Growing up in New Zealand, it was no surprise that Esteves started out playing rugby, but at 13, he stopped to concentrate on soccer and has never looked back. “My dad is from Portugal so I played soccer because of him,” Esteves said.
Esteves attended King’s College and says this has played a vital role in preparing him for his journey. He claims that going to boarding school made transitioning to university and traveling that much easier. “The transition to a new school and place was pretty easy because I was already used to being away from home and my family,” Esteves said.
He received guidance to help him head to the University of Mobile in Alabama. As a Mobile Ram, Esteves appeared in 30 games, including 27 starts, in two seasons. Esteves helped the Rams post a 17-5-2 record and reach the NAIA National Championship Finals as a freshman.
Through contact with a fellow New Zealander in the Red Storm, Esteves became interested in St. John’s. “Andrew told me about the team at St. John’s and what it was like living in New York,” Esteves said.
Esteves was intrigued by the opportunity to join the team in New York.
Esteves credits his teammates for helping him adjust to a new school, city and team. “My philosophy coming into this was to earn everything. I learned what my teammates did in order to be successful and tried to emulate that,” Esteves said.
Despite being new to the team, Esteves was older and more experienced than a majority of the Red Storm players. He embraced his new leadership role as part of the team. Esteves closely observed the seniors during his first year on the team and he tried to follow in their footsteps.
In his first season at St. John’s, Esteves appeared in eight games, including seven starts. He finished with two goals, scoring them just 2:28 apart in his first-career start and Division I debut, a 3-2 double overtime win against Butler.
This season, Esteves has already tacked on two goals. Esteves scored his first goal of the season on Sept. 29 to cap a 3-0 victory against Central Connecticut State. His second goal of the season was his first-career game-winning goal and it looks set to be one of many more. We wish Luis all the best and look forward to watching is career grow.
