March 6, 2014
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State men's soccer sophomore Travis Nicklaw (San Diego, Calif.) has been called up to the Guam national team that is preparing for international friendlies against Aruba on March 27 and March 30.
It will be Nicklaw's fourth time competing internationally with Guam, which is his mother's home country. Nicklaw's older brother, Shawn, who plays for the Rochester Rhinos of the United Soccer Leagues (USL) after playing for Connecticut from 2007-2010, will also compete on the Guamanian team.
"It's a great experience playing with a bunch of guys from Guam, learning their culture and all the different things about the country," Nicklaw said. "We're just trying to get the Guam name out there in the national rankings, and improve our team's ranking each time we play. Individually, I'm just trying to make the team better, do my best to help us win and move up in the FIFA rankings."
Under head coach Gary White, Guam is currently ranked No. 160 in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, a record high for the program, and is 33rd out of 46 teams in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
Nicklaw redshirted as a sophomore in 2013, but appeared in 17 games with 10 starts as a freshman in 2012. The University City High graduate was ranked No. 26 on the TopDrawerSoccer.com midseason top-100 freshmen list, and played at least 90 minutes in six separate games as an Aztec in 2012.