College soccer & MLS - the writing on the wall says "you can play 4 seasons and still contribute"

So, similar to the thread about the college soccer participation level for the senior and youth national teams, I thought it would be interesting to gauge the college soccer participation for MLS games.

I chose to use actual games played instead of just roster spots because the ends of the bench tend to be made up of four-year college guys who are just cheap practice fodder and tend to be replaced by new, four-year players who are just practice fodder every season or two.

Anyway, here's a look at the lineups from the games this weekend with the seasons of college soccer - and where they played college ball, which is also interesting - listed next to their names.

As you'll see, unlike with the national team, where four-year players are a dying breed, plenty of four-year college players are getting minutes in MLS.

Rookies are listed with (r).

COLORADO 2, COLUMBUS 0

COLORADO STARTERS
Matt Pickens – 4 (Missouri State)
Marvell Wynne – 2 (UCLA)
Drew Moor – 3 (Indiana)
Kosuke Kimura – 4 (Western Illinois)
Luis Zapata – 0
Jaime Castrillon – 0
(r)Tony Cascio – 4 (Connecticut)
Brian Mullan – 4 (Creighton)
Jeff Larentowicz – 4 (Brown)
Pablo Mastroeni – 4 (NC State)
Omar Cummings – 4 (Cincinnati)

COLORADO SUBS
Quincy Amariwka – 4 (UC Davis)
Wells Thompson – 4 (Wake Forest)
Andre Akpan – 4 (Harvard)

COLUMBUS STARTERS
Andy Gruenebaum – 4 (Kentucky)
Chad Marshall – 2 (Stanford)
Sebastian Miranda – 0
Danny O’Rourke – 4 (Indiana)
Shaun Francis - 3 (Lindsey Wilson)
Tony Tchani – 2 (Virginia)
Milovan Mirosevic – 0
Dilly Duka – 2 (Rutgers)
Eddie Gaven – 0
(r)Kirk Urso – 4 (North Carolina)
Emilio Renteria

COLUMBUS SUBS
Tommy Heinemann – 3 (Rockhurst)
(r)Ethan Finlay – 4 (Creighton)
Olman Vargan – 0

VANCOUVER 2, MONTREAL 0

VANCOUVER STARTERS
Joe Cannon, 4 (Santa Clara)
Alain Rochat, 0
Jay DeMerit, 4 (Illinois-Chicago)
Martin Bonjour, 0
Lee Young-Pyo, 0
Gershon Koffie, 0
Jun Marques Davidson, 0
Davide Chiumiuento, 0
Eric Hassli, 0
Camilo Sanvezzo, 0
Sebastien Le Toux, 0

VANCOUVER SUBS
Matt Watson, 2 (UMBC)
Jordan Harvey, 4 (UCLA)
(r)Darren Mattocks, 2 (Akron)

MONTREAL STARTERS
Donovan Ricketts, 0
Tyson Wahl, 4 (California)
Matteo Ferrari, 0
Josh Gardner, 3 (Cincinnati)
Justin Mapp, 0
Sanna Nyassi, 0
Patrice Bernier, 1 (Syracuse)
Felipe Martins, 0
Davy Arnaud, 3 (West Texas A&M)
Jeb Brovsky, 4 (Notre Dame)
Justin Braun, 2 (Salt Lake CC)

MONTREAL SUBS
(r)Andrew Wenger, 3 (Duke)
Miguel Montano, 0
Michael Fucito, 4 (Harvard)

KANSAS CITY 1, DC 0

DC STARTERS
Bill Hamid, 0
Robbie Russell, 4 (Duke)
Brandon McDonald, 4 (San Francisco)
Dejan Jakovic, 3 (Alabama-Birmingham)
Daniel Woolard, 4 (Midwestern State)
Perry Kitchen, 1 (Akron)
Dwayne DeRosario, 0
Branko Boskovic, 0
Andy Najar, 0
Hamdi Salihi, 0
Chris Pontius, 4 (UC Santa Barbara)

DC SUBS
Maicon Santos, 0
Josh Wolff, 3 (South Carolina)
Danny Cruz, 2 (UNLV)

KANSAS CITY STARTERS
Jimmy Nielsen, 0
Chance Myers, 2 (UCLA)
Aurelien Colin, 0
Julio Cesar, 0
Matt Besler, 4 (Notre Dame)
Seth Sinovic, 4 (Creighton)
Roger Espinoza, 3 (Ohio State)
Bobby Convey, 0
Graham Zusi, 4 (Maryland)
Kei Kamara, 2 (Cal State Dominguez Hills)
Teal Bunbury, 2 (Akron)

KANSAS CITY SUBS
Peterson Joseph, 0
CJ Sapong, 4 (James Madison)

SALT LAKE 3, LOS ANGELES 1

LOS ANGELES STARTERS
Josh Saunders, 4 (California)
Sean Franklin, 4 (Cal State Northridge)
AJ DeLaGarza, 4 (Maryland)
Todd Dunivant, 4 (Stanford)
(r)Tommy Meyer, 4 (Indiana)
Marcelo Sarvas, 0
Mike Magee, 0
David Beckham, 0
Landon Donovan, 0
Robbie Keane, 0
Edson Buddle, 1 (State Fair CC)

LOS ANGELES SUBS
Juninho, 0
Michael Stephens, 4 (UCLA)
Chad Barrett, 2 (UCLA)

SALT LAKE STARTERS
Nick Rimando, 3 (UCLA)
Chris Schuler, 4 (Creighton)
Jamison Olave, 0
Chris Wingert, 4 (St. John’s)
Tony Beltran, 3 (UCLA)
Luis Gil, 0
(r)Sebastian Velasquez, 2 (Spartanburg Methodist CC)
Kyle Beckerman, 0
Ned Grabavoy, 3 (Indiana)
Fabian Espindola, 0
Paulo Jr., 0

SALT LAKE SUBS
Javier Morales, 0
Alvaro Saborio, 0
Yordanay Alvarez, 0

SAN JOSE 1, NEW ENGLAND 0

SAN JOSE STARTERS
Jon Busch, 3 (Charlotte)
Ramiro Corrales, 0
Justin Morrow, 4 (Notre Dame)
Steven Beitashour, 4 (San Diego State)
Victor Bernardez, 0
Marvin Chavez, 0
Sam Cronin, 4 (Wake Forest)
Shea Salinas, 4 (Furman)
Rafael Baca, 4 (Loyola Marymount)
Chris Wondolowski, 4 (Chico State)
Steven Lenhart, 4 (Azusa Pacific)

