LANCASTER, Calif. - AV ALTA FC today signed the first non-California native to its inaugural squad, adding Italian defender and 2024 USL League One champion Luca Mastrantonio, pending league and federation approval.

The 28-year-old Rome, Italy native spent one season with Italian Serie D side A.S. Ostia Mare Lido Calcio in 2015 before playing collegiately stateside. Between 2016 and 2019, Mastrantonio progressed from collegiate play at the NAIA level with the University of Northwestern Ohio (2016), to the NCAA Division II level with Rockhurst University (2017), and finally, to the NCAA Division I level with the University of California, Irvine (2019).

Mastrantonio spent a pair of USL League Two seasons in Canada with the Thunder Bay Chill, helping the Ontario-based side finish atop the Heartland Division, win the Central Conference and advance to the 2017 USL League Two Final. The Italian defender netted the winning goal in Thunder Bay's 1-0 Semifinal victory against FC Golden State Force.

After earning All-Big West First Team honors with UC Irvine in 2019, Mastrantonio inked his first professional deal with FC Tucson in 2021, recording 50 appearances and four goals across all competitions through a pair of seasons with the former League One side.

Mastrantonio signed with Union Omaha ahead of the 2023 League One season and spent two years in Nebraska. The Italian helped Omaha win back-to-back USL League One Players' Shields (2023, 2024) before leading the Owls to a league title in 2024. Across all competitions, Mastrantonio made 57 appearances for Omaha.

Mastrantonio's 87 USL League One appearances are the most among Italian players in league history and fifth most among European-born players (Nil Vinyals, Jacob Crull, Jordan Skelton, Victor Falck).