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.