SAN JOSE SUBS
Simon Dawkins, 0
Khari Stephenson, 4 (Williams)

NEW ENGLAND STARTERS
Matt Reis, 4 (UCLA)
Kevin Alston, 3 (Indiana)
AJ Soares, 4 (California)
John Lozano, 0
Clyde Simms, 4 (East Carolina)
Shalrie Joseph, 4 (St. John’s)
Stephen McCarthy, 4 (North Carolina)
Kelyn Rowe, 2 (UCLA)
Benny Feilhaber, 2 (UCLA)
Fernando Cardenas, 0
Blake Brettschneider, 4 (South Carolina)

NEW ENGLAND SUBS
Lee Nguyen, 1 (Indiana)
(r)Tyler Polak, 2 (Creighton)
Ryan Guy, 4 (San Diego)

DALLAS 2, NEW YORK 1

DALLAS STARTERS
Kevin Hartman, 4 (UCLA)
Zach Loyd, 4 (North Carolina)
Ugo Ihemulu, 4 (Southern Methodist)
Hernan Pertuz, 0
Jair Benitez, 0
Daniel Hernandez, 4 (Southern Methodist)
Ricardo Villar, 4 (Penn State)
Brek Shea, 0
Andrew Jacobson, 4 (California)
Fabian Castillo, 0
Blas Perez, 0

DALLAS SUBS
Carlos Rodriguez, 0
Bobby Warshaw, 4 (Stanford)
George John, 4 (Washington)

NEW YORK STARTERS
(r)Ryan Meara, 4 (Fordham)
Roy Miller, 0
Jan Gunnar Solli, 0
Markus Holgersson, 0
Stephen Keel, 4 (Wake Forest)
Dax McCarty, 2 (North Carolina)
Joel Lindpere, 0
Dane Richards, 4 (Clemson)
Teemu Tainio, 0
Thierry Henry, 0
Juan Agudelo, 0

NEW YORK SUBS
Kenny Cooper, 0
Victor Palsson, 0
Mehdi Ballouchy, 3 (Santa Clara)

HOUSTON 1, CHIVAS USA 0

CHIVAS USA STARTERS
Dan Kennedy, 4 (UC Santa Barbara)
James Riley, 4 (Wake Forest)
Ante Jazic, 1 (Dalhousie)
Rauwshan McKenzie, 4 (Michigan State)
Heath Pearce, 3 (Portland)
Nick LaBrocca, 4 (Rutgers)
Pete Vagenas, 4 (UCLA)
Oswaldo Minda, 0
Laurent Courtois, 0
Ben Zemanski, 4 (Akron)
Juan Pablo Angel, 0

CHIVAS USA SUBS
Ryan Smith, 0
Cesar Romero, 0
Casey Townsend, 4 (Maryland)

HOUSTON STARTERS
Tally Hall, 4 (San Diego State)
Corey Ashe, 4 (North Carolina)
Geoff Cameron, 4 (Rhode Island)
Bobby Boswell, 4 (Florida International)
Andre Hainault, 0
Adam Moffat, 0
Je-Vaughn Watson, 0
Colin Clark, 3 (Southern Methodist)
Brad Davis, 2 (Saint Louis)
Will Bruin, 3 (Indiana)
Brian Ching, 4 (Gonzaga)

HOUSTON SUBS
Calen Carr, 4 (California)
Mac Kandji, 2 (Georgia Military CC)

Re: College soccer & MLS - the writing on the wall says "you can play 4 seasons and still contribute

Monday night's game:

PORTLAND 3, PHILADELPHIA 1

PORTLAND STARTERS
Troy Perkins, 4 (Evansville)
Rodney Wallace, 2 (Maryland)
(r)Andrew Jean-Baptiste, 2 (Connecticut)
Eric Brunner, 4 (Ohio State)
Lovel Palmer, 0
Kalif Alhassan, 0
Jack Jewsbury, 4 (Saint Louis)
Diego Chara, 0
Eric Alexander, 4 (Indiana)
Kris Boyd, 0
Jorge Perlaza, 0

PORTLAND SUBS
Darlington Nagbe, 3 (Akron)
James Marcelin, 0

PHILADELPHIA STARTERS
Zac MacMath, 3 (Maryland)
Porfirio Lopez, 0
Danny Califf, 2 (Maryland)
Carlos Valdes, 0
Sheanon Williams, 1 (North Carolina)
Michael Farfan, 4 (North Carolina)
Brian Carroll, 3 (Wake Forest)
Gabriel Gomez, 0
Freddy Adu, 0
Lionard Pajoy, 0
Josue Martinez, 0

PHILADELPHIA SUBS
Danny Mwanga, 2 (Oregon State)
Jack McInerney, 0
Keon Daniel, 0

Re: College soccer & MLS - the writing on the wall says "you can play 4 seasons and still contribute

Interesting stuff as always...thanks

Re: College soccer & MLS - the writing on the wall says "you can play 4 seasons and still contribute

Looks like 67 out of 176 starters were 4 yr college players or .374.
Would be interested in the 17 yr trend analysis for MLS 4 yr opening day starters.
Anyone?

Re: College soccer & MLS - the writing on the wall says "you can play 4 seasons and still contribute

Raises hand.

Re: College soccer & MLS - the writing on the wall says "you can play 4 seasons and still contribute

Saturday afternoon's games.

As always, four-year players in bold and (r) = rookie. Also, for players that played at multiple colleges, only their last college is listed.

