Andrew Wenger finally got his first start this past weekend, now that he's graduated Duke University and joined the Montreal Impact full time.

All he did was score a goal and score the 5th highest of all MLS players in the league's weekly Castrol Index rankings. We think that makes him our Philadelphia Player of the Week.

A pair of Philadelphian traded goals at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, while another linked up to give Harrisburg a win in the USL.

This weekend's matchup between the Colorado Rapids and Montreal Impact provided excitement for anyone following the Pennsylvania players. Rookie Andrew Wenger slotted in at forward for his first start in his MLS career.

In a home match the Colorado Rapids could ill afford to lose the team got a 3-2 win over the expansion Montreal Impact thanks to a Southern wind and atrocious officiating on Saturday night.

Tied at 2 and down a man with the 61st minute ejection of Tyrone Marshall, the Rapids got the victory off an 83rd minute free kick that a strong wind kept the ball dancing along the crossbar until Jaime Castrillon headed it into the back of the net.

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Chicago Fire defender Dan Gargan has made news on the field as an automatic starter at for his club, but he keeps drawing notice off the field for his artwork too.

Gargan drew notice earlier this season with the terrific video he put together looking at Chicago's preseason preparation for the MLS season.

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Bobby Convey scored his first goal in a Kansas City uniform Saturday, but his team still fell short in the end.

Convey made a nice run into the box in the first half against Chicago, picked up a pass from Roger Espinosa, and right-footed a slow ball into the net for his 31st goal in MLS.

Photo: Paul Rudderow

This past weekend's match between the top team in each conference featured a Philadelphian playing yet another new position.

Now in his first season with Kansas City, Bobby Convey is being deployed at left wing in a 4-3-3, the only new starter for the league's best and only undefeated team.

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Look for our match preview of Saturday's game against Columbus and a Philly Soccer Show podcast interview with Crew coach Robert Warzycha later this morning.

Philadelphia Union

Kerith Gabriel tweeted on Thursday that Roger Torres is "to undergo surgery Friday on the MCL in his left knee.

Photo: Earl Gardner

Philadelphia Union

Kerith Gabriel reports at the Daily News that Roger Torres will be out "for 8 to 10 weeks."

Peter Nowak says of the injury, "It doesn't look good. His knee went completely to the side. I knew from the beginning there was something wrong.

Philadelphia Union had the week off, but if they didn't, you'd be hard-pressed to beat out a guy who scored his first career professional goal to give his team its first ever Major League Soccer win.

So naturally, Montreal rookie Andrew Wenger is PSP's Philadelphia player of the week.

Wenger, a rookie from Lititz, Pa.

Photo courtesy of Montreal Impact

Philadelphia-area players turned the tides in Saturday's two biggest games in Major League Soccer, as Andrew Wenger scored a game-winner and Bobby Convey created one with a beautiful assist.

Wenger's goal came in a nationally televised (in Canada) match between Toronto and Montreal, giving the Impact their first-ever MLS win by a 2-1 score.

Easter greetings from Sheanon Williams.

No doop this weekend but @ChrisVito kindly points out that Seba Le Toux threw down another marker, giving him as many goals as the entire Union team.

MLS action was consistently awesome this weekend. If you missed any of it, here are full highlights from every match.

Photo by: Earl Gardner

Philadelphia Union

After reviewing footage of his elbow to the head of Carlos Valdes in the 65th minute of Saturday's draw, the league has suspended Vancouver's Atiba Harris for one game and fined him for violent conduct that endangered the safety of his opponent.

Photo:

It might seem odd for two Philly guys to be happy about playing for a soccer team in Charleston, S.C., but if there's anything Ryan Richter and Tony Donatelli should keep in mind, it's recent history.

Richter, a LaSalle alum who played for Philadelphia Union last season, and Donatelli, a Temple grad who moves from minor league Rochester, both signed with the Charleston Battery of the USL last week.

Photo:

Two right backs from the Philadelphia area faced off on Saturday, but only one came out a winner.

Chicago right back Dan Gargan started and went the full 90 for Chicago in the club's 1-0 over Philadelphia, being a key part of the Chicago attack that consistently came down the right flank.

Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

Philly locals faced off on opposite sides of the field and determined the course of a match for the first time in Philadelphia Union history.

Not that it was a good thing for any of them.

Colorado midfielder and Chestnut Hill Academy alum Jeff Larentowicz drew a red card in the 58th minute of Colorado's 2-1 win over Philadelphia, turning Sunday's Union home opener into a wide open affair as the Rapids went a man down.

Photo courtesy of US Soccer

You've all read the weekly Americans Abroad roundups on various sites, ranging from Sports Illustrated and Yanks Abroad to MLSSoccer.com.

