Missouri State men’s soccer announces 9-player signing class for Spring 2025

SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State men’s soccer head coach Michael Seabolt announced nine incoming players to the Spring 2025 signing class. Bruno Cellerino, Danny Cullum, Chris Dommer, Luca Freese, Harry Hogben, Kei Kinoshita, Sergi Resta, Alex Rodriguez and Justin Stewart will join the Bears in 2025.

“A big thank you to the coaching staff and their work on this recruiting class,” Seabolt said. “Danny Frid, Dominic Gillespie and Kian Yari have done a great job. We are excited about these additions. The 2025 team starts this spring and it is very important to add top guys in January so they can be fully ready by the time we get to fall. We are returning a top group of guys that are committed to excellence. They are Bears! We have no doubt the new arrivals will settle in quickly and help Missouri State men’s soccer win trophies in 2025. We are also committed to being great students and top citizens, and this group will fit right in.”

Seabolt and the Bears are coming off three straight 12-win seasons and are just one of seven Division I teams to make the last six NCAA Tournaments. In its final season in the Missouri Valley Conference, Missouri State won its 12th MVC regular season championship to tie Creighton for the most all time. The Bears will move to the American Athletic Conference starting the 2025 season.

Joining the squad this spring are:

Bruno Cellerino (Defender, 5-11, 168, Milan, Italy)

Cellerino joins the Bears from Italy where he played for the Atalanta BC Youth sector starting in 2020, playing for the Atalanta U17, U18 and U19 teams in Campionato Primavera 1. In 2023, he transferred to Brusaporto where he had an assist in Serie D – Girone C play against ASD Brian Lignano on 9/22/24 and Portogruaro Calcio on 10/20/24. Cellerino scored a goal in the first round of Coppa Italia Serie D play against Caravaggio on 9/1/2024.

Danny Cullum (Goalkeeper, 6-0, 180, Felixstowe, Suffolk, England)

Cullum joins a Missouri State goalkeeper room that was tied for 14th in Division I in goals against average in 2024 (.833). He comes to Springfield from the England soccer circuit where he started his playing career with Ipswich Town Youth and played for Ipswich U18 from 2022 to 2024 with various loans to Brantham Athletic F.C. and Bury Town FC in the Suffolk area. While at Ipswich, Cullum was part of the team that won the Under-16 and Under-18 Professional Development League Cup at Coventry City in 2022. Ipswich later went on to win the Premier section of the SuperCupNI in Northern Ireland in July 2022. In 2024, he was loaned to Ipswich Wanderers F.C. of the Isthmian League North Division before signing with Needham Market FC of National League North in July 2024, remaining in Suffolk. Cullum made seven appearances with three clean sheets across 541 minutes of play at net with Needham in the 2024 season.

Chris Dommer (Midfielder, 5-11, 165, Rungsted, Copenhagen, Denmark)

Dommer transfers to Missouri State after two years with the Pearl River Community College Wildcats in Poplarville, Mississippi (2022-23) and spending last season with the Charlotte 49ers in the American (2024). In 2022, he started all 17 of Pearl River’s matches, leading the team with 13 goals and 12 assists. His 12 assists were the seventh-most in NJCAA that season. Dommer scored a hat trick in an 8-0 win at Northwest Mississippi Community College on 9/23/22. He also had a game-winning goal in overtime of the Gulf District semifinals against Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College on 11/4/22.

In 2023, Dommer was named to the NJCAA All-America second team after starting all 19 games while again leading the Wildcats with 14 goals and was tied for second on the team with six assists. He scored braces against Arkansas Cossatot (8/18/23), East Mississippi Community College (9/19/23), Hinds Community College (9/22/23), East Central Community College (10/17/23) and Southwest Mississippi Community College (10/28/23). His second goal against Southwest Mississippi was a game-winner in overtime to advance to the Gulf South District semifinals en route to a district championship and NJCAA DII Tournament appearance. He was named to the All-Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference first team and All-Region 23 team each season at Pearl River.

Dommer debuted at the Division I level last season at Charlotte where he helped the 49ers win a second consecutive American Athletic Conference Tournament championship. He played 17 matches across 442 minutes with one start against Florida International in which he played a season-high 40 minutes. Dommer scored his first career DI goal and assist in a 4-1 victory over South Florida on 9/27/24. He attempted 16 shots with four shots on goal in 2024 and took a season-high four shots in a 3-2 win at Lipscomb on 9/8/24.