MONTREAL 1, CHICAGO 1

MONTREAL STARTERS
Donovan Ricketts, 0
Tyson Wahl, 4 (California)
Matteo Ferrari, 0
Joshua Gardner, 3 (Cincinnati)
Jeb Brovsky, 4 (Notre Dame)
Felipe Martins, 0
Patrice Bernier, 1 (Syracuse)
Justin Mapp, 0
David Arnaud, 3 (West Texas A&M)
Justin Braun, 2 (Salt Lake CC)
Sanna Nyassi, 0

MONTREAL SUBS
Bernardo Corradi, 0
Andrew Wenger, 3 (Duke)
Lamar Neagle, 4 (UNLV)

CHICAGO STARTERS
Paolo Tornaghi, 0
Cory Gibbs, 4 (Brown)
Jalil Anibaba, 4 (North Carolina)
Gonzalo Segares, 4 (Virginia Commonwealth)
Dan Gargan, 4 (Georgetown)
Pavel Pardo, 0
Sebastian Grazzini, 0
Marco Pappa, 0
Logan Pause, 3 (North Carolina)
Patrick Nyarko, 3 (Virginia Tech)
Dominic Oduro, 4^ (Virginia Commonwealth)

CHICAGO SUBS
(r)Hunter Jumper, 4 (Virginia)
Daniel Paladini, 4 (Cal State Northridge)
Federico Puppo

^ only played 2 seasons of college ball but used up all his eligibility.

HOUSTON 1, SAN JOSE 0

SAN JOSE STARTERS
Jon Busch, 3 (UNC-Charlotte)
Justin Morrow, 4 (Notre Dame)
Victor Bernárdez, 0
Ramiro Corrales, 0
Steven Beitashour, 4 (San Diego State)
Sam Cronin, 4 (Wake Forest)
Khari Stephenson, 4 (Williams)
Shea Salinas, 4 (Furman)
Rafael Baca, 4 (Loyola Marymount)
Steven Lenhart, 4 (Azusa Pacific)
Chris Wondolowski, 4 (Chico State)

SAN JOSE SUBS
Marvin Chavez, 0
Tressor Moreno, 0
Sercan Guvenisik, 0

HOUSTON STARTERS
Tally Hall, 4 (San Diego State)
Geoff Cameron, 4 (Rhode Island)
Bobby Boswell, 4 (Florida International)
Jermaine Taylor, 0
Andrew Hainault, 0
Je-Vaughn Watson, 0
Adam Moffat, 0
Brad Davis, 2 (Saint Louis)
Colin Clark, 3 (Southern Methodist)
Brian Ching, 4 (Gonzaga)
Will Bruin, 3 (Indiana)

HOUSTON SUBS
Calen Carr, 4 (California)
Cam Weaver, 4 (Seattle)
Nathan Sturgis, 2 (Clemson)

Re: College soccer & MLS - the writing on the wall says "you can play 4 seasons and still contribute

Azusa Pacific, Williams, Chico State, Seattle, Rhode Island etc. This is a good sign for MLS. Scouting is getting more thorough. How long before we find the equivalent of Jerry Rice at Mississipi Valley State?

Re: College soccer & MLS - the writing on the wall says "you can play 4 seasons and still contribute

Saturday night’s games. As always, four-year players in bold and (r) = rookie. Also, for players that played at multiple colleges, only their last college is listed.

KANSAS CITY 3, NEW ENGLAND 0

KANSAS CITY STARTERS
Jimmy Nielsen, 0
Seth Sinovic, 4 (Creighton)
Matt Besler, 4 (Notre Dame)
Aurelien Collin, 0
Chance Myers, 2 (UCLA)
Roger Espinoza, 3 (Ohio State)
Julio Cesar, 0
Bobby Convey, 0
Graham Zusi, 4, (Maryland)
Kei Kamara, 2 (Cal State Dominguez Hills)
C.J. Sapong, 4 (James Madison)

KANSAS CITY SUBS
Paulo Nagamura, 0
Lawrence Olum, 4 (Missouri Baptist)
Luke Sassano, 4 (California)

NEW ENGLAND STARTERS
Matt Reis, 4 (UCLA)
Chris Tierney, 4 (Virginia)
A.J. Soares, 4 (California)
Stephen McCarthy, 4 (North Carolina)
Kevin Alston, 3 (Indiana)
Clyde Simms, 4 (East Carolina)
Shalrie Joseph, 4 (St. John’s)
Lee Nguyen, 1 (Indiana)
Benny Feilhaber, 2 (UCLA)
(r)Kelyn Rowe, 2 (UCLA)
Saer Sene, 0

NEW ENGLAND SUBS
Ryan Guy, 4 (San Diego)
Diego Fagundez, 0
Jeremiah White, 4 (Wake Forest)

DALLAS 1, PORTLAND 1

DALLAS STARTERS
Kevin Hartman, 4 (UCLA)
Hernan Pertuz, 0
Jair Benitez, 0
Zach Loyd, 4 (North Carolina)
Ugo Ihemulu, 4 (Southern Methodist)
Carlos Rodriguez, 0
Ricardo Villar, 4 (Penn State)
Bryan Leyva, 0
Andrew Jacobson, 4 (California)
Daniel Hernandez, 4 (Southern Methodist)
Blas Perez, 0

DALLAS SUBS
George John, 4 (Washington)

PORTLAND STARTERS
Troy Perkins, 4 (Evansville)
Hanyer Mosquera, 0
Rodney Wallace, 2 (Maryland)
Lovel Palmer, 0
Eric Brunner, 4 (Ohio State)
Kalif Alhassan, 0
Jack Jewsbury, 4 (Saint Louis)
Eric Alexander, 4 (Indiana)
Diego Chara, 0
Kris Boyd, 0
Jorge Perlaza, 0

PORTLAND SUBS
Darlington Nagbe, 3 (Akron)
James Marcelin, 0

SALT LAKE 2, NEW YORK 0

SALT LAKE STARTERS
Nick Rimando, 3 (UCLA)
Jamison Olave, 0
Chris Wingert, 4 (St. John's)
Tony Beltran, 3 (UCLA)
Chris Schuler, 4 (Creighton)
Ned Grabavoy, 3 (Indiana)
Luis Gil, 0
(r)Sebastian Velasquez, 2 (Spartanburg Methodist CC)
Kyle Beckerman, 0
Paulo Jr., 0
Fabian Espindola, 0

SALT LAKE SUBS
Javier Morales, 0
Alvaro Saborio, 0
Jonny Steele, 0

NEW YORK STARTERS
(r)Ryan Meara, 4 (Fordham)
Jan Gunnar Solli, 0
Markus Holgersson, 0
Stephen Keel, 4 (Wake Forest)
Roy Miller, 0
Dax McCarty, 2 (North Carolina)
Joel Lindpere, 0
Dane Richards, 4 (Clemson)
Teemu Tainio, 0
Victor Palsson, 0
Thierry Henry, 0

