Arguably USAO’s best goalkeeper to defend the net, 22-year-old Bryan Byars has made his mark after back-to-back successful seasons. Byars, a physical education and business administration major from Oklahoma City, is in his junior year at USAO and despite the Drovers rocky start this season he believes his team is on the right track.

After redshirting his freshman year at Midwestern State in Wichita Falls, TX, he made the switch to USAO, mostly inspired by the coaching staff.

“I’ve known Coach Hampton and Coach Lexi (Vizeralis) for a long time through club,” Byars said. “I knew if I came here I would get the coaching I needed.”

On top of the successful coaching staff at USAO, Byars’ friends and family have helped him achieve success as well, he explained.

“Even the (players) here push you more than you think you can go,” he said. “My sister and other friends that don’t play have wanted me to succeed.”

In his two years as USAO’s goalkeeper, Byars has displayed record-breaking numbers; even surpassing his own coach Lexi Vizeralis’ record for the most shutouts, which is now at 22 after the Sept. 27 game against Oklahoma Baptist.

Growing up, Byars played a handful of sports on top of soccer, including basketball and baseball. Although he enjoyed the different aspects of each sport, he felt he had the most potential to move forward with soccer.

“I’ve been playing since I was three,” Byars said. “So I’ve been playing a long time and in the end I like soccer because it is real close knit. You get to know people really well, and I picked it because I knew I could go play college somewhere.”

But college soccer hasn’t been the limit for Byars. This past summer Bryan played in goal for the semi-professional team, Oklahoma City Football Club in their opening season. When the team rises to professional status next year, Byars intends on trying out.

“It would be nice to go and try out to see how I compare to those types of players and see what I have to do and see how far I can go with it,” he explained.