Tacoma Defiance announce two more signings

Tacoma Defiance announced another pair of signings on Friday. Midfielders Antonio Herrera, 18, and Frank Daroma, 21, have taken distinctly different routes to Defiance, but should both make the team more dynamic in possession.

Antonio Herrera is an attack-minded midfielder who’s often been deployed on the wing with Sounders Academy teams. After joining the Academy in 2017 Herrera has progressed through the ranks to earn his place with Tacoma Defiance, with his official signing having been seen as something of an inevitability since this past summer. In the team’s press release about the signing Vice President of Player Development is quoted saying, “We are happy to see Antonio progress within our development side from our Sounders Discovery Program, then into our Academy and now to Tacoma Defiance. He has shown in competition and training that he is ready for the next step in his development as he starts his professional career.”

Herrera was a consistent contributor to the Sounders U17 side that defended the Generation Adidas Cup title in 2022, and earned a call-up to the Mexico U18 National Team for a camp in September of last year through his performances at the academy level. Since then he’s been involved in Seattle Sounders preseason training, including joining the team in Spain as they prepare for the Club World Cup. He’s earned praise from Sounders Head Coach Brian Schmetzer for his performance in preseason, if Instagram is to be believed he’s developed something of a budding friendship with Raúl Ruidíaz. The Sounders star striker has even seemingly given him a nickname, La Bestia. Herrera is a clever and technical player who likes to take defenders on and beat them with a dribble, as can be seen in this clip.

Frank Daroma was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and joins Tacoma Defiance after spending the last two seasons playing in the USL Championship with Las Vegas Lights. The central midfielder played every possible game in 2021 and made 33 appearances in 2022 including a US Open Cup game, missing only two games over the course of the season. Daroma started 57 of his 63 appearances with Las Vegas. Prior to joining Las Vegas he played one season at CSU San Bernadino where he racked up plenty of accolades for his 4 goals and 5 assists in 19 games. He earned California Collegiate Athletic Association Freshman of the Year, All-CCAA First Team, United Soccer Coaches All-Region First Team and USC All-American honors. Daroma also spent the 2018-2019 season Barça Academy in Arizona before going to CSUSB.

According to John Morrissey, AKA @USLTactics, with Las Vegas Daroma played as a “box-to-box midfielder, he’s a total bundle of energy. Really aggressive advancing the ball on the dribble and good in the press, but he’s not a great passer or creator.” The diminutive Daroma will compete for minutes with fellow Defiance players and loanees from the First Team, but his particular set of skills are unique among the position group within the organization and should be a good fit for the style of play the team has typically utilized under head coach Wade Webber.

USL Tactics

Herrera and Daroma bring the Tacoma Defiance roster to 13 signed players.

Goalkeepers: Wallis Lapsley (25)

Defenders: Cody Baker (19), Stuart Hawkins (16), Elias Katsaros (21), Gio Miglietti (23), Travian Sousa (21), Hal Uderitz (23)

Midfielders: Juan Alvarez (18), Chris Aquino (16), Frank Daroma (21), Antonio Herrera (18), Georgi Minoungou (20), Paul Rothrock (24)