NEW YORK SUBS
Kenny Cooper, 0
Mehdi Ballouchy, 3 (Santa Clara)

SEATTLE 3, TORONTO 1

SEATTLE STARTERS
Michael Gspurning, 0
Patrick Ianni, 3 (UCLA)
Marc Burch, 4 (Maryland)
Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, 0
Adam Johansson, 0
Alvaro Fernandez, 0
Osvaldo Alonso, 0
Brad Evans, 4 (UC Irvine)
Mauro Rosales, 0
David Estrada, 4 (UCLA)
Fredy Montero, 0

SEATTLE SUBS
Roger Levesque, 4 (Stanford)
Servando Carrasco, 4 (California)
Christian Sivebæk, 0

TORONTO STARTERS
Milos Kocic, 3 (Loyola, MD)
Logan Emory, 4 (Portland)
Richard Eckersley, 0
Miguel Aceval, 0
Ty Harden, 4 (Washington)
Eric Avila, 3 (UC Santa Barbara)
(r)Luis Silva, 4 (UC Santa Barbara)
Terry Dunfield, 0
Torsten Frings, 0
Ryan Johnson, 4 (Oregon State)
Nick Soolsma, 0

TORONTO SUBS
Joao Plata, 0
(r)Aaron Maund, 4 (Notre Dame)
Danny Koevermans, 0

VANCOUVER 1, CHIVAS USA 0

CHIVAS USA STARTERS
Dan Kennedy, 4 (UC Santa Barbara)
Ante Jazic, 1 (Dalhousie)
Heath Pearce, 3 (Portland)
Rauwshan McKenzie, 4 (Michigan State)
James Riley, 4 (Wake Forest)
Ryan Smith, 0
Oswaldo Minda, 0
Nick LaBrocca, 4 (Rutgers)
Peter Vagenas, 4 (UCLA)
Laurent Courtois, 0
(r)Casey Townsend, 4 (Maryland)

CHIVAS USA SUBS
Cesar Romero, 0
Ben Zemanski, 4 (Akron)
Miller Bolaños, 0

VANCOUVER STARTERS
Joe Cannon, 4 (Santa Clara)
Jay DeMerit, 4 (Illinois-Chicago)
Martin Bonjour, 0
Lee Young-Pyo, 0
Alain Rochat, 0
Jun Davidson, 0
Davide Chiumiento, 0
Matt Watson, 2 (UMBC)
Sebastien Le Toux, 0
Camilo Sanvezzo, 0
Eric Hassli, 0

VANCOUVER SUBS
Brad Knighton, 4 (UNC Wilmington)
Floyd Franks, 4 (UNC Charlotte)
Jordan Harvey, 4 (UCLA)

Re: College soccer & MLS - the writing on the wall says "you can play 4 seasons and still contribute

Sunday’s games.

COLORADO 2, PHILADELPHIA 1

PHILADELPHIA STARTERS
Zac MacMath, 3 (Maryland)
Chris Albright, 2 (Virginia)
Carlos Valdes, 0
Porfirio Lopez, 0
Sheanon Williams, 1 (North Carolina)
Keon Daniel, 0
Gabriel Gómez, 0
Brian Carroll, 3 (Wake Forest)
Michael Farfan, 4 (North Carolina)
Danny Mwanga, 2 (Oregon State)
Lionard Pajoy, 0

PHILADELPHIA SUBS
Josué Martinez, 0
Christian Hernandez, 0
Roger Torres, 0

COLORADO STARTERS
Matt Pickens, 4 (Missouri State)
Kosuke Kimura, 4 (Western Illinois)
Luis Zapata, 0
Marvell Wynne, 2 (UCLA)
Drew Moor, 3 (Indiana)
Jeff Larentowicz, 4 (Brown)
Pablo Mastroen, 4 (NC State)
Jaime Castrillon, 0
Brian Mullan, 4 (Creighton)
Omar Cummings, 4 (Cincinnati)
(r)Tony Cascio, 4 (Connecticut)

COLORADO SUBS
Ross LaBauex, 4 (Virginia)
Quincy Amarikwa, 4 (UC Davis)
Wells Thompson, 4 (Wake Forest)

LOS ANGELES 3, DC 1

LOS ANGELES STARTERS
Josh Saunders, 4 (California)
Sean Franklin, 4 (Cal State Northridge)
Andrew Boyens, 4 (New Mexico)
Todd Dunivant, 4 (Stanford)
A.J. DeLaGarza, 4 (Maryland)
David Beckham, 0
Juninho, 0
Mike Magee, 0
Chad Barrett, 2 (UCLA)
Robbie Keane, 0
Landon Donovan, 0

LOS ANGELES SUBS
Edson Buddle, 1 (State Fair CC)
Marcelo Sarvas, 0

DC STARTERS
Joe Willis, 4 (Denver)
Brandon McDonald, 4 (San Francisco)
Dejan Jakovic, 3 (Alabama-Birmingham)
Chris Korb, 4 (Akron)
Robbie Russell, 4 (Duke)
Dwayne De Rosario, 0
Stephen King, 4 (Maryland)
Andy Najar, 0
Marcelo Saragosa, 0
Chris Pontius, 4 (UC Santa Barbara)
Maicon Santos, 0

DC SUBS
Emiliano Dudar, 0
Branko Boskovic, 0
(r)Nick DeLeon, 4 (Louisville)

Re: College soccer & MLS - the writing on the wall says "you can play 4 seasons and still contribute

Cascio and DeLeon were the only Americans to score in MLS today. Both are four-year college rookies.

Re: College soccer & MLS - the writing on the wall says "you can play 4 seasons and still contribute

And David Estrada, who isn't a rookie but did play four years of college ball, scored a hattie Saturday night and another rookie, Ryan Meara, has looked really good in goal for New York and Chris Schuler is playing like one of the best CBs in the league right now.

Lots of four-year college players are playing well.

Of course, Jeff Larentowicz and Stephen McCarthy got tossed in their games this weekend and Tommy Meyer had a poor showing against Toronto in the CCL.

