From South Orange to H-town, former Seton Hall men’s soccer standout defender Agustin Resch is the latest Pirate to make their professional debut.
Subbing in at the start of the second half of Houston Dynamo FC’s home match against LAFC on Saturday night, Resch earned his first MLS minutes.
In 45 minutes of play, the 6-foot-6 Argentinian recorded one FA, or when a player records a “Final Act” that directly results in a goal-scoring opportunity for their side or prevents one for their opponents, Resch earning a free-kick in Houston’s defensive half in the 80th minute.
Selected by Houston with the 69th overall pick in the third round of the 2026 MLS SuperDraft, Resch signed a MLS NEXT Pro contract to the club’s second-team, Houston Dynamo 2, with a first team option for 2027 a week prior.
It was a last-minute call-up for Resch that led to his MLS debut: less than 24 hours before hosting LAFC, Houston’s first-team announced the signing of Resch to a short-term loan for the match.
Earlier this month, former men’s basketball guard Kadary Richmond found himself in a similar position as Resch, making his NBA Debut for the Washington Wizards just eight hours after signing a 10-day contract.
Although Houston fell to LAFC 2-0 in the match, on an individual note, Resch’s debut is the latest milestone in an already impressive list of them for the former Pirate: after being released from a team in his home country of Argentina, Resch made his debut for SHU in 2023, earning All-BIG EAST Second-Team honors the following season.
As a junior, his first season as team captain, Resch became the first Pirate to be named an All-American, Scholar All-American, All-BIG EAST and to earn one of the four individual BIG EAST soccer awards in program history. He was also named one of fifteen semifinalists for the MAC Hermann Trophy, which is awarded to the top men’s and women’s college soccer players.
Resch’s final season as a Pirate was even more impressive, with conference and national honors from start-to-finish: he was named the Preseason BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year and was a unanimous selection to the Preseason All-BIG EAST Team in August; earned both of those conference honors in November at the end of the conference’s regular season; and was selected to the United Soccer Coaches All-East Region First Team and All-America First Team in December.
After such a season and career, Resch became just the sixth in program history to be drafted in the MLS, and the first since Sacha Kljestan was selected fifth overall nearly two decades ago.
With the MLS’s regular season having just begun, Resch making his debut in just Houston's second game of the season, it’s likely he will be called up again to play more minutes for Houston's first-team in the coming months.
Zachary Mawby is the head editor of The Setonian’s Sports section. He can be reached at zachary.mawby@student.shu.edu.
