Back for another season, I'll monitor the PDL Team of the Week and see how many of these players in the alleged "developmental league" are actually in college or even HS or how many of them are older players just hanging on. The PDL is "supposed" to be emphasizing more younger, college and HS aged players this year, but the first team of the week doesn't have much evidence of that. G Peter Mahoney Rhode Island 12 saves in 3-0 win at South Jersey D Gary Sullivan Brooklyn (Adelphi) Solid play in 4-2 win over Jersey Shore http://aupanthers.ocsn.com/sports/m-soccer/mtt/sullivan_gary00.html D Ryan McGowan Jersey (Seton Hall) Solid play in 5-0 win over Worcester http://www.shupirates.com/sports/msoccer/bio.asp?PLAYER_ID=504 D William Ericson-Neilson New Orleans Solid play in 2-0 win over Nashville M Slawomir Gula Jersey Hat-trick, assist in 5-0 win over Worcester M Tom Poltl Orange County Game-winner in 3-1 win over Fresno M Eddie Gutierrez Fresno (Fresno Pacific) Two goals, assist in 4-1 win at Southern California http://sunfive.fresno.edu/sports/msoc/msoc_players/msoc_2002gutierrez_eddie_bio.html M Stephan Murray Nashville (Lambuth) Solid defensive play in 2-0 win at Louisiana No Link Available *F Zico Antunes Rhode Island Hat-trick in 3-0 win at South Jersey F Orlando Ramierez Fresno (Fresno Pacific) Three goals, assist in first three games http://sunfive.fresno.edu/sports/msoc/msoc_players/msoc_ramirez_orlando_bio.html F Rafael Garcia Indiana Two goals in 2-0 win over Fort Wayne * is for Player of the Week. ---- Mahoney played at Brown and was senior in 2002 Poltl played at UCLA in the late 90’s. Garcia played at Notre Dame and was senior in 2002 Gula is a former Polish pro whom I’m pretty sure never played college soccer. Don’t know about the college history, if any, of Ericson-Neilson and Antunes.
Our PDL team begins play this weekend, because most of the players are still taking finals. And happily, I believe all but one of our players are currently playing in college with a couple rising freshmen.
I don't know if using the team of the week is a good way of gaging the progress PDL is making in developing young talent. Having the league composed of mostly younger players with some veterans to build the teams around may be the best option as it allows for the youths to play against more experienced and savy competition.
not yet Many of the top college players won't be available for another week of two so it's a little early to make judgements on who's who just yet. A couple of the UMD players are going out to Boulder this summer and their initial roster shows 18 of 20 players still have college eligibility. It's difficult for these teams to rely solely on college players since US Open Cup matches start in early May. I noticed that Boulder used about 30 players last season at one time or another.
Re: not yet Actually, 17 of the 21 Boulder players have eligibility remaining. Robbie C'de Baca, New Mexico (Fr. in 03) Erik Cronkrite, M Portland (Sr. in 03)__________ Stian Eriksen, M, New Mexico (Sr. in 03) Roy Fink, F, Tampa (Sr. in 03) Robbie Folbrycht, M, Tampa (Jr. in 03) Clarence Goodson, D, Maryland, (R-Jr. in 03) Miguel Guante, D, Portland (So. in 03) Brandon Hayes, M, Elon (Jr. in 03) Martin Hutton, GK, Saint Louis (R-Jr. in 03) Joe Lampert, D, Charlotte (Sr. in 03) Tim Merritt, M, North Carolina (Jr. in 03) Brandon Moss, D/M, New Mexico (So. in 03) Louis Robles, GK, Portland (R-Fr. in 03) Alex Salazar, F, Portland (So. in 03) Abe Thompson, F, Maryland (R-Jr. in 03) David Wagenfuht, M/D, Creighton (Sr. in 03) Mark Wellen, M, Denver (Sr. in 03) ---- Scott Bowman, M, UC Irvine (Sr. in 02) Keith Burden, D, Santa Clara (Sr. in 01) Nic Hartman, M, Denver (Sr. in 02) Justin Lowder, D, Metro State (Sr. in 01) It's a very intriguing combination of players. *Thompson was once one of the country's brightest prospects after starring with the U17 team and a strong freshman year. Injuries have hurt his stock but if he ever gets back to 100 percent, he could still make it to MLS. *C'de Baca was very impressive when I saw him at the USYSA championships in Maryland last year. He would have been a freshman last year but he spent the year training with the amateur side of some Dutch club. *Wagenfuhr was in the last U20 pool and has played in two Final Fours at Creighton. *Goodson was probably one of the most improved players in college soccer last year, going from no-chance at a pro career to someone every MLS team will be watching. *Salazar was the West Coast Conference's Freshman of the Year and made a couple of Freshman All-America teams. His dad is former world class marathoner Alberto Salazar. *Robles and Guante were both on Gelnovatch's last U18 team. *Fink (Israel) and Folbrycht (Sweden) were starters on Tampa's 2001 D-II NCAA championship team and Fink was the D-II national Player of the Year that season. It's a presumption, but I'm gonna assume that both are older than you average college senior because they are internationals and at a D-II school. *Eriksen, who is from Norway, is definitely older. He just turned 26. Normally, I'd be upset about a PDL team using older players but these guys have eligibility remaining and shouldn't be punished. *Cronkrite is a player to keep an eye out for. He's a really good crosser and likely will get a look from MLS as a result. *Hutton was once in the U17 pool, rated right behind DJ Countess and Steve Cronin for that age group. *Merrit was a reserve, as a freshman, for North Carolina's NCAA title team and was a starter last year. *Lampert was the captain at Charlotte as a junior but I've never seen him play. *Don't know anything about Moss or Hayes. This should still be a pretty competitive team. 12 of the players are from teams that went to the NCAA (D-I) Tourney last year and two more are from a D-II power. It has talent, depth and experience and I imagine they'll get a lot of time practicing and scrimmaging the Rapids which ought to help. That's a fair point. I think even if they were done with school , there's some antiquated NCAA rule about not playing outside competition till after the first week of May or something like that.
The Brooklyn Knights used a bunch of college players in their 4-2 win over Jersey Shore...Chris Wingert had two assists and his St. John's teammate Andre Schmid scored two goals. MLS veteran David Vaudreuil played for South Jersey.
Brooklyn Knights/Jersey Shore game story http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=7949926&BRD=1079&PAG=461&dept_id=170337&rfi=6
PDL/ColoradoRapids Leaving for Colorado Rapids in a week, two of last year's players, Kevin Wilson DM-University of San Diego and Matt McCausland M/F-University of San Diego/All WCC for 3 years.
Re: PDL/ColoradoRapids What? Are these guys going to play with the PDL Boulder Rapid Reserves or are they trying out for the MLS Colorado Rapids team. It sounds like the PDL, do they still have college eligibility? I know the UMD guys, Abe Thompson (F) and Clarence Goodson (CB), will be going out next week also. Unfortunately these players will miss three early season games, two of which are US Open Cup Qualifiers.