The Quakes had 3 picks in the 2012 SuperDraft. In their first pick they selected a Generation
Adidas forward from UC Santa Barbara, Sam Garza (seen above), with the No. 6 overall pick. The team
picked up Jacob Hustedt, midfielder, from the University of Washington with the 25th pick (6th in
round 2) and Chris Blais, goalkeeper, from the University of South Florida with the 33rd pick (14th
in round 2).
Among the Philadelphia Union's many offseason moves was the acquisition of withdrawn forward,
and occasional winger, Josue Martinez. The Costa Rican international striker was expected to help
push Danny Mwanga and Jack McInerney for a starting role alongside Sebastien Le Toux. However,
according to Soccer By Ives, the Union's addition of Martinez may have made Mwanga surplus to the
team's requirements in 2012.
Today the SB Nation MLS blog network conducted a mock version of the 2012 MLS SuperDraft. The
advantage to doing this is that team bloggers should know their own teams better than a national
writer. The disadvantage is that most of us don't follow the national collegiate scene in ways that
a real experts like Maureci, Clark and Eskilson can.
The New England Revolution today announced the additions of three members to new head coach Jay
Heaps' staff. Jay Miller joins Heaps as his primary assistant, while former Revolution defender
Nick Downing was named strength and conditioning coach and Scott Emmens was hired as the team's
equipment manager.
Photo courtesy of UNC athletics
The MLS Combine is about a month away, but we already have a good idea of who will be trying to
wow scouts ahead of the MLS SuperDraft after MLS released a list of 52 players who will compete in
Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
Among those included on the initial list are highly rated players such as South Florida standout
goalkeeper Chris Blais, North Carolina centerback Matt Hedges, Louisville attackers Nick DeLeon and
Colin Rolfe, Maryland forward Casey Townsend and Creighton striker Ethan Finlay.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. Revolution midfielder Zak Boggs was named MLS W.O.R.K.S. Humanitarian of the
Year, the league announced on Wednesday.
Boggs, who's been involved in cancer research with Dr. Marsha Moses at Children's Hospital
Boston since 2010, was named co-winner of the Revolution's Humanitarian of the Year award, along
with Matt Reis, last month.
Just a quick note:
The University of South Florida is actually in Central Florida. A Canadian team once won
back-to-back American League championships. Duke basketball has played in the NCAA's West Region
five times and its Midwest Region four times. Neither the New York Giants nor New York Jets play in
New York, and the Dallas Cowboys play in Arlington.
The standard of American collegiate soccer has grown in leaps and bounds over the past 10 years,
and are now becoming a home for top international imports to ply their trade.
J.R. Eskilson of Goal.com writes of how international imports arriving in the collegiate game here
in the US is changing the landscape of the game.
Photo by University of South Florida
By FRANCO PANIZO
When goalkeeper Chris Blais' 2010 season came to a close, it did so a game earlier than he
wanted. Blais had helped guide Michigan to an impressive run in the NCAA Championship tournament,
one that ended with a semifinals loss to eventual champion Akron.
Featured photo: Earl Gardner
Saturday's game will mark the midway point of the 2011 MLS season. And, just as was the case
with the first game of the season way back on March 19, the Union will be on the road.
7 wins, 4 losses, 6 draws. In and out of first place. Who'd a thunk it way back when the Union
took the field in Houston?
Defensive Player of the Week: Jeff Attinella
FC Tampa Bay goalkeeper Jeff Attinella has been named the North American Soccer League Defender
of the Week, the league announced on Tuesday.
Attinella earned his first career shutout in Saturday's victory over the Montreal Impact, making
11 saves in the 3-0 win.
The new USL PRO Orlando City SC franchise kicked off their inaugural season on a high note,
defeating the Philadelphia Union of MLS 1-0 Saturday at the Florida Citrus Bowl. The preseason
match was the first game played by Orlando City.
The Union came into the match having played three previous February friendlies against the USMNT
U-17 squad, the University of South Florida and the University of Central Florida.
Photo: Courtesy of Philadelphia Union and Donald Montague
On Saturday night, despite the loud presence of a Sons of Ben contingent, the Union finished the
domestic leg of their preseason on a down note with a 1–0 loss to Orlando City SC. For
Orlando—of the USL Pro League, the third division in the American soccer pyramid—it was both
their first match and first win since the club was announced in October of 2010.
With preseason camp opening in about two weeks, each Women's Professional Soccer team has
released it's preseason match schedule. Not all games will be open to fans. Visit your team's
website for more information on games.
The Atlanta Beat will start things off with a match against the University of South Florida at
KSU Soccer Stadium at 12:00 pm.
By AVI CREDITOR
After a rather quiet offseason in terms of player moves, the New York Red Bulls are reportedly
close to making a big splash in the transfer market.
According to reports out of the Netherlands, the club has a two-year offer on the table to Ajax
midfielder and Finland international Teemu Tainio (pictured above, left), who has fallen out of
favor at the club and can be had on a free transfer.
Just because a recent article on the Union's website emphasized the need for some of the scoring
burden to be lifted off of the shoulders of Sebastien "The Real MVP" Le Toux and Danny "You Ain't
Seen Nothing Yet" Mwanga doesn't mean they're in any mood to let up.
They just can't help it.
After scoring in the 9th minute in Sunday's 1-1 draw against the USMNT U-17, Le Toux dialed it
back a bit and waited until the 19th minute before scoring in today's exhibition match against the
University of South Florida.
Union
From a conference call with reporters on Wednesday:
- Noting that the roster compliance deadline is March 1, Peter Nowak said, "The roster is not in
place yet we still are working on some things that could improve our roster offensive and
defensively."
- Nowak said, "Having a forward or even grabbing another defender is still in the works.
By AVI CREDITOR
The training wheels have been taken off, and the Philadelphia Union is ready to ride with the
big boys.
After an inaugural season that ended well short of a postseason berth, the Union has made a
number of personnel moves to shore up what was a shaky defense in 2010 while providing support for
its budding attackers as well.
The roster of the Rapids is starting to take shape, and it looks like a lot of youth for the
2011 season.
The Rapids Tuesday selected forward Philip Bannister from Loyola University (Maryland) with the
last pick in the second round (36th overall) in the 2011 MLS Supplemental Draft. The club then
selected defender Javed Mohammed from the University of South Florida with the 54th overall
selection, which was the last in the 3rd round and of the draft.
The Rapids had the 36th and 54th (and final) picks in today's Supplemental Draft, having traded the
18th pick to Dallas for Anthony Wallace.
With the 36th pick they took Philip Bannister
A forward out of Loylola University.
photo by John Dorton/ISIphotos.com
By FRANCO PANIZO
FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Poor finishing for the U.S. U-20 national team nearly
cost it a result against a team made up of players from southern Florida, but Zac MacMath came up
with a big second half penalty kick save to end the match at 0-0 on Thursday afternoon.
