Editor’s note: This is part of a series of stories looking at the individual performances of Defiance players who are under contract in 2025. You can find all the stories here.
Chris Aquino is a type of player that the Sounders Academy has occasionally produced but ultimately never at a First Team level: a No. 10. Although he’s spent time playing on the wing, he has looked by far his best played in the center of an attacking band of three behind a striker. Aquino combines technical ability and tenacity to impact the game in ways that his athleticism might otherwise not allow.
Born: March 31, 2006 (18)
2024 stats: 11 goals, 2 assists, 1224 minutes
Total professional minutes: 1,552 minutes
Year in review: Aquino had a slow start to the season, making two starts and scoring 1 goal in 259 minutes before he graduated from high school in the middle of June. He scored in the next game, then with Faysal Bettache’s departure for FC Tulsa Aquino became a regular starter and key contributor as he led the team in scoring. From July 14 to Sept. 8, he went on a run of scoring or assisting in 7 of 8 games with 8 goals and 2 assists. Aquino hit a dry patch as the season closed, and the team’s results went with him going 1-2-1 to end the regular season.
If it all works out: If Aquino can find consistency, even if it’s at the cost of volume, in his goal scoring and add more chance creation to go with his shot and ability to impact the game off the ball, the Sounders could have that rarest of players on their hands: a legit domestic No. 10. He’s the kind of player who, if he can take his game to the next level, can either be a foundational piece that lifts a team’s ceiling or brings in a transfer fee well over seven figures.
