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Sandy • Aaron Maund emerges from the doors that lead to the gym inside the Real Salt Lake locker room. Clad in game-day gear, Maund walks down the long hallway as the sounds from each step with his vibrant orange cleats echo off the concrete.

Then he disappears, secretly slipping back into the RSL locker room.

A few minutes pass before the 25-year-old center back emerges again for a photo shoot. Maund apologizes to those waiting on him. The No. 21 he first slipped on after Pilates was the jersey he'll wear Saturday night against the Houston Dynamo, as evidenced by the triangular-shaped spot of Vick's VapoRub — designed to help players breath easier — near the top.

"Had to switch it out," he said, no doubt in his mind he would need that jersey on the pitch. "No Vick's today."

Maund walks through the double-doors to the player's tunnel, his cleats clicking and clacking against the concrete. For most of his professional career, he used to walk through before the starters lined up side-by-side and take a seat on the bench. Some nights, he didn't walk out at all, instead sitting in an unmarked suite on the fourth floor.

For two-and-a-half seasons, Aaron Maund waited for his shot.

It came early last summer, and since, he hasn't loosened his grip. Maund has become a mainstay on RSL's back line and is a big reason for both the club's improved defense and its fast start.

Dorchester to South Bend to Toronto

Maund followed in familiar footsteps growing up in the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester, Mass. His dad played soccer back home in Trinidad, so the transition to the pitch was simple. Maund's high-profile youth club program produced players such as Charlie Davies and Chris Tierney, both of whom now play for their hometown New England Revolution.

His U-15 team won a national championship. He'll see one of his former teammates, Houston's Sheanon Williams, Saturday night. Like many tall youth players, Maund started as a striker before being moved to the left side of the midfield. That's where he played at the U-17 World Cup in 2009, when he represented Trinidad and Tobago.

His first go at center back came randomly at a club tournament. The team was thin in central defense, so Maund was planted back there. In attendance that day was Notre Dame men's soccer coach Bobby Clark. The Fighting Irish coach was sold on Maund's athleticism and natural defensive instincts in the game's most cerebral position.

So Day 1 in South Bend necessitated a new mentality.

As Sporting Kansas City captain and U.S. men's national team regular Matt Besler explains, freshmen at Notre Dame typically don't play. They're asked to sit, watch, learn and earn their stripes. Maund bucked that trend. A few days before Besler's senior year started, Clark decided to pair him with Maund. The senior-freshman tandem were the only two Irish players to play every minute of that 2008 season.

"To be honest, I was always interested in Aaron because he came in as a freshman and he definitely deserved it, but things worked out his way his freshman year and he got to play," Besler said. "I was always kind of curious to see how he would progress, because sometimes people get complacent, especially when they get an opportunity right away. It's pleasing to see that he's continued to develop and continued to get better."

It took longer than Maund anticipated. Toronto FC drafted Maund No. 12 overall in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft. His first game as a pro was in the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals against David Beckham, Landon Donovan and the L.A. Galaxy. Maund played as Toronto won that night, but overall the club had a dreadful year, finishing last in MLS.

That December, Maund was told to pack his bags. He was headed to Salt Lake.

'Don't mess up'

In his first two years at RSL, Maund played in nine out of a possible 68 regular-season matches. Ahead of him were the likes of Nat Borchers, Chris Schuler and Carlos Salcedo. Buried on the depth chart, he had nowhere else to look but up. In 2013, Maund watched as RSL made its run to the U.S. Open Cup and MLS Cup finals. He embraced the balance of learning from his peers and itching to start. After all, he had no alternative.

"I'd never had that kind of insight: Being in a good locker room and seeing how it was supposed to work," he said.

Studying the veterans was easy compared to the spot starts. Maund struggled with his decision-making in 2013 and 2014. There were game-altering mistakes. Penalty kicks conceded. A Rocky Mountain rivalry red card. He started to overthink things. Being in the middle of the last line of defense puts every defender under the microscope. Before games, he'd wage a war with himself.