Re: College soccer & MLS - the writing on the wall says "you can play 4 seasons and still contribute

Of the guys who didn't play well, McCarthy is the one where it might make sense to blame college soccer. Staying in school for five years as a midfielder didn't prepare him for his natural pro position at center back.

Re: College soccer & MLS - the writing on the wall says "you can play 4 seasons and still contribute

Agreed. And it seemed pretty obvious that he was gonna eventually end up at CB so Rast and Bolowich did him no favors keeping him at midfield.

Re: College soccer & MLS - the writing on the wall says "you can play 4 seasons and still contribute

I'd like to thank the poster who gave me neg rep for this thread and then sent me a friend request.

Re: College soccer & MLS - the writing on the wall says "you can play 4 seasons and still contribute

CLASSIC!

Anyway...I think this thread is more what life used to be like moreso than the writing on the wall. With DA's and PDL teams aligned with MLS teams, coaching changes at the national level, etc., we're closer in believable concept to your original thread than this one as far as the future is concerned. IMO.

Thoughts?

Re: College soccer & MLS - the writing on the wall says "you can play 4 seasons and still contribute

Beleivable concept is not really the right choice of words...More like what the norm will be going forward, i.e. The norm will not most likely be 4 years of college. Kinda like every other NCAA sport.

Re: College soccer & MLS - the writing on the wall says "you can play 4 seasons and still contribute

I think we're at least a decade away from there being very few four-year college players contributing (ie regularly making the game-day 18) in MLS.

For all the progress the league and US Soccer have made in getting more professional opportunities for younger players, there's still not enough to provide for all the top players, thus many will go to college and once there, play four seasons.

I think a big change will be if MLS ever opens up the draft to any underclassmen who wish to declare for it, instead of limiting it just those who get GA deals.

If you allow the players to declare when they think they're ready, it will force the teams to scout the more thoroughly and you'll get many of the better players leaving before their senior years.

Re: College soccer & MLS - the writing on the wall says "you can play 4 seasons and still contribute

From a UCSB perspective, the players who have had the most success in the pros finshed their 4th year at UCSB. Amost every player that left early disappeared into the ether.

Here is a list of who I would consider the most successful pros, and they all finished their senior years:

Rob Friend (top flight in Norway, Holland, Germany)
Chris Pontius (regular starter for DC United)
Dan Kennedy (regular starter and team MVP for Chivas USA)
Andy Iro (was MLS regular, trying his luck in England now)
Tony Lochhead (regular starter for Wellington Phoenix and NZ national team)
Michael Boxall (regular starter last year with Vancouver)
David McGill (living legend with Shelbourne in Ireland)
Kyle Reynish (regular backup with RSL)
Luis Silva (off to great start with Toronto)

The only real anomoly is Eric Avila who accepted a Generation Adidas contract after his junior year and starts fairly regularly.

Guys who left early:
Ciaran O'Brien (played one MLS match, got red carded and never played again)
Bryan Dominguez (no idea where he is)
Tyler Rosenlund (playing for Rochester Rhinos, team MVP)
Bryant Rueckner (no idea where he is)
Michael Tetteh (on Seattle reserve squad)
Danny Barrera (trying his luck in Serbia)
Sam Garza (picked up by San Jose, no playing time yet)
Michael Nonni (trying his luck in Germany)
David Opoku (trying his luck in Spain/Portugal)

By far, the most settled players are guys that did not go pro early. The jury is out on a few guys that left early, but the sample size is large enough for me to conclude that you're much better offer staying at UCSB for four years rather than leave early.

Re: College soccer & MLS - the writing on the wall says "you can play 4 seasons and still contribute

Friday's game

SEATTLE 2, HOUSTON 0

SEATTLE STARTERS
Michael Gspurning, 0
Marc Burch, 4 (Maryland)
Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, 0
Pat Ianni, 3 (UCLA)
Zach Scott, 4 (Gonzaga)
Alvaro Fernandez, 0
Brad Evans, 4 (UC Irvine)
Osvaldo Alonso, 0
Roger Levesque, 4 (Stanford)
David Estrada, 4 (UCLA)
Fredy Montero, 0

SEATTLE SUBS
Servando Carrasco, 4 (California)
Leo Gonzalez, 0
Christian Sivebaek, 0

HOUSTON STARTERS
Tally Hall, 4 (San Diego State)
Corey Ashe, 4 (North Carolina)
Geoff Cameron, 4 (Rhode Island)
Bobby Boswell, 4 (Florida International)
Andre Hainault, 0
Brad Davis, 2 (Saint Louis)
Je-Vaughn Watson, 0
Adam Moffat, 0
Colin Clark, 3 (Southern Methodist)
Will Bruin, 3 (Indiana)
Brian Ching, 4 (Gonzaga)

HOUSTON SUBS
Jermaine Taylor, 0
Luiz Camargo, 0
Mac Kandji, 2 (Georgia Military CC)

Re: College soccer & MLS - the writing on the wall says "you can play 4 seasons and still contribute

Saturday afternoon games.

SAN JOSE 3, TORONTO 0

TORONTO STARTERS
Milos Kocic, 3 (Loyola, MD)
Ashtone Morgan, 0
Richard Eckersley, 0
Ty Harden, 4 (Washington)
Miguel Aceval, 0
Julian de Guzman, 0
(r)Luis Silva, 4 (UC Santa Barbara)
Terry Dunfield, 0
Reggie Lambe, 0
Joao Plata, 0
Ryan Johnson, 4 (Oregon State)

TORONTO SUBS
Danny Kovermans, 0
(r)Aaron Maund, 4 (Notre Dame)
Nick Soolsma, 0

SAN JOSE STARTERS
Jon Busch, 3 (UNC-Charlotte)
Ramiro Corrales, 0
Justin Morrow, 4 (Notre Dame)
Steven Beitashour, 4 (San Diego State)
Victor Bernardez, 0
Sam Cronin, 4 (Wake Forest)
Shea Salinas, 4 (Furman)
Tressor Moreno, 0
Marvin Chavez, 0
Chris Wondolowski, 4 (Chico State)
Steven Lenhart, 4 (Azusa Pacific)

SAN JOSE SUBS
Khari Stephenson, 4 (Williams)
Simon Dawkins, 0
Rafael Baca, 4 (Loyola Marymount)

