Canadians in US College and MLS

[quattrosystem]

also posted this in the college forum, but wanted to get a CDN perspective from here. anyway...

I'm fairly clueless on this topic, but I'm wondering, what is the 'climate' like for Canadians moving up through US college soccer? and more importantly, do these guys ever get a shot at MLS? Or are they all automatically assumed to go somewhere like Norway, Sweden, Germany etc?

I've heard some things also about the MLS Combine... are foreigners allowed to be selected for the combine? And more generally, how/where do players usually get selected from for the combine?

[quattrosystem]

well I answered one of my own questions about foreigners in the MLS combine after doing a little searching... some int'l players listed in this pool

http://www.3rddegree.net/season/pool.htm

Iain Hume, Matondo, Marin Pusek, Damien Pottinger, Hutchinson, Adrian Cann, are all the Canucks listed in that pool, but not all of these guys participated I'm assuming? ie. the guys that are currently under pro contracts

So how are the chances of a Canadian making it into MLS? As opposed to the A-League, Norway, Sweden, Germany and all the other usual destinations?

[YankeeWomble]

Pat Onstad and Dwayne DiRosario(sp) both play in MLS.

[quattrosystem]

Certainly, and doing fairly well I might add,

but these guys duked it out in the A-League and europe before getting signed to MLS

I'm wondering more about CDN players coming up through the college ranks

[Shaydee]

Adrian Cann is with Colorado Rapids. With the limit on internationals in MLS it's tough for some guys who are good enough to play here. Onstad has a green card so that makes it easier for him. In a few years when Cann counts as a senior international it will be tough for him to stay in MLS. I've always thought that MLS should be a bit more lenient for Canadians playing especially if they are talking about expanding there in the future

Some Canadian college players
Matt Britner-Freshman Brown University
Jordie Hughes-Sophmore Coastal Carolina
Mathieu Savaria-Junior Fairleigh Dicksinson
Nathan Li-Freshman Kentucky
Riley O'Neill-Freshman Kentucky
Jarrett Christie-Junior Kentucky
Gianni Cimini-Sophmore Old Dominion
Josh Simpson-Junior Portland
Jeffrey Gonsalves-Freshman Rhode Island
Simon Gatti-Sophmore Rhode island
Joel Dargan-Sophmore Rhode Island
Gavin Hobbs-Sophmore Washington
Keon Jordan-Sophmore Western Michigan

[quattrosystem]

Nathan Li-Freshman Kentucky
Josh Simpson-Junior Portland


I don't follow the college scene much, but those are two names that jump out at me, cause I've heard some good things about them @ Div1 and with Simpson, also at the WYC @ UAE.

Yes, I've always wondered also about why MLS isn't more slack about CDNs, with expansion talk and all... which leaves me to wonder what kind of set up they have in mind if and when to do cross to border?

I'm also wondering why all the players listed on that Dallas Burn fansite also have their boot models listed.......... ?

[metroflip73]

Yes, I've always wondered also about why MLS isn't more slack about CDNs, with expansion talk and all... which leaves me to wonder what kind of set up they have in mind if and when to do cross to border?

I figure this:
If the roster for say Toronto MLS is 24, like MLS, 3 maximum senior internationals, and X amount of TIs. The remainder of the roster should be Canadian/or holder of Canadian equivalent of US green card (if such document exists).

I think that would be fair and consistent.

[Ax2-Y]

One great player left out of Shaydee's list is Nathan Quan, who is a freshmen at Oregon State. When we were on the U-17's he was the captain or co-captain of nearly every game at every national camp.

Looking at the latest U-20 camp roster I find it odd that both of the Nathans were excluded from this upcoming camp and that there are only 2 BC boys on the list.

meh, maybe i am just bitter because they are buddies of mine :(

[ToMhIlL]

I figure this:
If the roster for say Toronto MLS is 24, like MLS, 3 maximum senior internationals, and X amount of TIs. The remainder of the roster should be Canadian/or holder of Canadian equivalent of US green card (if such document exists).

I think that would be fair and consistent.That's how they did it back in the days of the NASL, except the other way around. You were required to have like 2-3 Americans/Canadians. If a Yank played for Toronto Metros-Croatia, he would count as a foreigner, as would a Canadian who wore the S&M leather fringes of the Colorado Caribou. There were enough Canadian teams so that players wouldn't be limited to one team, or be considered a foreigner.

