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Taren Wente鈥檚 itinerary is looking rather full for the next few weeks.

There are friends to hang out with, important items that need to be accounted for and packed, and possibly a new laptop to procure. Can鈥檛 forget about the remaining matches scheduled for the New Mexico United developmental academy, either.

All of it needs to be done ahead of the goalkeeper鈥檚 cross-country trip to the Northeast 鈥� or Midwest, depending on one鈥檚 definition of southwestern Pennsylvania.

Wente is set to report to summer workouts for Pitt鈥檚 soccer program on July 2.

鈥淚鈥檝e never lived anywhere separate from sa国际传媒官网网页入口, so that鈥檒l be new. I think Pittsburgh will be a bit of a culture shock,鈥� Wente said Thursday at a college announcement ceremony that also featured several of his academy teammates.

Kyle Hofmann is going to Gardner-Webb, Grady Gilchrist to Creighton, Ivan Moore to Division II Biola (California), Connor Hanks to Division II Colorado Christian and Charlie Groves will attempt to walk on at UC San Diego. 

But it鈥檚 a move Wente is willing to make. After all, it鈥檚 not the first time the Eldorado High graduate decided to bet on himself.

That was when he turned down 鈥� politely 鈥� an offer from Creighton, the only notable school to recruit him during the final year of his high school career. The academics, more than the soccer program, weren鈥檛 a fit.

Wente plans on majoring in engineering like his dad and older brother during their college days.

It was a risk. And doing so left Wente without many options.

鈥淚t was kind of looking into darkness,鈥� Wente said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know what was ahead of me. There was a future where I didn鈥檛 commit to any school because the recruiting situation is really hard here in New Mexico. It was definitely scary for me.

鈥�... My mom, one of my biggest supporters, was like, 鈥榃hat are you doing? This is what you鈥檝e been working for. You might not get another opportunity.鈥� My dad was a little more pragmatic about it. He was like, 鈥業f you don鈥檛 like the academics there, you should look for another place.鈥� But they both supported me in what I wanted to do.鈥�

It turned out, Wente received a little bit of support from Valentin No毛l, too. 

The United first-team midfielder played at Pitt from 2019-22 and reached out to the coaching staff on Wente鈥檚 behalf. It didn鈥檛 take long for the goalkeeper and the Panthers to share a mutual interest in each other. 

Wente liked that Pitt played in the ACC and had a national championship coach in Jay Vidovich. It certainly didn鈥檛 hurt that the school had the engineering program Wente liked.

The keeper .

It hasn鈥檛 left a whole lot of time to get ready for the big move. Not that it鈥檚 a bad thing. But Wente is managing and checking over his to-do list. 

That also happens to include making sure he has some future winter attire. Pittsburgh can get a little colder than sa国际传媒官网网页入口.  

"I don鈥檛 know if I will actually be ready for that,鈥� Wente said with a laugh. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really green up there, but I heard last year they went into negative (temperatures) and had a lot of snow. I鈥檒l have to layer up.鈥�

David Glovach covers New Mexico United and other sports for the Journal. Reach him at dglovach@abqjournal.com or via X .