As of Oct. 25, Milligan soccer’s Inkai Moreno is currently leading all collegiate soccer players in career assists. This not only includes the NAIA NCAA Division 1,2,3 and Junior College school. In the 17 games that Milligan has played this year Moreno has 26 assists on the year and up to 53 in his career. His 26 assists on the year lead the AAC and NAIA as a whole in assists this season. Moreno has helped lead the Buffs to a 12-2-3 record on the season, where they sit atop of the Appalachian Athletic Conference.
Moreno is a graduate student from Tarragona, Spain and is looking to make a lasting impact in his last year as a Buff. Currently, Moreno is Milligan’s all time leader in points with 105, has been an AAC Offensive Player of the Year, AAC Champion, First Team All- Conference player, a multi-team AAC player of the week and an NAIA All American. Despite all the accolades Moreno prides himself on being an unselfish player.
“I consider myself an unselfish player, because I always put the team ahead of myself,” Moreno said. “I understand that it is better to pass the ball than to make my own play more times than not. This makes the team play better and I like that my teammates can enjoy it too, so they can score goals.”
Moreno doesn’t relish in his individual stats. He simply just wants to help the team win. When asked if he prefers to set up his teammates to score or score himself he explained that “The truth is that I never look for assists or goals, I obviously enjoy scoring and assisting, but everything I do is to help the team win. I don’t care if I score or assist my teammates in a game as long as we win. My assists have grown to a cool number and I look forward to keeping it going.”
Moreno has been a staple for Milligans’s men soccer team for the past five years, but this year has been sort of a breakout year for him. Moreno has recorded season career-highs in goals, assists and points. He credits part of his success to Milligan’s first year head coach, Patrick Sweeney. In Sweeney’s first year he has been able to maximize Moreno’s talents and has the Buffs in position to win another conference title. Moreno talked extensively about how Sweeney has helped him this season.
“With the arrival of Coach Sweeny, the system we play and the style of play suits me well and helps put me in the right position to be successful on the field.” Moreno said. “Paddy’s arrival has given me a lot of confidence and from the beginning he trusted me and made me see that I was one of the most important players of the team. That helped me a lot after last season when I didn’t enjoy playing soccer as much, and didn’t get a lot of minutes”.
Moreno has definitely found his joy back in the sport and his play has followed. He is currently ranked eighth all-time in the NAIA for single season assists. He’s also second in overall goals this season for the Buffs with 11 behind his teammate Santiago Corral. Despite his individual success compared to the rest of the nation, Moreno is still humble and is focused on his team’s overall team goal.
“Yes, it is a very nice thing to be leading all collegians in assists, but I would like to get some more assists to finish the season at the top of that list and have that title. I wasn’t thinking about breaking this record prior to the season and I didn’t even know it existed” he said. “I’m happy with everything I’m achieving individually, but the most important thing is what we are achieving as a team. We have created a family with great people and players, and all of us want to achieve great things this season”.
Moreno added that his main objective is qualifying for a nationals berth again and hopefully pursuing a pro career once this season is over.
For more information on the Milligan soccer teams visit milliganbuffs.com