COLUMBUS 2, PORTLAND 0

COLUMBUS STARTERS
Andy Gruenbaum, 4 (Kentucky)
Shaun Francis, 3 (Lindsey Wilson)
Chad Marshall, 2 (Stanford)
Sebastian Miranda, 0
Danny O’Rourke, 4 (Indiana)
Bernardo Anor, 4 (South Florida)
(r)Kirk Urso, 4 (North Carolina
Milovan Mirosevic, 0
Eddie Gaven, 0
Olman Vargas, 0
Emilio Renteria, 0

COLUMBUS SUBS
Josh Williams, 4 (Cleveland State)
(r)Aaron Schoenfeld, 4 (East Tennessee State)
(r)Ethan Finlay, 4 (Creighton)

MONTREAL STARTERS
Donovan Ricketts, 0
Matteo Ferrari, 0
Tyson Wahl, 4 (California)
Josh Gardner, 3 (Cincinnati)
Davy Arnaud, 3 (West Texas A&M)
Jeb Brovsky, 4 (Notre Dame)
Justin Mapp, 0
Sanna Nyassi, 0
Felipe Martins, 0
Patrice Bernier, 1 (Syracuse)
Justin Braun, 2 (Salt Lake CC)

MONTREAL SUBS
Collen Warner, 4 (Portland)
Lamar Neagle, 4 (UNLV)
Bernardo Corradi, 0

NEW ENGLAND 1, PORTLAND 0

NEW ENGLAND STARTERS
Matt Reis, 4 (UCLA)
AJ Sorares, 4 (California)
Chris Tierney, 4 (Virginia)
Kevin Alston, 3 (Indiana)
Ryan Guy, 4 (San Diego)
Clyde Simms, 4 (East Carolina)
(r)Kelyn Rowe, 2 (UCLA)
Shalrie Joseph, 4 (St. John’s)
Lee Nguyen, 1 (Indiana)
Saer Sene, 0
Blake Brettschneider, 4 (South Carolina)

NEW ENGLAND SUBS
(r)Alec Purdie, 4 (Indiana)
Fernando Cardenas, 0


PORTLAND STARTERS
Troy Perkins, 4 (Evansville)
Rodney Wallace, 2 (Maryland)
Lovel Palmer, 0
Eric Brunner, 4 (Ohio State)
Hanyer Mosquera, 0
Darlington Nagbe, 3 (Akron)
Diego Chara, 0
Kalif Alhasan, 0
Jack Jewsbury, 4 (Saint Louis)
Eric Alexander, 4 (Indiana)
Kris Boyd, 0

PORTLAND SUBS
(r)Andrew Jean-Baptiste, 2 (Connecticut)
Franck Songo’o, 0
Jorge Perlaza, 0

Re: College soccer & MLS - the writing on the wall says "you can play 4 seasons and still contribute

Saturday night’s games.


CHICAGO 1, PHILADELPHIA 0

CHICAGO STARTERS
Paolo Tornaghi, 0
Dan Gargan, 4 (Georgetown)
Cory Gibbs, 4 (Brown)
Gonzalo Segares, 4 (Virginia Commonwealth)
Jalil Anibaba, 4 (North Carolina)
Pavel Pardo, 0
Sebastián Grazzini, 0
Marco Pappa, 0
Patrick Nyarko, 3 (Virginia Tech)
Logan Pause, 3 (North Carolina)
Dominic Oduro, 4^ (Virginia Commonwealth)

^Only actually played two seasons of college ball but used up all eligibility

CHICAGO SUBS
Daniel Paladini, 4 (Cal State Northridge)
Rafael Robayo, 0
Federico Puppo, 0

PHILADELPHIA STARTERS
Zac MacMath, 3 (Maryland)
Chris Albright, 2 (Virginia)
Carlos Valdes, 0
Porfirio Lopez, 0
Brian Carroll, 3 (Wake Forest)
Roger Torres, 0
Michael Farfan, 4 (North Carolina)
Keon Daniel, 0
Gabriel Gómez, 0
Lionard Pajoy, 0
Danny Mwanga, 2 (Oregon State)

PHILADELPHIA SUBS
Gabriel Farfan, 2 (Cal State Fullerton)
Josue Martinez, 0
Jack McInerney, 0

CHIVAS USA 1, SALT LAKE 0

SALT LAKE STARTERS
Nick Rimando, 3 (UCLA)
Chris Schuler, 4 (Creighton)
Jamison Olave, 0
Tony Beltran, 3 (UCLA)
Chris Wingert, 4 (St. John's)
Ned Grabavoy, 3 (Indiana)
(r)Sebastian Velasquez, 2 (Spartanburg Methodist CC)
Luis Gil, 0
Kyle Beckerman, 0
Fabian Espindola, 0
Paulo Jr., 0

SALT LAKE SUBS
Javier Morales, 0
Alvaro Saborio, 0
Jonny Steele, 0

CHIVAS USA STARTERS
Dan Kennedy, 4 (UC Santa Barbara)
James Riley, 4 (Wake Forest)
Ante Jazic, 1 (Dalhousie)
Heath Pearce, 3 (Portland)
Rauwshan McKenzie, 4 (Michigan State)
Ryan Smith, 0
Nick LaBrocca, 4 (Rutgers)
Peter Vagenas, 4 (UCLA)
Oswaldo Minda, 0
Laurent Courtois, 0
(r)Casey Townsend, 4 (Maryland)

CHIVAS USA SUBS
Cesar Romero, 0
Ben Zemanski, 4 (Akron)
Scott Gordon, 4 (Lynn)

VANCOUVER 0, DC 0
VANCOUVER STARTERS
Joe Cannon, 4 (Santa Clara)
Alain Rochat, 0
Jay DeMerit, 4 (Illinois-Chicago)
Martin Bonjour, 0
Lee Young-Pyo, 0
Jun Marques Davidson, 0
Matt Watson, 2 (UMBC)
Davide Chiumiento, 0
Sebastien Le Toux, 0
Camilo Sanvezzo, 0
Eric Hassli, 0