Well, PSP is now going to start doing the same with players from the Philadelphia area.

Of course, what's a Philadelphian?

Photo: Earl Gardner

Philadelphia Union

Look for player ratings, analysis and a photo essay from the weekend's 1–1 draw with Orlando City later today.

More local reports on the daraw from Reeves' Army, a photo essay from knightnews.com, and this TV report from wftv.com 9.

Nizar Khalfan has been called up for the Tanzanian National Team's friendly against Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday ahead of Tanzania's 2013 African Cup of Nations qualifier against Mozambique on Feb.

The expansion Montreal Impact used their first pick in franchise history to select the versatile Andrew Wenger with the top pick in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft on Thursday afternoon in Kansas City.

Wenger, considered to be the most talented and complete player in the draft, enjoyed a successful career at Duke University.

Adu had some moments.The U.S. Men's National Team opened up 2012 with some very interesting talking points. Certain call ups, certain omissions, scrimmages and of course the obvious questions that accompany such things. First up would be the scrimmage between the full team and the Under 23's.
The senior squad paid a lesson to the U23 Olympic team with a 4-0 dismantling of their younger brothers.

Philadelphia Union have figured out the formula to the MLS amateur draft:

Be patient, wait for other teams to screw up, and draft the best player available. When in doubt late, take a guy who played for Reading United.

The Union did it again this year, so let's talk about it with the proverbial Five Observations About .

Most surprising on the day of the MLS SuperDraft were the opening words spoken by Don Garber as he greeted the viewers and public... in French. His words were spoken in order to honor MLS newcomers and first to pick in the draft, the Montreal Impact. Beyond the initial surprise of that, the remainder of the draft left little in the way of talking points.

No. 1 selection Andrew WengerU.S. Soccer Communications
U.S. Under-23 defender and U.S. Soccer Development Academy alum Andrew Wenger out of Duke was the top selection by the Montreal Impact during Thursday's MLS SuperDraft held at the NSCAA Convention in Kansas City. Three of the first five selections in the draft had Development Academy ties.

Duke's Wenger heads to Montreal. (Photo via Duke Athletic Department)

After some back and forth this morning, the Montreal Impact held on to their number one pick and took Duke defender/midfielder Andrew Wenger.

Wenger should come in right away and be a starter for this expansion club.

The MLS SuperDraft is Thursday, January 12 at 12pm ET (ESPN2, ESPN3). The Philadelphia Union have the 13th, 32nd and 35th picks this year, and nobody knows what the team will do. PSP runs down some of the options.

Tony Cascio

What: Winger

Why: Some experts believe the Union will look to solidify their wing play by adding a player like UConn's Tony Cascio.

Featured image courtesy of Reading United A.C.

When Major League Soccer teams make their draft picks in Thursday's amateur draft, several players with local ties are sure to go off the board. You may not have three former Reading United players go off the board in the first round, as happened last year when that burgeoning soccer factory churned out C.

Photo courtesy of Duke University

Pennsylvania native Andrew Wenger won the Hermann Trophy Friday as the best player in men's college soccer. The former Reading United and Duke University star is expected to be a top-3 pick in this month's MLS college draft. Stanford's Teresa Noyola won the women's award.

The Hermann Trophy winners announced Friday night in St. Louis had something going for them: precedent. Senior midfielder Teresa Noyola is the third Stanford player in as many years to win the women's trophy; Duke junior forward Andrew Wenger followed in the footsteps of his head coach, John Kerr, who won the men's trophy while [.

Photo: Nicolae Stoian

Philadelphia Union

Reaction to the release of the 2012 schedule:

The Goalkeeper notes that the Union is hosting New York and DC twice. "This strikes me as unfair from a competitive balance standpoint...As such, it would seem to me to make more sense to have each team host one team once and one team twice.

MLSSoccer.com has a chat with former Reading United star Andrew Wenger, who has signed with Generation Adidas and will go into the MLS amateur draft.

Arsene Wenger really is trying to get Thierry Henry for a two-month loan. Anything Landon can do ... ?

U.S. forward Eddie Johnson has signed with Puebla in Mexico, where DaMarcus Beasley is having such a good season.

The 2012 MLS SuperDraft just got a little better. Fox Soccer's Ives Galarcep is reporting that the league has secured deals with two of the top prospects in this year's draft in Akron striker Darren Mattocks and Duke midfielder/defender Andrew Wenger.

Mattocks was rumored to go to Europe over the last couple weeks.

Duke's Andrew Wenger stands to be one of the top prospects in this year's SuperDraft. (Photo via Duke Athletic Department)

I know I've been slacking on my college coverage as of late. But have no fear, my SuperDraft items will really start to kick up in the coming weeks with the start of the NCAA tournament next week.