Tom

[TopDogg]

Just as an update to Shaydee's list above, Josh Simpson has signed with Millwall FC, and is slated to start tomorrow's match against Plymouth.

[beachesl]

Well, there have been dozens of Canadians over the years that have thrived over the years in US College soccer, but after finishing few have made a scene in the higher leagues or internationally. Of the current players who have played for Canada Men's Team in any role (and so far it has been peripheral), only Jason Bent (who played at the University of Maryland, played two seasons with Plymouth of Englland 2nd, but let go for injury reasons and now looking), Nikola Budalic (James Madison University, now teh Montreal Impact of A-League), Davide Xausa (University of Portland, now with Vancouver Whitecaps of A-League) and Simpson (just left University of Portland with one year left to join Milwall of English 1st Dvision).

The incredible potential of the great Canadian young footballers going to US College has largely been dismally wasted after US college in soccer terms. There are various reasons. One is that the most natural avenues of progression into professional soccer along withtheir Yank teamates, the MLS, is largely closed to them because of the restrictrive import quotas (after all, the MLS is primarily an American devlopemnt league, and a very succesful one at that). The few openings for foreigners are reserved for the more experienced players who have proved themselves in other professional leagues and can make an immediate impact, such as non-college guys De Rosario and Onstad. Therefore, the most natural progression is to the A-League, and the opportunity to advance from there (if they want to take the chance in a very low-paying league instead of getting a civilian career). Another is that by the time they are finished college, they are to old to fit into the development system in the Europe leagues clubs where their US college experience is usually looked down on, especially in England (the MLS however is eager and successfyul in integrating graduates from the US college system). Simpson is an odd example of a Canadian product of the US College system (althoug he had to leave his college early to grab the chance) to have made it (at least this far) into the higher levels of European soccer (and that was not because of his college success or even success at the World Youth Cup, which is disdained in England, but rather because he happened to have the opprtunity to shine in an exhibiton match against one of Englands top 3 dozen clubs).

What do we need to do? Having a professional league in Canada would help, but this is simply not practical at a level of the MLS. It's been tried and failed. What about having an MLS team or two in Cnada, with the import quotas for Canadians? That has a lot of promise, even if a lot of Canadian fans are hostile to the branch plant system.

Until opportunities change for Canadians leaving the college system, then the only plausible avenue for most young Canadians to successfully advance to the professional or international scene is to take the plunge pre-college and go to the youth development systems of European clubs. This is unfortunate, because of the numerous pitfalls they face. The US college scholarship route is still the best one in terms of personal and broader career development, and would be my recommendation in the vast majority of cases for young players I would talk to, as there is far less chance of ending up on the dung heap of failed dreams. And a few college grads have gone on to have satisfying pre-careers in bottom or middle-level football for a few years in places like Belgium, Croatia or Switzerland. They don't get rich, but they do fulfill a lot of personal ambition and satisfaction in a certain way. However, it makes it very difficult in a practical sense to be the world class footballer they dream of becoming.

[UxSxAxfooty]

Cann has been released by the Rapids and is now with the Impact, I think.

[AndrewW]

I knew this list of Canadians at NCAA schools that compete in Div. I soccer would come in handy. I updated the list recently to include the eligibility year and add in new recruits that were listed, but it is by no means complete. All the information is gleaned off the individual universities' websites. Some are updated more often than others.
Still, it's a good indication that a number of Canadians play college ball in the US. Some of the names were mentioned below