Luca Freese (Defender, 6-5, 216, Wittmund, Lower Saxony, Germany)

Freese comes to Missouri State by way of the Junioren Bundesliga, the top Under-19 league in Germany. He played for JFV Nordwest Youth U19 before playing in the FC St. Pauli system in Hamburg where he played 12 matches and 908 minutes for the U17 team that finished in third place before moving up to the U19 squad. Freese played two seasons with the FC St. Pauli U-19 team, playing 26 total matches and accumulating two assists in his second season. FC St. Pauli made the quarterfinals of the DFB-Pokal (German Cup) in his first year. Freese played the 2024 season with ETSV Hamburg, where he scored one goal against FC Alsterbrüder on 8/15/24 before notching assists in consecutive matches against SC V/W Billstedt on 8/31/24 and TSV Buchholz 08 on 9/3/24. ETSV Hamburg finished the 2024 season 12-7-1, good for fourth in Oberliga Hamburg. Freese has previously played for youth clubs SV Ardorf (2009-2012), TuS Leerhafe-Hovel (2012-2015), VfB Oldenburg (2015-2018) and JFV Edewecht (2018-2019).

Harry Hogben (Defender, 6-2, 165, Faversham, Kent, England)

Hogben joins a Missouri State backline that allowed just 15 goals last season, tied for ninth-fewest in DI. He comes to Missouri State from England where he won an Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association national championship with Royal Russell School in Croydon, England under head coach Mark Simmons. Hogben was named HUDL League MVP with four goals and three assists en route to an ISFA championship. He was the ISFA national team captain in 2023-24. Hogben played 11 matches for the Sheppey United F.C. Ites and was named Man of the Match in his last game against Sittingbourne. He also represented Sheppey’s Under-23 team.

Kei Kinoshita (Midfielder, 5-7, 143, Ashiya, Hyogo, Japan)

Kinoshita joins the Bears from Japan where he played for Edo All United of the Tokyo Metropolitan Adult Football Federation. He played a role in Edo All United’s promotion to Tokyo Metropolitan Adult Soccer League Division 1, moving up every year since the club’s founding in 2020. Edo All United won the 2024 Tokyo Amateur League Champion. Kinoshita also helped lead Higashiyama High School to the top eight of the 100th All Japan High School Soccer Championship in 2021.

Sergi Resta (Midfielder, 6-0, 154, Tor, Spain)

Resta comes to Missouri State from Spain where he spent time with FC L’Escala, Palamós CF and U.E. Torroella. He attended Universidad Internacional de La Rioja.

Alex Rodriguez (Midfielder, 5-5, 125, Valladolid, Spain, Clayton State)

Rodriguez transfers to Missouri State following two successful stints at Indian Hills Community College in 2023 and Clayton State in 2024. At Indian Hills, Rodriguez was named to the 2023 NJCAA All-Region 11 first team. He appeared in 15 matches for the Warriors, making seven starts as a true freshman. Rodriguez ranked fourth on the team with 13 points on the year with four goals and five assists, tied for the team lead. He was named to the NJCAA All-Academic third team and was a two-time ICCAC All-Academic first-team player. Rodriguez was a member of the NJCAA Academic Team of the Year.

In 2024, Rodriguez moved to DII with the Clayton State Lakers, where he was named the Peach Belt Conference Player of the Year and to the United Soccer Coaches DII All-America first team. He played in all 21 games and made 19 starts, logging 1,512 minutes for fifth most on the team. Rodriguez led the Peach Belt Conference with 11 goals. He scored a brace at Georgia Gwinnett on 9/28/24 for his first career Division II goals. He also notched a pair of goals in the NCAA DII Sweet 16 match against No. 1 Limestone on 12/1/24, including the game-winner to send the Lakers to the Elite Eight. He had eight assists, including the lone goal in the Elite Eight against Lynn on 12/7/24.

Justin Stewart (Goalkeeper, 6-2, 175, Denton, Texas, High Point)

Stewart also joins a new-look goalkeeping group and brings Division I and MLS NEXT PRO experience. He played the 2023 season at High Point, which went 10-4-5 and won the Big South Tournament championship under head coach Zach Haines. Stewart entered the Big South title match against UNC Asheville as it went to penalty kicks with High Point winning on PKs, 4-3. He played 10 matches with seven starts as a freshman in 667 minutes played. Stewart had 21 saves on 11 goals allowed. He made a career-high five saves against Elon on 9/13/23 and USC Upstate on 9/23/23. He made his first career start against Saint Peter’s on 8/27/23 to become the youngest starting goalkeeper in High Point history. Stewart was the No. 95 recruit in TopDrawerSoccer’s Top 150 players in the 2023 recruiting class.

Stewart started two matches and made 15 appearances in MLS NEXT PRO for North Texas SC and Houston Dynamo 2 in the 2022 and 2023 seasons. He captained the Houston Dynamo Under 16 and 17 teams. He made the MLS NEXT PRO U-17 playoffs in 2021 and the MLS NEXT PRO playoffs in 2022. Stewart was part of the 2022 Dynamo U20 USPL South Texas regular season championship team. He secured one MLS NEXT PRO clean sheet.