Early copy of press release and U23 roster: ##### AUSTIN AZTEX ANNOUNCE ROSTER FOR INAUGURAL U23 SEASON Strong Squad Features Players with International Experience Austin, TX – April 24, 2008 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE The Austin Aztex FC today announced its roster for its U23 team which begins play on May 3, 2008. The U23 team will participate in the USL’s Premier Development League (“PDL”), an elite amateur league of 67 teams, in which players participate in a professional training environment as they seek to move into the professional ranks. The Aztex will be playing in the PDL’s Midsouth division which includes the league champion from last year, the Laredo Heat. The current Austin Aztex roster consists of 21 players, several of whom are attending or have graduated from the University of Texas. Many on the roster are local Austin players who learned their soccer here and will be returning to play for their local club, Austin Aztex, this summer. In addition to the local talent on show, there are 2 players who have played for NCAA National Championship clubs. There are another two players who have played for National Teams in Jamaica. Three players are natives of the United Kingdom and one player from Spain, who has played in La Liga. In short, the team has a strong international character, close ties to the Austin community and a wealth of soccer experience both here and abroad. Aztex U23 Head Coach Wolfgang Suhnholz comments, “While it was not our objective to field a team with this much international variety, it’s not surprising that we’ve ended up here given the global appeal of soccer. We think these players have a great deal of potential, and it should be fun for the fans in Austin to watch them develop and possibly move into professional ranks next year.” The Austin Aztex U23 team will play its first league game on May 3 in El Paso, with its home opener at Dragon Stadium in Round Rock on May 10 at 7:30PM against the Houston Leones. The 2008 campaign will total 16 games of which 8 will be at the Aztex’s home. Phil Rawlins, President of the Aztex, says, “I am truly excited about the quality of the first players we will have out on the field wearing the Aztex colors and representing the Austin community. The coaching staff has done a great job of identifying a group of young players who have real potential; we think they will make a big impact in the league in their first season.” The Austin Aztex will be expanding into the USL First Division in the 2009 season. It has a unique affiliation with Stoke City FC, an English soccer club which is vying for a spot in the prestigious English Premier League. The Austin Aztex and Stoke City FC have plans to work together on a variety of projects, including having Austin host a summer training camp for the English club. # # # Austin Aztex FC U23 Roster Player Position DOB Height Weight Achievements 1. Miguel Gallardo Goalkeeper 24-10-84 6 '1" 179lbs. PDL save leader**2005-2006 season 2. Andy Taylor** Defender 28-12-85 5' 11" 185lbs. Oklahoma City University; Native of Liverpool, England 3. Zack Pope Defender 20-03-86 5' 7" 140lbs Duke University Grad; MLS Chicago Fire '08 draft pick** 4. Kieron Bernard Defender 02-08-85 6 '3" 190lbs. San Jacinto College; Captain U17, U20, U23 Jamaican National Teams 5.**Beto Papandrea** Defender 21-04-76 6' 0" 180lbs. University of Texas-Austin Grad; Player/Coach of National Semi-Finalist Real Madrid-Austin** 6. Ezual Lewis Midfield 19-04-84 5 '7" 160lbs. St. Edward's University; Former member U20 Jamaican National Team ** 7. Jorge Vega Midfield 05-01-87 5' 6" 155lbs Hardin-Simmons University; District MVP at Manor HS 2006 8. Marcel Uriarte Midfield 05-06-79 6' 0" 172lbs St. Edward's University Grad; PDL All-Conference 2007**** 9. Edgar Alvarez Forward 14-09-86 5' 11" 150lbs. San Jacinto College; Holds record at Mayde Creek HS for career goals scored 10. AJ Godbolt Midfield 07-03-84 5' 10" 175lbs. University of Maryland Grad; MLS Kansas City Wizards '07 draft pick 11.