Growing up in Escondido, Milan Iloski would watch Major League Soccer and wonder why his hometown was left out. “Every time there was an expansion team (announced) growing up, there was always rumors that San Diego was going to get a team, and it just never came,” he said. Iloski never could have guessed that he would one day play for San Diego’s MLS club, much less score in front of a packed house at a new, soccer-friendly stadium. Iloski’s 87th-minute goal to the far post finished off last week’s 5-0 win over FC Dallas at Snapdragon Stadium. He celebrated the way you’d expect a hometown kid to. Iloski ran to the supporters’ section, pulled his jersey up to his face and kissed the SDFC crest. Then he leaped over a barrier and into a camera well, leaned into the crowd and, as a blue smoke bomb was detonated, traded high-fives with fans. “Honestly,” he said, “I kind of blacked out a little bit.” Saturday, Iloski and SDFC will travel to St. Louis City FC in a rematch of the team’s March 1 scoreless tie. Iloski was playing in Denmark when SDFC and St. Louis first met, part of a winding soccer career that has led him back home. Here are three things to know about SDFC’s 25-year-old attacker: 1. He was a young soccer star. An Escondido native, Iloski attended San Pasqual High School. Rather than play varsity soccer, Iloski competed for Real Salt Lake AZ U-17/18, the MLS club’s developmental team located in Casa Grande, Ariz. He started 33 matches, scoring 16 goals and recording 15 assists. Iloski matriculated to UCLA, following in the footsteps of his brothers Brian and Eric. In three years with the Bruins, Iloski earned All-Pac-12 honors and made program history. On Oct. 6, 2019, he scored a program-record five goals as UCLA beat visiting San Diego State 5-2. 2. He turned pro, struggled, and then rediscovered his love for the game. Real Salt Lake signed Iloski to a homegrown contract following his junior season at UCLA, and the attacker turned pro. Iloski spent most of the next two years with RSL’s minor-league affiliates, making just two appearances for the MLS club. He logged one minute against LAFC during the COVID-shortened 2020 season and two minutes against the Portland Timbers a year later. He’s already played 65 minutes and counting with SDFC. Real Salt Lake released Iloski at the end of the 2021 season. He signed with Orange County SC of USL Championship, the same league that the now-defunct San Diego Loyal played in. Teamed with his brother Brian, a midfielder, Iloski took off. He scored a league-best 22 goals in 2022, his first season with OCSC. He put up 16 the next season. The player who managed just three MLS minutes in two years played nearly 5,400 minutes for Orange County, proving himself to be among the most dangerous and durable forwards in the league. Near the end of his second year with the club, OCSC agreed to transfer Iloski to FC Nordsjaelland for the following season. The Danish Superliga club reportedly paid a six-figure sum to acquire OCSC’s all-time leading scorer during the January 2024 transfer window. Iloski said he’ll “always be grateful” to OCSC for getting his career back on track. “I wanted to get back to loving playing soccer again,” he said. “And that was the biggest thing.” 3. He can score — and celebrate. Iloski appeared in 18 matches for FC Nordsjaelland, scoring twice, before his career came full circle. FC Nordsjaelland and SDFC are both Right to Dream clubs, playing similar styles and sharing similar values. When forward Marcus Ingvartsen went down with a leg injury in March, SDFC looked to Denmark. On April 2, the clubs announced that Iloski had been loaned to SDFC through July. On May 3, Iloski scored his first MLS goal — and kicked off a celebration that was years in the making. “I was talking before with my family, and I was like, ‘I gotta celebrate with the fans when I score my first goal,’” he said. “… I knew I had to get in there and celebrate with the people that support us every week. So the feeling was incredible, and maybe I’ll jump in there again soon.”