Junior Yash Kshirsagar dribbles against a defender form North Park University on Sept. 16. (Hannah Dorval | Contributing Photographer)

In the spring of 2024, then-first-year Yash Kshirsagar received an email that would change his life.

The midfielder had not heard back from former WashU men’s soccer head coach Joe Clarke for months. He was passed over for an offer to play varsity soccer at WashU out of high school. After being accepted to WashU on his academic merit, he says he “stayed persistent” in emailing Clarke his updates: highlight reels, monthly check-ins, anything to keep in contact with the Bears’ coach. All he heard back was radio silence, until Clarke’s name appeared in his inbox with a surprising question.

“He said, ‘I want you to come to our first training session on Friday at 6:00 a.m. Can you be there?’” Kshirsagar recalled. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, of course I’ll be there.’” 

Now a junior on the varsity men’s soccer team, Kshirsagar’s story is different from most. Kshirsagar is the only player on the team to join as a walk-on, joining the team after a season playing for the men’s club soccer team. He rode the bench for the entire 2024 season. But this year, he has come off the bench in a majority of the Bears’ games and started in an early-season tilt against Westminster College. He is playing on the wing this season, a difficult adjustment from the midfield position he has played his entire life. But against all odds, this season, Kshirsagar has gotten regular minutes and goal-scoring opportunities.

Sometimes, Kshirsagar himself can’t even believe it.

“There was about a year where I was really uncertain about my future and I didn’t really know if I would play again,” he said. “So having that all pay off is such a relief. I’m just over the moon.” 

Kshirsagar starred in high school, serving as team captain for his final season at the St. Paul Academy and Summit School in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 2023, he joined the Minneapolis City Futures team, which plays in the United Premier Soccer League. Through Minneapolis City, Kshirsagar met now-senior Zach Susee, a well-known name in Minnesota soccer circles and a forward for the WashU men’s soccer team. The two of them had never met, but they shared a career progression — from the youth-level Salvo Soccer Club, to Minneapolis City, and ultimately, to WashU. 

“I got to play with Yash a little bit at [Minneapolis] City, and he was on one of the teams that I used to watch at tournaments when I was younger,” Susee said. “It’s pretty cool that we have someone on the team from the same area and same club as me, even if I didn’t know him personally.”

Kshirsagar woke up early that day to train with the team. After attending a few more training sessions, he got an invite to the team lift session. The newly-hired head coach, Andrew Bordelon, soon asked him to practice with the team. He dressed with the team in an exhibition game against Saint Louis University that April but didn’t see the field. He began to plan his daily routine around a team he didn’t yet know he was a part of, all for the opportunity to play with the senior team. 

At the end of the spring season, Kshirsagar had to ask Bordelon the uncomfortable question: did he make the team? He got the answer he had been waiting for.

“I kind of knew by then, since I was invited to train and practice all spring,” Kshirsagar said. “But him saying that in words and giving me the confirmation was just incredible.” 

Despite training and practicing for the men’s soccer team for over a year, Kshirsagar didn’t see the field until the 33rd minute of the men’s soccer 2025 season opener against Millikin University. 

Bordelon turned to his former walk-on midfielder for the first time – poetically, replacing Susee on the pitch. 35 minutes later, first-year Wole Adeoye crossed a ball into the box. Once again, Kshirsagar did not waste his opportunity. He scored the goal that extended WashU’s lead to 6-0, but more importantly, scored his first collegiate goal. He has not scored since facing Millikin, but he recorded his first career start in the following game against Westminster College. 

“In the moment, I didn’t really think about everything I have done to get that goal,” he said. “But after the game, when I was with my parents, I realized all the steps I had to take to get there. That was a special moment.”

Kshirsagar is still constantly adjusting. He is adapting to a new position, one which requires him to be less involved with playmaking and more clinical with his finishing. He’s still training and improving every single day. With many of the Bears’ regular forwards injured, the new winger is taking the opportunity to continue to carve out a prominent role for this year’s squad. 

“My goal is to bring that spark,” he said. “I want to bring that speed and attacking power. And when I’m playing to my ability, that’s something I’m able to do well.”

So far, Kshirsagar has done just that. This year, he has logged valuable minutes in nearly all of the Bears’ seven games. His energy off the bench is palpable, always bringing a good attitude with him into games.

“He is one of the most positive people I’ve ever met and just a genuinely nice person,” Susee said. “He’s just a really, really good guy, everyone in the locker room enjoys having him around, and now he’s one of the guys that just fits well with the team.” 

For Kshirsagar, the journey has always been about more than just personal glory. He sees himself as proof that persistence pays off and that there’s space for players who may not have taken the traditional recruiting route. 

 “The main thing is to keep reaching out,” he said, offering advice to future walk-ons. “At first, I didn’t really see the importance of me following up so persistently. But I think that if I had sent only three emails instead of the ten that I did send, [Clarke] probably wouldn’t have emailed me and called me up.”

From captaining his high school soccer team, to doubting whether collegiate soccer was within reach, to becoming the team’s only walk-on among a roster of highly-touted high school recruits, Kshirsagar’s success has come in waves. And as the Bears’ season continues, he’s determined to keep building on that momentum — one game, one opportunity at a time.