**Andres Cuero Forward 07-08-89 5' 10" 165lbs. UNC-Charlotte; Preseason Atlantic-10 All Rookie selection 12. Craig Hill Goalkeeper 27-12-87 6' 1" 192lbs Southern Methodist University; 2005 NSCAA All-American at Reagan HS 13. Joshua Alcala Defender 05-01-84 5'9" 165lbs. University of South Carolina Grad; Played for USL-2 Crystal Palace USA 14.**Carlos Vicens Midfield 12-02-83 5'7" 151lbs. University of Texas-Austin; Played for RCD Mallorca in Spain 15. Westley Allen Midfield 17-09-86 6' 1" 170lbs University of Texas-Austin; 3rd Team Freshman All-American at Oakland University 16. BJ Olonilua Forward 10-01-86 6' 1" 160lbs. University of Texas-Austin;**Native of Kingwood, TX 17.**Abdiel Amador Midfield 07-07-98 5'8" 145lbs. Texas A&M International University; Edinburg North HS 18.**Chris Spendlove Defender 18-12-84 5'10" 170lbs Oklahoma City University; Native of Liverpool, England** 19. Jamie Scope Defender 16-12-86 6' 4" 192lbs University of Incarnate Word; Native of Newcastle, England 21. Austin Da Luz Midfield 09-10-87 5' 10" 160lbs. Wake Forest University; 2007 NCAA National Champion
Here we go, here we go, here we go! So, AJ's on the team. And with Bucky's new radio format, I dare anyone to call in to get him to talk about it. Go on. Be ready. My understanding is that at least Uriarte, Papandrea and Gallardo were on the Lightning.
VC, Those guys were on the Lightning and so were Pope, Godbolt and Vega. Uriarte has always been trouble. Hopefully he won't spoil the bushel AGAIN. Best of luck to the team. I will be playing against them....I decided I didn't want to play for this team a while back.....personal reasons with regards to one of the coaches and management. Lots of good friends on the team....look forward to playing against them. You will see several old Lightning players in the PDL this season...on various teams. Should be a fun one. Best of luck on your first season.
Traitor! At least tell us who you're playing for so we can give you a hard time offline as well as on!
Interesting about Uriarte. He really impressed me in the first scrimmage I saw. Godbolt played for the Lightning? When? I thought he was up in KC last season.
Apparently, they're about nothing. They aren't there in the original spreadsheet, but something about cutting and pasting into BigSoccer adds them in. Special characters, I guess. Sorry about that, please ignore them.
Hm. I think we have an implied starting 11 here: 1. Miguel Gallardo Goalkeeper 24-10-84 6 '1" 179lbs. PDL save leader**2005-2006 season 2. Andy Taylor** Defender 28-12-85 5' 11" 185lbs. Oklahoma City University; Native of Liverpool, England 3. Zack Pope Defender 20-03-86 5' 7" 140lbs Duke University Grad; MLS Chicago Fire '08 draft pick** 4. Kieron Bernard Defender 02-08-85 6 '3" 190lbs. San Jacinto College; Captain U17, U20, U23 Jamaican National Teams 5. **Beto Papandrea** Defender 21-04-76 6' 0" 180lbs. University of Texas-Austin Grad; Player/Coach of National Semi-Finalist Real Madrid-Austin** 6. Ezual Lewis Midfield 19-04-84 5 '7" 160lbs. St. Edward's University; Former member U20 Jamaican National Team ** 7. Jorge Vega Midfield 05-01-87 5' 6" 155lbs Hardin-Simmons University; District MVP at Manor HS 2006 8. Marcel Uriarte Midfield 05-06-79 6' 0" 172lbs St. Edward's University Grad; PDL All-Conference 2007**** 9. Edgar Alvarez Forward 14-09-86 5' 11" 150lbs. San Jacinto College; Holds record at Mayde Creek HS for career goals scored 10. AJ Godbolt Midfield 07-03-84 5' 10" 175lbs. University of Maryland Grad; MLS Kansas City Wizards '07 draft pick 11. **Andres Cuero Forward 07-08-89 5' 10" 165lbs. UNC-Charlotte; Preseason Atlantic-10 All Rookie selection After that, it lists a goalkeeper. I wonder if these numbers are actually uniform numbers?
