The American soccer community was in mourning on Monday after it was learned that a freshman on the Cal men's soccer team, who went missing in Los Angeles over the weekend, was struck and killed while crossing a busy freeway.
Word spread on Monday of the disappearance of 19-year-old Eloi Vasquez, as the university, the LA Police Department and the wider soccer community issued a call for information regarding his whereabouts.
Vasquez was last seen leaving a party at the University of Southern California's chapter of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity in the early morning hours on Saturday. He was last heard from at approximately 2:15 am PT that morning.
Word spread of Vasquez's disappearance on Monday throughout social media, in an effort to find the young man.
But reports began to circulate Monday evening about Vasquez's death, which was subsequently confirmed by the California Highway Patrol in a Los Angeles Times article.
Some time after departing the party, Vasquez reportedly attempted to run across the eastbound lanes of the 10 freeway, as a car traveling at 60 miles per hour struck him, "unable to avoid the pedestrian,” according to a CHP officer quoted in the story.
Vasquez, a native of San Rafael, California, played alongside Sporting Kansas City rookie Connor Hallisey and Seth Casiple of Portland Timbers 2 in his first season with the Golden Bears. During his youth soccer career, he starred for DeAnza Force Soccer Club, the highly regarded program that also produced former Cal player and current Vancouver Whitecaps defender Christian Dean and former US youth international Benji Joya.
