 2023 RSL milestones:
- Accumulated an all-time Club-best road record with 12 results in 17 away MLS matches, posting an 8W-5L-4T mark with 28 of its 50 reg. season points amassed on the road; RSL’s previous road bests were recorded in 2012 and 2013, with identical 6W-7L-4T marks;
- RSL’s home mark of 6W-7L-4T was its worst since 2007, when a 4W-7L-4T record on the Rice-Eccles turf marked the 19-year nadir;
- During a nearly four-month span from mid-April to early August, RSL dropped just three of 24 games across all competitions, including MLS reg. season action, its Open Cup run to the Semifinals and its initial Leagues Cup foray;
- Thirty-two (32) different players saw action for RSL in 2023, including 15-year-old FW Axel Kei and 16-year-old Zavier Gozo making their Homegrown debuts, along with Academy products GK Gavin Beavers and DF Delentz Pierre also making their first-ever first-team appearances; a trio of rookies – D/M Emeka Eneli, FW Bertin Jacquesson and FW Ilijah Paul – made their professional debuts, while FW Andrés Gómez, MF Nelson Palacio, DF Kevon Lambert and DF* Brayan Vera* notched their first-ever MLS appearances last season;
- Since April 16, 2005, RSL has enjoyed a prominent home-field advantage on Utah soil – posting a dominant 194-83-95 (Win-Loss-Draw) record across all competitions at home (1.82 points per game for a 0.649 win pct.) – since arriving on the Wasatch Front nearly 20 years ago;
- Since opening its permanent home in Sandy just over 15 years ago, in October, 2008, RSL’s 164-58-75 (W-L-T) mark at America First Field – home of the “RioT” Supporters Group umbrella – equates to a 1.91 points per game average and a 0.679 win pct, one of the truly amazing value proposition in North American sporting landscape today