Damn! We got a genius phenom on the team! 9 yrs old and already been to college! Freddy been one-upped!
A little more analysis of the list. Here's what the USL website has for the roster rules: Looks like there's room for 6 more players (notice that the #20 is missing on the list). If I've done my math right, we have 6 players over 23 (though I never remember the rule for what is u/o): Code: Ezual Lewis M 24 AJ Godbolt M 24 Joshua Alcala D 24 Carlos Vicens M 25 Marcel Uriarte M 28 Beto Papandrea D 32 And, based on the comments in the list, 5 foreign players: Code: 2. Andy Taylor D 28-12-85 Native of Liverpool, England 4. Kieron Bernard D 02-08-85 Captain U17, U20, U23 Jamaican National Teams 6. Ezual Lewis M 19-04-84 Former member U20 Jamaican National Team 18. Chris Spendlove D 18-12-84 Native of Liverpool, England 19. Jamie Scope D 16-12-86 Native of Newcastle, England
Nothing noting that's it's a U23 PDL team and not the full USL1 side (yet). I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, though.
VC, I'll holler at ya when our roster is announced. We are having our party this weekend and they are announcing then. I think both Pope and AJ played the year before last or maybe one before that..Pope might have played a couple of seasons. Might be something to the speculation that this is the beginnings of the USL-1 team. At least a couple of the guys are under that impression and are expecting to get paid. Don't know, the head guy was there during tryouts...so maybe so.
Great roster from the looks of it. It seems like reputation and pedigree played a big role in the selection vs. the tryouts, which is probably to be expected. I will be really interested to see how this team does in the PDL, I bet they do pretty well now that they have an actual coach. I would expect only a small number of these guys will make the Aztex League one team. My money is on Miguel, AJ, one of Keiron with Marcel as an occasional sub. There are just too many good players that will be showing up once actual checks are being written. Especially if Stoke make the Premier League this year which looks more likely than not. Also, none of the guys on the U23 team will get a dime from this unless they make the first team. They have to prove themselves, not the other way around.
So, the question is, can this group improve over last year's Lightning? They scored the third fewest goals of any team in the league -- 13 over 16 games. Only outdone by Nashville (12), and the stunningly impressive Cocoa Expos -- who only scored ONE goal all season. That's clearly where their problems were last year. The defense wasn't awful. There are 17 teams in the league that gave up more goals than the Lightning did. With Beto in the middle and Gallardo between the pipes, the addition of Kieron Bernard should make things a little stingier. Unfortunately, the roster on the USL website doesn't include positions, but we can at least confirm who's made the jump from the old team to the new one: Just Papandrea, Uriarte, Gallardo and Vega. Checking back in older Lightning rosters, in 2005, the Lightning finished 3rd in their division, and the Aztex have a few players from that team: Joshua Alcala, AJ Godbolt, and Zack Pope. So, there's a few players from the Lightning, but this is largely a new group. I'm getting excited! Looking forward to buying my replica!
I think the additions in personnel and change in coaching are enough to improve on the Lightning's record. I think too that the Lightning had to have been affected on some level by never knowing where they were going to play. Some games were moved or cancelled within hours of kick-off!
Here are some photos from the press conference I got in email. You can see the badge very well, especially if you download the photos.
Let's see if I pulled this off: Ha! I did! Yes, MUCH MUCH better! Edit: Just in case anyone worries about the colors, I just did a quick a dirty cropping from one of the images that Chris linked to. So they're kinda washed out. I'm sure the real thing will be much bolder.
No big soccer ball on the crest. Check. Aztex FC, rather than Austin Aztex. Check. Definitely looks more professional.
Well, I do still wonder when a team in the US is going to have the nerve to use 'SC' rather than 'FC'. After all, we call it soccer here. But that's a very, very minor quibble.
