Taren Wente opted to bet on himself and it paid off with an ACC program

June 12, 2026 · Yahoo Sports

Taren Wente’s 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’t forget about the remaining matches scheduled for the New Mexico United developmental academy, either.

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

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

“I’ve never lived anywhere separate from Albuquerque, so that’ll be new. I think Pittsburgh will be a bit of a culture shock,” 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’s a move Wente is willing to make. After all, it’s not the first time the Eldorado High graduate decided to bet on himself.

That was when he turned down — politely — 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’t 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.

“It was kind of looking into darkness,” Wente said. “I didn’t know what was ahead of me. There was a future where I didn’t commit to any school because the recruiting situation is really hard here in New Mexico. It was definitely scary for me.

“... My mom, one of my biggest supporters, was like, ‘What are you doing? This is what you’ve been working for. You might not get another opportunity.’ My dad was a little more pragmatic about it. He was like, ‘If you don’t like the academics there, you should look for another place.’ But they both supported me in what I wanted to do.”

It turned out, Wente received a little bit of support from Valentin Noël, too.

The United first-team midfielder played at Pitt from 2019-22 and reached out to the coaching staff on Wente’s behalf. It didn’t 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’t hurt that the school had the engineering program Wente liked.

The keeper committed June 1.

It hasn’t left a whole lot of time to get ready for the big move. Not that it’s 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 Albuquerque.

"I don’t know if I will actually be ready for that,” Wente said with a laugh. “It’s really green up there, but I heard last year they went into negative (temperatures) and had a lot of snow. I’ll have to layer up.”

David Glovach covers New Mexico United and other sports for the Journal. Reach him at [email protected] or via X @DavidGlovach.