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Powers, Alvarez and Bennett among seniors invited to MLS Combine

By IVES GALARCEP

Notre Dame midfielder Dillon Powers, UConn playmaker Carlos Alvarez and Coastal Carolina forward Ashton Bennett were among the top players invited to the MLS Combine.

Indiana University goalkeeper Luis Soffner is fresh off winning an NCAA title with the Hoosiers and will be the lone representative from Indiana at the Combine, while Georgetown, the team Indiana defeated, will send Tommy Muller, Jimmy Nealis and Ian Christianson to the Combine.

Here is the list of seniors invited to the 2013 MLS Combine:

2013 MLS COMBINE SENIOR INVITEES

GOALKEEPERS: James Belshaw (Duke), Scott Goodwin (North Carolina), Luis Soffner (Indiana), Daniel Withrow (Marshall), Brad Stuver (Cleveland State), David Meves (Akron), Larry Jackson (Santa Clara)

DEFENDERS: Taylor Kemp (Maryland), Danny Wenzel (Wake Forest), Jordan Gafa (North Carolina), Brenton Griffiths (USF), Jimmy Nealis (Georgetown), Tommy Muller (Georgetown), Eric Schoenle (West Virginia), John Gallagher (Penn State), Kofi Opare (Michigan), Joe Franco (CSUN), Shaun Foster (Hofstra), Andrew Ribeiro (Creighton), Kory Kindle (CSU-Bakersfield), Dylan Tucker-Gangnes (Washington)

MIDFIELDERS: Kyle Bekker (Boston College), John Stertzer (Maryland), Colin Murphy (Boston College), Jonathan Mendoza (Stetson), Donald Smith (Charlotte), Paolo DelPiccolo (Louisville), Greg Cochrane (Louisville), Leston Paul (USF), Ian Christianson (Georgetown), Carlos Alvarez (UConn),  Dillon Powers (Notre Dame), Marc Cintron (Providence), Machael David (UCSB), Paul Wyatt (James Madison), Tommy Nelson (SMU), Uwem Etuk (West Virginia), Jose Gomez (Creighton), Blake Smith (New Mexico), Ryan Hollingshead (UCLA), Fernando Monge (UCLA), Ben Fisk (Washington), Dan Delgado (San Diego)

FORWARDS: Will Bates (UVA), Luke Spencer (Xavier), Ryan Finley (Notre Dame), Ashton Bennett (Coastal Carolina), Don Anding (Northeastern), Yannick Smith (ODU), Devon Sandoval (New Mexico), Emery Welshman (Oregon State), Coleton Henning (Furman), Chris Thomas (Elon), Erik Hurtado (Santa Clara)

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Scott Caldwell (New England), London Woodberry (FC Dallas), Chad Barson and Matt Wiet (Columbus Crew)  expected to be signed to Homegrown Player contracts by their MLS club teams and therefore will not be part of the MLS Combine.

The final list of MLS Combine participants will also include Generation adidas signings as well as international players MLS is currently looking to sign and make available in the MLS Draft.

The 2013 MLS Combine will be held in Fort Lauderdale from Jan. 11th to Jan. 15th, ahead of the 2013 MLS Draft, on Jan. 17th in Indianapolis.

What do you think of the list? Who made it that you are happy to see included? Who didn’t make the cut that you feel should have?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Donnie Smith has looked great for Charlotte the past years. Very quick and great at making things happen at clutch time. Hope he does well at the combine and gets picked up by somebody.

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  2. 2013 looks like a pretty good year for promising college soccer talent (not a college fan), I’ve heard some positives about potential draftees.

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    • Must be a different Ben Fisk. The Whitecaps Ben Fisk is only 19, has been trialling in Europe and hasn’t played any NCAA footy. I believe the Caps will sign him shortly unless he lands in Europe.

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    • Kostanski was the one name that jumped out at me too. Particularly after the league’s website lauded his performance in the College Cup and talked about how it elevated his draft status.

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  3. Where is Ivan Stanisavljevic from Illinois-Chicago? The only name submitted from the Horizon League who happened to score goals against Indiana and Georgetown this season!? Not many players boast that stat!

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  4. I was a big fan of Devon Sandoval last year. He didn’t light up the NCAA, but he was a handful and was everywhere during the games I saw of him. I’m not sure where he would play in MLS though..

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  5. Why is Ian Christiansen not being treated as a potential homegrown player for Chicago? Given that he (I believe) played for the Fire academy, the PDL, and the Super-20s, what reasoning is behind this ruling? are the Fire up in arms about this?

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    • It’s the same rule as always. Seniors don’t count as homegrown players. Players can only be signed as homegrown players if they still have college eligibility. It shouldn’t bother anyone because Chicago had years to sign him as a homegrown player and didn’t. Basically, they’ve passed on him at least 4 consecutive years. Time to give other clubs a shot.

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      • Didn’t both Portland and the Crew sign seniors as homegrown players last year? is this another case of mls “rules” being selectively applied?

      • Not seniors for NCAA eligibility purposes. For Columbus, I assume you’re talking about Matt Lampson. He redshirted the 2008 season, so had a year of eligibility left.

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