Men’s soccer sibling trio shares spotlight on this season’s roster

A quick glance at the UCLA men’s soccer roster reveals an interesting coincidence.

Of the 23 men on the team, three share the surname Iloski. And 2017 will be the only year the trio of brothers from Escondido, California, will share the pitch as Bruins.

Redshirt senior midfielder Brian Iloski and his freshman brothers midfielder Eric Iloski and forward Milan Iloski started playing soccer when each of them turned 4. They all started playing for the same San Diego Surf Soccer Club team before they were teenagers and two of them – Brian and Milan – have played on the U.S. U-18 Men’s National Team.

“(Soccer) was pretty much everything. I remember I was up at like six in the morning for practice,” Milan Iloski said. “Everything was just to be able to play professionally since I was 4 years old. It’s everything for me.”

Though the three brothers now play in Westwood, UCLA was not a dream school for the Iloskis as it is for many aspiring athletes.

“Growing up, we didn’t have any schools in mind,” Eric Illoski said. “But UCLA was just a good place to be because of the soccer environment. They’re consistently a top team.”

Milan Iloski, the trio’s youngest brother, said professional soccer was the plan, not going to college.

“When I was probably like 9 or 10 I always wanted to play pro out of high school. That was always my thing. I was never even really looking at schools,” Milan Iloski said. “When Brian came here … I still wanted to go pro, if I could, out of high school.”

Last year was as close as Milan Iloski had come to realizing that plan when he andEric Iloski both played for Zions Bank Real Academy, a development academy for aspiring soccer players.

However, when it became apparent that Brian Iloski was going to spend one more year as a Bruin to take another shot at the championship, the eldest brother said UCLA became the best place for the trio to develop as players.

Not only would UCLA develop their soccer skills, but it also presented the brothers with the chance to play on the same team at the same time – an opportunity they had never had before.

“I’m just blessed to have them here to play with me one year,” Brian Iloski said. “We’ve always been at the same club but never on the same team.”

Brian Iloski said sharing an apartment with his brothers, in addition to the soccer field, gives him the chance to mentor them almost all the time. Whether it’s doing the dishes or charging down the pitch, he has been passing down everything he’s learned in his years at UCLA.

Now that the brothers are all on the same team, they can focus their efforts on succeeding later in the season.

“The three of us, I think, are already getting that chemistry going at a pretty quick pace,” Brian Iloski said. “It won’t be long until you start seeing us connecting and combining and bringing that to the rest of the team.”

While plenty of teams talk about their chemistry, the Iloski brothers said they agree they have something special when they’re on the field at the same time.

“We’ve always had chemistry together just playing over the years, (but) it’s developed now that we’re older. It’s easier than playing with some of the other guys,” Milan Iloski said. “We don’t have to talk, even. We just see it before it even happens.”

All three brothers said they believe their bond and collective talent will help push the team past last year’s season, when the Bruins went just 10-8-2 overall – their worst record in nearly a decade.

“I think we can be a big part of the team,” Eric Iloski said. “We have a talented roster. We just need to put the pieces together and I think with us being part of the team we can help achieve the main goal. … We have a great shot at a championship.”