Appalachian State University: Philip Cavicchia (Sr.) Goalkeeper, Brampton ON
University of Alabama, Birmingham: Lukasz Kwapisz (So.) Forward, Oshawa, ON; Dejan Jakovic (Fr.) Midfelder, Toronto ON
Binghamton (NY) University: Charles Darkwah (Sr.) Midfield, Toronto ON
Bowling Green University: Andres Marque (Jr.) Forward, Tecumseh ON; Omari Aldridge (So.) Forward, Coquitlam BC
Brown University: Matt Britner (So.) Defender, Halifax NS
University at Buffalo: Daniel Bell (So.) Goalkeeper, Brampton ON
University of California Santa Barbara: Tyler Rosenlund (Fr.) Midfield, Port Coquitlam BC; Andrew Proctor (Fr.) Forward, Burnaby BC; Myles Davis (Fr.) Defender, Delta BC.
Campbell University: Chad Aboud (Jr.) Defender, Oakville, ON
Canisius College: Shaun Griffith (Sr.) Forward, Ajax ON.
Centenary College (La.): Aron Taylor (So.) Midfield, Calgary AB; Greg Clarke (Sr.) Midfield, London ON.
Cleveland State University: Nic Ademolu (So.) Midfield, Windsor ON; Harveer Mann (Sr.) Midfield, Windsor ON
Coastal Carolina: Jordie Hughes (Jr.) Forward, Victoria BC
Columbia University: Chris Williams (So.) Defender, Markham ON
Cornell University: Aaron Vieira (Fr.) Midfield Brampton ON
Dartmouth College: Rowan Anders (So.) Goalkeeper, Qualicum Beach BC; Amar Takhar (Jr.) MIdfield, Garibaldi Highlands BC
Denver University: Liam Girard (Jr.) Defender, Victoria BC; James Merriman (So.) Midfield, Nanaimo BC; Mike Seager (So.) Defender; Victoria BC
University of Detroit-Mercy: Ryan Mendonca (So.) Goalkeeper, Belle River, ON; Vahid Assadpour (So.) Midfielder, Richmond Hill, ON; Andrew Ornoch (So.) Midfielder, Toronto, ON; Michael De Simone (So.) Mississauga, ON.
Drake University: Cole Richardson (So.) Midfield, Calgary AB
Drexel University: Nick Macri (Jr.) Goalkeeper, Toronto ON; Kewsi Klass (So.) Midfield, Mississauga
Duke University: Tomasz Charowski (Fr.) Midfield, Columbia SC.
University of Evansville: J.P. Etienne (So.) Midfield, Anjou PQ
Fairfield University: Mike Sawchuk (So.) Forward, London ON; Bill Androutsos (Jr.) Midfield, Toronto ON
Fairleigh Dickenson University: Mathieu Savania (Sr.) Back; Montreal PQ; Elkana "Donny" Mayard (Fr.) Defender, Laval PQ.
Gardner-Webb University (NC): Paul Sahota (Fr.) Midfield, Vancouver BC.
Georgia Southern: Brian Graham (So.) Midfield, Mississauga ON
University of Hartford: Carlo Cudini (Jr.) Back, Woodbridge ON; Costa Kyritsis (Jr.) Midfield/Back, Toronto ON; Maurizio Silvestri (Jr.) Back/Midfield, Woodbridge ON
Hartwick College: Josh Wagenaar (So.) Goalkeeper, Grimsby ON; Tyler Hemming (So.) Defender, London ON
Howard University: Courtney James (Sr.) Midfield, Brampton ON
University of Illinois-Chicago: Roman Tulis (So.) Goalkeeper, Coquitlam BC
Iona College: Sheu Fortunato (Sr.) Midfield, Coquitlam BC
James Madison University: Kayin Jeffers (So.) Defender/Midfield, Oakville ON; Joel Phillips (So.) Midfield/Forward, Scarborough ON
University of Kentucky: Jarret Christie (Sr.) Goalkeeper, Vancouver BC; Nathan Li (So.) Midfield, Delta BC; Riley O'Neill (So.) Forward, Campbell River BC; Michael D’Agostino (Fr.) Midfield, Langley BC
Lipscomb University: J.D. Murphy (Jr.) Goalkeeper, Ajax ON
Long Island University: Mustapha Ayoub (Jr.) Midfield/Forward, Toronto ON; Eduardo Molina (Sr.) Defender/Midfield, Montreal PQ
University of Louisville: Devin Matthews (Sr.) Midfield, Vancouver BC; Marco Terminesi (So.) Forward, Woodbridge ON
Loyola College (Md.): Jansen Blake (Fr.) Defender, Nepean ON.
University of Maine: Gabriel Germano (So.) Forward, Sainte Foy PQ
Marshall University: Mike Bourassa (Jr.) Midfield; Victoria BC
Niagara University: Simon Adair (Sr.) Midfield, Oakville ON; Scott Devlin (So.) Midfield, Sarnia, ON; Sasha Kaplun (Jr.) Defender, Toronto ON; Brian Leonard (So.) Defender, Sarnia, ON; Paul VandenBoomen (Jr.) Defender, Victoria BC; Kwame Oduro (Fr.) Forward, Toronto ON.
UNC Charlotte: Sean Zubick (Jr.) Midfield, Brampton ON
Old Dominion University: Gianni Cimini (Jr.) Midfielder, Toronto ON
Oregon State University: Nathan Quan (So.) Midfield, Burnaby BC
Penn State University: Geordie MacNeill (Fr.) Defender, Markham ON
Philadelphia University: Franco Ruscetta (So.) Defender, Woodbridge, ON; Sherwin Forde (Jr.) Midfield/Forward, Pickering, ON; Luca Zucal (So.) Defender, Woodbridge, ON;
Princeton University: Victor Noskov (Fr.) Defense/Midfield, Toronto ON.
Quinnipiac University: Francis Mavula (So.) Forward, Ottawa ON
University of Rhode Island: Simon Gatti (Jr.) Midfield, Welland ON; Jeffrey Gonsalves (So.) Midfield, Markham ON
Robert Morris University: Allan Brown (So.) Defender, Newmarket ON; Joe Di Buono (Sr.) Midfield, Vaudreuil PQ; Tomer Chencinski (So.) Goalkeeper, Thornhill ON
St. Bonaventure University: Phil Amahazion (So.) Forward, Calgary AB; Kevin Omokhua (So.) Forward, Brampton ON; Andy Garcia (Jr.) Midfield, Mississauga ON; Konrad Paszkowski (Jr.) Defender, Calgary AB; Fredrick Taylor (Jr.) Midfield, Calgary AB.
St. Francis University: Cesar Pena (Jr.) Defender/Midfield, Scarborough ON
Syracuse University: Richard Asante (So.) Midfield, North York ON; Frank Bruno (So.) Midfield, Toronto ON; Brad Peetoom (Fr.) Defender, Abbotsford BC; Alim Karim (Jr.) Goalkeeper, Scarborough ON
Towson University: Nigel Marples (So.) Defender, Delta BC; Angus Burke (Fr.) Forward, Delta BC.
University of Washington: Gavin Hobbs (Jr.) Defender, Vancouver BC; Spencer Schmidt (Fr.) Defender, Abbotsford BC
West Virginia University: Bernard Ouassa (Sr.) Midfield, LaSalle PQ
Western Illinois University: Elton Fernandez (So.) Midfield, Toronto ON
Western Michigan University: Keon Jordan (Jr.) Defender, Brampton ON
Winthrop University: Andrea Granzotto (Jr.) Goalkeeper, Woodbridge ON
University of Wisconsin: Frank Iaizzo (So.) Defender/Midfield, North York ON
Wright State University: Winston Marshall (Sr.) Midfield, Scarborough ON; Paul-Anthony Perez (Jr.) Forward, Scarborough ON