VANCOUVER SUBS
Jordan Harvey, 4 (UCLA)
Long Tan, 0

DC STARTERS
Joe Willis, 4 (Denver)
Daniel Woolard, 4 (Midwestern State)
Emiliano Dudar, 0
Brandon McDonald, 4 (San Francisco)
Robbie Russell, 4 (Duke)
Marcello Saragosa, 0
(r)Nick DeLeon, 4 (Louisville)
Danny Cruz, 2 (UNLV)
Dwayne DeRosario, 0
Maicon Santos, 0
Hamdi Salihi, 0

DC SUBS
Chris Pontius, 4 (UC Santa Barbara)
Branko Boskovic, 0
Josh Wolff, 3 (South Carolina)

Re: College soccer & MLS - the writing on the wall says "you can play 4 seasons and still contribute

Sunday’s games…

NEW YORK 4, COLORADO 1

NEW YORK STARTERS
(r)Ryan Meara, 4 (Fordham)
Roy Miller, 0
Wilman Conde, 0
Markus Holgersson, 0
Jan Gunnar Solli, 0
Joel Lindpere, 0
Rafa Marquez, 0
Dax McCarty, 2 (North Carolina)
Dane Richards, 4 (Clemson)
Kenny Cooper, 0
Thierry Henry, 0

NEW YORK SUBS
Mehdi Ballouchy, 3 (Santa Clara)

COLORADO STARTERS
Matt Pickens, 4 (Missouri State)
Luis Zapata, 0
Drew Moor, 3 (Indiana)
Marvell Wynne, 2 (UCLA)
Kosuke Kimura, 4 (Western Illinois)
Ross Labauex, 4 (Virginia)
Wells Thompson, 4 (Wake Forest)
Brian Mullan, 4 (Creighton)
Jaime Castrillon, 0
Omar Cummings, 4 (Cincinnati)
(r)Tony Cascio, 4 (Connecticut)

COLORADO SUBS
Tyrone Marshall, 4 (Florida International)
Quincy Amarikwa, 4 (UC Davis)
Andre Akpan, 4 (Harvard)

KANSAS CITY 2, DALLAS 1

KANSAS CITY STARTERS
Jimmy Nielsen, 0
Seth Sinovic, 4 (Creighton)
Matt Besler, 4 (Notre Dame)
Aurelien Colin, 0
Chance Myers, 2 (UCLA)
Roger Espinoza, 3 (Ohio State)
Julio Cesar, 0
Bobby Convey, 0
Graham Zusi, 4 (Maryland)
Kei Kamara, 2 (Cal State Dominguez Hills)
C.J. Sapong, 4 (James Madison)

KANSAS CITY STARTERS
Lawrence Olum, 4 (Missouri Baptist)
Jacob Peterson, 3 (Indiana)

DALLAS STARTERS
Kevin Hartman, 4 (UCLA)
Hernan Pertuz, 0
Ugo Ihemulu, 4 (Southern Methodist)
George John, 4 (Washington)
Zach Loyd, 4 (North Carolina)
Daniel Hernandez, 4 (Southern Methodist)
Jair Benitez, 0
Andrew Jacobson, 4 (California)
Ricardo Villar, 4 (Penn State)
Bryan Leyva, 0
Blas Perez, 0

DALLAS SUBS
Bobby Warshaw, 4 (Stanford)
Andrew Wideman, 3 (California)
Luis Perea, 0

(Warshaw got the dreaded subbed-out-as-a-sub )

Re: College soccer & MLS - the writing on the wall says "you can play 4 seasons and still contribute

Friday night’s game…

DC 4, DALLAS 1

DC STARTERS
Joe Willis, 4 (Denver)
Emiliano Dudar, 0
Daniel Woolard, 4 (Midwestern State)
Brandon McDonald, 4 (San Francisco)
Robbie Russell, 4 (Duke)
(r)Nick DeLeon, 4 (Louisville)
Dwayne DeRosario, 0
Danny Cruz, 2 (UNLV)
Perry Kitchen, 1 (Akron)
Maicon Santos, 0
Hamdi Salhi, 0

DC SUBS
Branko Boskovic, 0
Stephen King, 4 (Maryland)
Chris Pontius, 4 (UC Santa Barbara)

DALLAS STARTERS
Kevin Hartman, 4 (UCLA)
Carlos Rodriguez, 0
Ugo Ihemulu, 0 (Southern Methodist)
Hernan Pertuz, 0
Jair Benitez, 0
Zach Loyd, 4 (North Carolina)
Daniel Hernandez, 4 (Southern Methodist)
Ricardo Villar, 4 (Penn State)
Brek Shea, 0
Andrew Jacobson, 4 (California)
Blas Perez, 0

DALLAS SUBS
Luis Perea, 0
Bryan Leyva, 0

Re: College soccer & MLS - the writing on the wall says "you can play 4 seasons and still contribute

Saturday afternoon games. Of note, none of Philadelphia’s starters – and only one sub – played four years of college ball.

COLUMBUS 1, TORONTO 0

TORONTO STARTERS
Milos Kocic, 3 (Loyola, MD)
Ty Harden, 4 (Washington)
Ashtone Morgan, 0
Logan Emory, 4 (Portland)
Richard Eckersley, 0
Julian de Guzman, 0
Terry Dunfield, 0
Danny Kovemans, 0
Ryan Johnson, 4 (Oregon State)
Nick Soolsma, 0
Joao Plata, 0

TORONTO SUBS
Eric Avila, 3 (UC Santa Barbara)
Junior Burgos, 4 (Cal Poly)
(r)Luis Silva, 4 (UC Santa Barbara)

COLUMBUS STARTERS
Andy Gruenbaum, 4 (Kentucky)
Chad Marshall, 2 (Stanford)
Shaun Francis, 3 (Lindsey Wilson)
Sebastian Miranda, 0
Bernardo Anor, 4 (South Florida)
(r)Kirk Urso, 4 (North Carolina)
Milovan Mirosevic, 0
Eddie Gaven, 0
Eric Gehrig, 4 (Loyola-Chicago)
Olman Vargas, 0
Emilio Renteria, 0

COLUMBUS SUBS
(r)Aaron Schoenfeld, 4 (East Tennessee)
Josh Williams, 4 (Cleveland State)
(r)Ethan Finlay, 4 (Creighton)

