Dec. 12, 2008
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame senior defenders Matt Besler (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley West) and Jack Traynor (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell North) have been invited to participate in the 2009 adidas Major League Soccer (MLS) Player Combine. They are among a group of 65 college seniors from 45 Division I schools to take part in the event, which will be held at Lockhart Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Jan. 9-13, 2009.
The coaching and management staffs of all 15 MLS teams will be in attendance to scout talent at the 2009 adidas MLS Player Combine, which concludes two days before the 2009 MLS SuperDraft. At the 2008 MLS SuperDraft 43 of the 56 players drafted participated in the 2008 adidas MLS Player Combine; 12 combine players were selected in the first round. The 2009 MLS SuperDraft will be held on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009 in St. Louis, Mo.
The initial player list was determined by a select panel of Division I college coaches representing all conferences who nominated and voted for players in conjunction with MLS coaches. Youth players from the Generation adidas program will join additional collegiate players from NCAA Division II and III schools, NAIA schools and Division I alternates to finalize the 2009 adidas Player Combine. The final player list and team assignments will be announced in the coming weeks.
The 2009 adidas MLS Player Combine will separate all players into four teams and feature two games per day at Lockhart Stadium on Jan. 10, 11 and 13. Each team will be led by an experienced Division I coach and will be assigned a youth coach, to be named at a later date. Santa Clara head coach Cam Rast has been selected to coach Team adidas Tiro. Caleb Porter, a former MLS player and current head coach at Akron, will coach Team Predator PowerSwerve. Former MLS player and current Providence head coach Chaka Daley will lead Team adiTunit. Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark will lead Team adiPure.
Fighting Irish central defender Matt Besler.
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Besler played in 90 games, including 73 starts, during his stellar Notre Dame career. He started every match over the past three seasons and only missed one game during his collegiate career. Besler is a three-time all-BIG EAST selection in addition to being an all-region pick in each of the past two seasons. Last month, he was named an Academic All-American. Besler, a two-time team captain, totaled 17 points on five goals and seven assists in an Irish uniform while anchoring the backline.
Traynor was a four-year starter for the Fighting Irish and tallied 11 points on two goals and seven assists from the left back position. The three-time all-BIG EAST honoree started 82 of the 86 games he played in during his career. Traynor and Besler were key cogs in Notre Dame’s first-ever NCAA Championship quarterfinal appearance in 2006 and the return trip to the quarterfinals in 2007. They also helped the Irish capture BIG EAST regular-season titles the past two seasons and compile an overall record of 53-26-12 during their careers.
Media interested in securing credentials for the 2009 adidas MLS Player Combine should contact MLS Sports Communications Manager Stephen Rodriguez at 212-450-1227 or stephen.rodriguez@mlsnet.com.
The game schedule and the 65 players selected, broken down by position and by school are included below:
MLS PLAYER COMBINE GAME SCHEDULE
All games are open to the public. All times eastern and schedule is subject to change.
Saturday, January 102:30 p.m. Predator PowerSwerve vs. adiTunit (Lockhart Stadium)4:30 p.m. adiPure vs. adidas Tiro (Lockhart Stadium)
Sunday, January 113:00 p.m. adiTunit vs. adidas Tiro (Lockhart Stadium)5:00 p.m. Predator PowerSwerve vs. adiPure (Lockhart Stadium)
Tuesday, January 139:15 a.m. Predator PowerSwerve vs. adidas Tiro (Lockhart Stadium)11:15 a.m. adiPure vs. adiTunit (Lockhart Stadium)
2009 ADIDAS MLS PLAYER COMBINE LIST BY POSITION
GOALKEEPERS (7):Chris Brown (Boston College)Evan Bush (University of Akron)Steward Ceus (University of Albany)Alec Dufty (University of Evansville)Neal Kitson (St. John's University)Milos Kocic (Loyola College)Sean Milligan (Dartmouth College)
DEFENDERS (20):Lyle Adams (Wake Forest University)Calum Angus (Saint Louis University)Trevor Banks (Old Dominion University)Darius Barnes (Duke University)Rhett Bernstein (Brown University)Matt Besler (University of Notre Dame)Evan Brown (Wake Forest University)Oscar Castillo (University of Connecticut)Chris Clements (University of Tulsa)AJ Delagarza (University of Maryland)Paul Gerstenberger (Boston College)David Hertel (Michigan State University)Wes Knight (College of Charleston)Otto Loewy (Winthrop University)Yohance Marshall (University of South Florida)Ryan Mirsky (Southern Methodist University)Babjide Ogunbiyi (Santa Clara University)Kyle Russell (Coastal Carolina University)Seth Sinovic (Creighton University)Jack Traynor (University of Notre Dame)
MIDFIELDERS/FORWARDS (38):Kwame Adjeman-Pamboe (George Mason University)Quincy Amarikwa (University of California-Davis)Brandon Barklage (Saint Louis University)Josh Boateng (Liberty University)Graciano Brito (Quinnipiac University)Pav Castenada (Duke University)Aaron Clapham (University of Louisville)Raphael Cox (University of Washington)Sam Cronin (Wake Forest University)Dylan Curtis (University of California-Davis)Doug DeMartin (Michigan State University)Jokul Elisabetarson (University of North Carolina-Greensboro)Michael Fucito (Harvard University)Andrei Gotsmanov (Creighton University)Mike Grella (Duke University)Alex Grendi (University of Pennsylvania)Juan Guerra (Florida International University)Jeffrey Harwell (Southern Methodist University)Bryan Irwin (University of Portland)Richard Jata (Campbell University)George John (University of Washington)Keum Sung Kim (Loyola University)Michael Lahoud (Wake Forest University)Ryan Maduro (Providence College)Patrick Murray (Furman University)Kyle Patterson (Saint Louis University)Nick Perra (University of California-Santa Barbara)Chris Pontius (University of California-Santa Barbara)Matt Poole (University of Virginia)Akeem Priestley (University of Connecticut)Daniel Revivo (Winthrop University)Tosaint Ricketts (University of Wisconsin-Green Bay)Brad Ring (Indiana University)Chris Salvaggionne (University of North Carolina-Charlotte)Jordan Seabrook (University of South Florida)Marcus Tracy (Wake Forest University)Nick Zimmerman (James Madison University)Graham Zusi (University of Maryland)