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[Polygong]

One should note that being Canadian makes it tough to make the US MLS squads, but easier to make TFC and soon Whitecaps as they qualify as domestic for those two clubs.

Edit: never mind, didn't notice how old this thread was.

[soccer411.ca]

It is old but you have a valid point. My son is playing US College NCAA II top 25 school. I was impressed with the level of play, very similar to when he was playing PDL. He was lucky- very lucky to find a school that would give him a full ride, Canadian Head Coach helps.

[Harry Caray's Ghost]

One should note that being Canadian makes it tough to make the US MLS squads, but easier to make TFC and soon Whitecaps as they qualify as domestic for those two clubs.

Edit: never mind, didn't notice how old this thread was.

I thought I might update this list a bit or at least show what Canadians are playing well. These aren't all Canadians in the NCAA div-1, just ones who are really excelling right now. Maybe a few should get a look in the combine.
Via topdrawersoccer.com (great site BTW)

St. Bonaventure
Samuel Maheu (sr) 12 goals 7 assists
Fabrizio Savarino (jr) 6 goals 2 assists
(there are a few more on this team)
Winthrop
Michael Luk (sr) 4 goals 9 assists

Top 48 teams:
Campbell
Vince Petrasso (sr) 4 goals 10 assists
Iona College
Nils Binstock (sr) .65 GAA
Brown
Sean Rosa (so) 4 goals 6 assists
Charlotte
Evan James (so) 6 goals 5 assists
UAB
Babayele Sodade (so) 7 goals 4 assists
Curtis Ushedo (jr) 17 games started
UC Santa Barbara
Michael Nonni (fr) 6 goals 6 assists
Akron
Teal Bunbury (so) 15 goals 4 assists