USL News Release

 

Friday, January 20, 2006

 

PHILADELPHIA, PA – United Soccer Leagues’ Premier Development League saw 34 former players selected in the 48-player Major League Soccer 2006 SuperDraft Friday afternoon, including shocking combined total of 18 from the Chicago Fire Premier, Boulder Rapids Reserve and Orange County Blue Star.

The First Round saw a run on Blue Star players as Sacha Kljestan, Kei Kamara and Calen Carr went fifth, ninth and 10th respectively to Chivas USA, the Columbus Crew and the Chicago Fire. A fourth Orange County player, Tyson Wahl, completed the Blue Star contingent in the Second Round, going 19th to the Kansas City Wizards.

The trio foursome helped lead Orange County to the Western Conference championship in 2005.  A late addition to the squad, Kljestan tallied a goal and assist in two games but was more instrumental in the playoffs with three tallies. Kamara, Carr and Wahl, all in their second seasons with the team, were also pivotal in the team’s success with All-Conference selection Kamara finishing ranked 10th in the league in points (27) and seventh in goals (12).

The Fire Premier saw an eye-opening 10 players selected in the draft, the most of any PDL team. An initial run on the Fire Premier players was in the Second Round with Jed Zayner, Lance Watson and Brian Plotkin going 13th, 16th and 20th respectively to Columbus, Kansas City and Chicago. Zayner helped anchor one of the league’s top defenses over the last three years was an All-Conference selection in 2005.

The remaining seven were spread out between the next two rounds with Brandon Moss (27th, Columbus), Matt Groenwald (28th, Kansas City), Ray Burse (30th, FC Dallas), Kyle Brown (35th, New England Revolution), Chris Dunsheath (36th, Los Angeles Galaxy), Blake Camp (41st, MetroStars) and Mike Ambersley (43rd, Dallas) being selected.

The 10 players, who accounted for 105 regular season games played for one of the most successful teams, have helped lead Chicago to five consecutive division titles.

Chicago’s Moss and Brown also played previously with the Rapids Reserve, who had four other players also selected, including second overall pick Mehdi Ballouchy. Ballouchy played briefly with the squad, seeing action twice in 2005. Ballouchy was taken by Real Salt Lake, who also took Boulder’s Ryan Johnson 26th overall. Johnson finished 10th in points (27) and seventh in goals (12). Josh Brown was taken 45th by Colorado and Aaron King was the final selection of the draft at 48 by Los Angeles.

Four other PDL standouts were taken in the draft. All-Conference selections Justin Moose of the Carolina Dynamo, Dayton O’Brien of the Cape Cod Crusaders and Memphis Express and the Richmond Kickers Future duo of Dominic Oduro and Stephen Shirley were selected.

Drafted seventh overall by DC United, Moose helped lead Carolina to the playoffs the past two seasons with 16 goals and six assists in 28 regular season matches was the PDL Rookie of the Year in 2004, earning an All-Conference honors in 2004 and 2005 and All-League honors in 2005.

Taken by Columbus 33rd overall, O’Brien was a key element in the success of the Memphis Express in 2002 and 2003 with 15 goals and 10 assists, earning All-Conference honors in 2003 after finishing fifth in points (33), fourth in assists (9) and 11th in goals (12). He went on to play the last two seasons with the Cape Cod Crusaders, registering six goals and 10 assists in 33 games.

Oduro, drafted 22nd overall by Dallas, helped lead the Kickers Future to a division title in 2005, earning All-Conference honors and finishing third in points (40), fourth in goals (16) and fourth in assists (8). Shirley, who was an All-Conference defender, went five spots later to Kansas City.