"Don't mess up," became a constant refrain in his mind.

Last June, Maund's long-term fortunes changed. Injuries to Jamison Olave and Schuler put him in the spotlight. It was sink-or-swim time as RSL, in the midst of a formation and philosophy change, needed its fourth-year player to rise.

And he did.

Dating to last May, Maund has started the past 38 of a possible 40 matches across all competitions for RSL, including every minute of every game in 2016.

"Guys can see that you're maybe not always in the plans at first, but you can find yourself [there] because things change really quickly," said RSL captain Kyle Beckerman. "The main thing is be ready for when the opportunity comes, and Aaron certainly did that."

Maund calls each game in 2015 "a blessing." The "don't mess up" mentality waned.

Now the incumbent

Jeff Cassar sat behind the table in the RSL media room after the 1-0 win over Vancouver on April 16 and put into perspective what Maund's meteoric rise has meant to the club.

"These kinds of things are excellent for the rest of our players that are seeing him go from not making [the game-day roster] to just making [it] to getting some spot starts to then becoming a starter last year and now getting better and building," Cassar explained. "It's a beautiful thing."

It may be a beautiful thing for RSL, Cassar and Maund, but Maund's work is just getting started. General manager Craig Waibel has made no bones about needing to upgrade the center back position, which puts more pressure on the current group.

"Competition, I think, breeds success," Maund said. "If we have guys champing at the bit, ready to get minutes, it kind of lights a fire in me saying, 'All right, I've got to do whatever I can do to keep my job, obviously.' "

For all the cloud cover that hovered over RSL in 2015, Tony Beltran said his silver lining was Maund's development into a first-team starter.

"We need all the players to have that mentality to want to be better, to hold ourselves to a high standard, and that's what he's done," Beltran said.

The waiting game is over. Maund isn't taking the elevator up to the fourth floor to watch his teammates on a Saturday night in Sandy anymore. He's not juggling at halftime with other bench players. He's still pushing himself to make sure he's walking out the doors in single-file line as a starter.

Twitter: @chriskamrani —

About Aaron Maund

Position • Center back

Age • 25

Hometown • Dorchester, Mass.

Career • Toronto FC (2012), RSL (2013-present)

Statistics • Maund has started 38 of the club's past 40 matches across all competitions. The 22 regular-season starts in 2015 more than tripled his previous start total in MLS.

Acquired • Acquired by RSL on Dec. 3, 2012 in a trade for Justin Braun —

Houston Dynamo at RSL

At Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy

Kickoff » Saturday, 7:30 p.m.

TV » KMYU

Radio » 700 AM

Records » RSL 4-1-2, Houston 1-4-2

Last meeting » RSL 3, Houston 1 (Sept. 12, 2015 at Houston)

About RSL » The final home game for seven weeks as RSL hits the road for five games in a row as the field at Rio Tinto Stadium is replaced. … Forward Joao Plata (hip flexor strain) is doubtful. … Forward Burrito Martinez (quad strain) is probable after returning to training midweek. … Midfielders Javier Morales and Sunday Stephen trained fully all week and are expected to return to the starting lineup. … RSL is coming off its first loss of the 2016 season, a 5-2 drubbing at L.A. … Through seven regular-season matches, RSL has yet to be shutout in 2016.

About Houston » The Dynamo will be without goalkeeper Tyler Deric and midfielder Alex Lima; both are serving one-game suspensions. … Houston enters this weekend with the lowest point total in MLS with five points in seven games. … Forward Will Bruin has three goals and two assists for the Dynamo. … Former RSL defender Abdoulie Mansally is expected to travel with the Dynamo and could see time against his former club. … Houston has scored 13 goals in 2016, but has conceded 14 in seven games. —

Houston Dynamo at RSL

Saturday, 7:30 p.m.

TV • KMYU