NEW YORK 5, MONTREAL 1

NEW YORK STARTERS
(r)Ryan Meara, 4 (Fordham)
Wilman Conde, 0
Roy Miller, 0
Jan Gunnar Solli, 0
Markus Holgerson, 0
Joel Lindpere, 0
Dane Richards, 4 (Clemson
Rafael Marquez, 0
Dax McCarty, 2 (North Carolina)
Kenny Cooper, 0
Thierry Henry, 0

NEW YORK SUBS
Teemu Tanio, 0
Mehdi Ballouchy, 3 (Santa Clara)
Brandon Barklage, 4 (Saint Louis)

MONTREAL STARTERS
Donovan Ricketts, 0
Tyson Wahl, 4 (California)
Zarek Valentin, 2 (Akron)
Josh Gardner, 3 (Cincinnati)
Matteo Ferrari, 0
Davy Arnaud, 3 (West Texas A&M,)
Justin Mapp, 0
Sanna Nyassi, 0
Felipe Martins, 0
Patrice Bernier, 1 (Syracuse)
Bernardo Corradi, 0

MONTREAL SUBS
Andrew Wenger, 3 (Duke)
Justin Braun, 2 (Salt Lake CC)
Lamar Neagle, 4 (UNLV)

VANCOUVER 0, PHILADELPHIA 0

PHILADELPHIA STARTERS
Zac MacMath, 3 (Maryland)
Sheanon Williams, 1 (North Carolina)
Danny Califf, 2 (Maryland)
Carlos Valdes, 0
Porfirio Lopez, 0
Gabriel Gomez, 0
Brian Carroll, 3 (Wake Forest)
Keon Daniel, 0
Gabriel Farfan, 2 (Cal State Fullerton)
Lionard Pajoy, 0
Chandler Hoffman, 3 (UCLA)

PHILADELPHIA SUBS
Jack McInerney, 0
Michael Farfan, 4 (North Carolina)
Danny Mwanga, 2 (Oregon State)

VANCOUVER STARTERS
Joe Cannon, 4 (Santa Clara)
Martin Bonjour, 0
Lee Young-Pyo, 0
Jordan Harvey, 4 (UCLA)
Jay DeMerit, 4 (Illinois-Chicago)
Davide Chiumiento, 0
Jun Marques Davidson, 0
Matt Watson, 2 (UMBC)
John Thorrington, 0
Sebastian Le Toux, 0
Atiba Harris, 0

VANCOUVER SUBS
Gershon Koffie, 0
Long Tan, 0

Re: College soccer & MLS - the writing on the wall says "you can play 4 seasons and still contribute

Saturday night’s games.

SALT LAKE 3, PORTLAND 2

PORTLAND STARTERS
Troy Perkins, 4 (Evansvilel)
Rodney Wallace, 2 (Maryland)
Eric Brunner, 4 (Ohio State)
(r)Andrew Jean-Baptiste, 2 (Connecticut)
Eric Alexander, 4 (Indiana)
Jack Jewsbury, 4 (Saint Louis)
Diego Chara, 0
Darlington Nagbe, 3 (Akron)
Kris Boyd, 0
Jorge Perlaza, 0

PORTLAND SUBS
James Marcelin, 0
Franck Songo’o

SALT LAKE STARTERS
Nick Rimando, 3 (UCLA)
Chris Wingert, 4 (St. John’s)
Nat Borchers, 4 (Denver)
Jamison Olave, 0
Tony Beltran, 3 (UCLA)
Kyle Beckerman, 0
Ned Grabavoy, 3 (Indiana)
Luis Gil, 0
Javier Morales, 0
Alvaro Saborio, 0
Paulo, Jr., 0

SALT LAKE SUBS
Will Johnson, 0
Jonny Steele, 0
Fabian Espindola, 0

SAN JOSE 1, SEATTLE 0

SEATTLE STARTERS
Michael Gspurning, 0
Marc Burch, 4 (Maryland)
Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, 0
Patrick Ianni, 3 (UCLA)
Zach Scott, 4 (Gonzga)
Alvaro Fernandez, 0
Servando Carrasco, 4 (California)
Osvaldo Alonso, 0
Christian Sivebaek, 0
David Estrada, 4 (UCLA)
Fredy Montero, 0

SEATTLE SUBS
Alex Caskey, 4 (Davidson)
Sammy Ochoa, 0
Jeff Parke, 4 (Drexel)

SAN JOSE STARTERS
Jon Busch, 3 (UNC-Charlotte)
Ramiro Corrales, 0
Justin Morrow, 4 (Notre Dame)
Victor Bernardez, 0
Steven Beitashour, 4 (San Diego State)
Shea Salinas, 4 (Furman)
Sam Cronin, 4 (Wake Forest)
Rafael Baca, 4 (Loyola Marymount)
Marvin Chavez, 0
Steven Lenhart, 4 (Azusa Pacific)
Chris Wondolowski, 4 (Chico State)

SAN JOSE SUBS
Simon Dawkins, 0
Jason Hernandez, 4 (Seton Hall)
Alan Gordon, 4 (Oregon State)

NEW ENGLAND 3, LOS ANGELES 1

LOS ANGELES STARTERS
Josh Saunders, 4 (California)
Sean Franklin, 4 (Cal State Northridge)
Andrew Boyens, 4 (New Mexico)
A.J. DeLaGarza, 4 (Maryland)
Todd Dunivant, 4 (Stanford)
Juninho, 0
Paolo Cardozo, 0
Marcelo Sarvas, 0
David Beckham, 0
Edson Buddle, 1 (State Fair CC)
Robbie Keane, 0

LOS ANGELES SUBS
Chad Barrett, 2 (UCLA)
Michael Stephens, 4 (UCLA)
Mike Magee, 0

NEW ENGLAND STARTERS
Matt Reis, 4 (UCLA)
A.J. Soares, 4 (California)
Chris Tierney, 4 (Virginia)
Kevin Alston, 3 (Indiana)
Lee Nguyen, 1 (Indiana)
Stephen McCarthy, 4 (North Carolina)
Ryan Guy, 4 (San Diego)
Clyde Simms, 4 (East Carolina)
(r)Kelyn Rowe, 2 (UCLA)
Shalrie Joseph, 4 (St. John’s)
Saer Sene, 0

NEW ENGLAND SUBS
Fernando Cardenas, 0
(r)Alec Purdie, 4 (Indiana)
Florian Lechner, 0