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Charlotte FC Uses No. 1 Pick to Select Ben Bender of Univ. of Maryland in MLS SuperDraft '22

January 11, 2022 - Major League Soccer (MLS) News Release


NEW YORK - Expansion club Charlotte FC made the historic first MLS SuperDraft selection in the club's history selecting Ben Bender with the No. 1 overall selection in the MLS SuperDraft 2022 presented by adidas.

Bender is the first player from the Univ. of Maryland selected No. 1 overall in the MLS SuperDraft. A member of Generation adidas, Bender's selection marked the 20th consecutive year the first selection overall was part of Generation adidas or its predecessor. The announcement of Bender as the first overall selection was made by seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson.

The first five selections in the draft were all members of the Generation adidas class. With the second selection overall, FC Cincinnati chose goalkeeper Roman Celentano of Indiana Univ. FC Dallas used the third selection overall - one of two picks they held in the first six overall - to select Isaiah Parker of Saint Louis Univ., who was one of four SLU products taken in the first round. Houston Dynamo FC then used the fourth selection to obtain Thorleifur Ulfarsson of Duke Univ., before Austin FC selected Kipp Keller of Saint Louis at No. 5 overall.

With the seventh selection overall, the New York Red Bulls made a pair of draft-day trades to move up and select Matt Nocita out of the U.S. Naval Academy. Nocita is just the second player in MLS SuperDraft to be selected in the first round out of one of U.S. service academies (along with Tucker Bone, 2019, U.S. Air Force Academy, No. 20 by FC Dallas), and the second player in Navy history to be chosen in the SuperDraft (Joseph Greenspan, 2015 by Colorado, No. 26 overall).

Saint Louis Univ. became just the third school to have four or more players selected in the first round of the MLS SuperDraft, along with the University of Akron, which had five selections among the first eight picks in 2011, and Wake Forest University, which had four first-round selections in 2010. The University of Notre Dame had three players taken in the first round this year, now marking the 13th time in SuperDraft history where three or more players from the same school have been selected in the first round. In all, six schools saw multiple players selected in the first round, including Duke Univ. St. John's Univ., the Univ. of Washington, and Grand Canyon Univ. - a first for that school.

Players from 47 colleges and universities were represented in the 75 selections overall, led by Saint Louis Univ. and Clemson Univ. with six each, followed by Univ. of Washington with five. There were also players selected from 19 different countries: USA, Canada, Brazil, Burkina Faso, DR Congo, El Salvador, England, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Iceland, Morocco, Nigeria, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Sweden, and Zimbabwe.

For a complete recap of MLS SuperDraft 2022, please visit: www.MLSsoccer.com.

All media assets for MLS SuperDraft 2022 presented by adidas are available HERE.

A round-by-round summary of MLS SuperDraft 2022 follows:

ROUND 1

1 CLT Ben Bender [Ga] MF 6-0 165 03/07/01 Baltimore, Md. Univ. of Maryland

2 CIN Roman Celentano [Ga] GK 6-3 200 09/14/00 Naperville, Ill. Indiana Univ.

3 DAL Isaiah Parker [Ga] FW 5-8 160 09/01/02 Gurnee, Ill. Saint Louis Univ.

4 HOU Thorleifur Úlfarsson [Ga] FW 6-1 165 12/27/00 Kopavogur, Iceland Duke Univ.

5 ATX Kipp Keller [Ga] DF 6-3 185 07/14/00 St. Louis, Mo. Saint Louis Univ.

6 DAL Lucas Bartlett DF 6-3 200 07/26/97 Overland Park, Kan. St. John's Univ.

7 NYR & % Matthew Nocita DF 6-8 205 Porter Ranch, Calif. United States Naval Academy

8 SJ Ousseni Bouda [Ga] FW 5-10 170 04/28/00 Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso Stanford Univ.

9 MCF Ryan Sailor DF 6-4 180 11/27/98 Centennial, Colo. Univ. of Washington

10 NSH # Ahmed Longmire DF 6-3 190 10/11/99 Las Vegas, Nev. Univ. of California, Los Angeles

11 CHI % Kendall Burks DF 6-2 190 10/08/99 Tacoma, Wash. Univ. of Washington

12 CLB Patrick Schulte [Ga] GK 6-5 200 03/13/01 St. Charles, Mo. Saint Louis Univ.

13 SJ @ Oskar Agren DF 6-3 180 09/10/98 Malmo, Sweden Clemson Univ.

14 CIN Ian Murphy DF 6-2 175 01/16/00 Redlands, Calif. Duke Univ.

15 MTL & Jojea Kwizera FW 5-9 7/xx/1999 West Jordan, Utah Utah Valley Univ.

16 VAN Simon Becher FW 6-1 187 07/20/99 Brooklyn, Conn. Saint Louis Univ.

17 MIN Tani Oluwaseyi FW 6-2 170 Mississauga, Ont., Canada St. John's Univ.

18 ORL Jack Lynn FW 6-2 188 01/12/00 St. Louis, Mo. Univ. of Notre Dame

19 ATL Erik Centeno [Ga] FW 5-8 06/29/02 Stockton, Calif. Univ. of the Pacific

20 NYR ! O'Vonte Mullings FW 5-9 149 10/09/00 Toronto, Ont., Canada Florida Gulf Coast Univ.

21 LA Farai Mutatu FW 5-9 164 10/15/98 Haslett, Mich. Michigan State Univ.

22 KC Esai Easley DF 6-0 05/09/00 Kona, Hawai'i Grand Canyon Univ.

23 COL Mohamed Omar MF 6-3 182 08/09/99 Toronto, Ont., Canada Univ. of Notre Dame

24 NE Jacob Jackson GK 6-2 205 04/25/00 Escondido, Calif. Loyola Marymount Univ.

25 CLB + Philip Quinton DF 6-6 205 11/16/99 Portland, Ore. Univ. of Notre Dame

26 COL # Anthony Markanich DF 6-1 165 12/26/99 Bourbonnais, Ill. Northern Illinois Univ.

27 POR Justin Rasmussen DF 12/15/98 Las Vegas, Nev. Grand Canyon Univ.

28 DAL ^ Tsiki Ntsabeleng FW 5-7 160 09/02/98 Johannesburg, South Africa Oregon State Univ.

[Ga] - Generation adidas

& MTL trade No. 11 overall selection in 2022 to NYR for No. 15 overall selection in 2022 and $100,000 general allocation money

% CHI trade No. 7 overall selection in 2022 to NYR for No. 11 overall selection in 2022 and $100,000 general allocation money

# COL trade No. 10 overall selection in 2022 to NSH for No. 26 overall selection in 2022 and $175,000 general allocation money ($50,000 conditional)

@ DC trade No. 13 overall selection in 2022 to SJ for No. 36 overall selection in 2022 and $100,000 general allocation money

! SEA trade No. 20 overall selection in 2022 to NYR for No. 43 overall selection in 2022 and $75,000 general allocation money

+ RSL trade No. 25 overall selection in 2022 to CLB for $50,000 general allocation money

^ NYC trade No. 28 overall selection in 2022 to DAL for No. 34 overall selection in 2022 and $50,000 general allocation money

ROUND 2

# TEAM PLAYER POS. HT WT DOB HOMETOWN CLUB/COLLEGE

29 CLT Kyle Holcomb FW 6-0 165 02/24/00 San Marcos, Calif. Wake Forest Univ.

30 CIN Nicholas Markanich FW 6-1 160 12/26/99 Bourbonnais, Ill. Northern Illinois Univ.

31 TOR Luka Gavran GK 6-6 200 05/09/00 Hamilton, Ont., Canada St. John's Univ.

32 HOU Paulo Lima MF 6-1 170 06/05/98 Lisbon, Portugal Providence College

33 CHI Charlie Ostrem DF 5-8 155 10/12/99 Richmond Beach, Wash. Univ. of Washington

34 NYC ^ Kevin O'Toole FW 5-10 165 12/14/98 Montclair, N.J. Princeton Univ.

35 ATX Charlie Asensio DF 5-9 155 01/20/00 Roswell, Ga. Clemson Univ.

36 DC @ Sofiane Djeffal MF 5-10 152 04/19/99 Nantes, France Oregon State Univ.

37 MCF Lucas Meek FW 6-2 160 1999 Mercer Island, Wash. Univ. of Washington

38 NSH Will Meyer GK 6-2 174 05/24/98 Solon, Ohio Univ. of Akron

39 HOU Arturo Ordonez DF 6-2 174 Salou, Spain Univ. of Pittsburgh

40 CLB Jacob Erlandson DF 6-1 175 03/14/99 Dayton, Ohio Bowling Green State Univ.

41 DC Alex Nagy FW 6-0 165 03/22/00 Bow, N.H. Univ. of Vermont

42 LA Callum Johnson MF 5-9 165 New York, N.Y. Clemson Univ.

43 SEA ! Achille Robin DF 6-3 175 05/20/97 Les Sables d'Olonne, France Univ. of Washington

44 VAN Luis Felipe Fernandez-Salvador MF 5-10 165 02/28/00 Royal Palm Beach, Fla. Clemson Univ.

45 COL Roberto Molina FW 5-9 145 01/28/01 Sonsonate, El Salvador Las Vegas Lights (USL)

46 ORL Nathan Dossantos DF 5-11 04/11/99 Oakville, Ont., Canada Marshall Univ.

47 ATL Tristan Trager FW 5-11 160 08/21/99 Akron, Ohio United States Air Force Academy

48 MCF Justin Ingram MF 5-8 153 12/01/98 Indianapolis, Ind. Loyola Univ. Maryland

49 VAN Giovanni Aguilar MF 6-0 170 03/08/98 Olivehurst, Calif. California State Univ., Northridge

50 KC Brett St. Martin DF 6-0 170 Mount Airy, Md. Univ. of Maryland

51 COL PASS

52 NE Ben Reveno DF 6-1 170 01/01/99 San Jose, Calif. Univ. of California, Los Angeles

53 RSL Pedro Fonseca FW 5-8 165 05/20/97 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Univ. of Louisville

54 MCF Tyler Bagley FW 5-6 170 06/02/99 San Clemente, Calif. Cornell Univ.

55 POR Julian Bravo DF 6-2 180 09/30/00 Claremont, Calif. Santa Clara Univ.

56 NYC Kingsford Adjei FW 5-5 Old Akrade, Ghana Univ. of Dayton

ROUND 3

57 CLT George Marks GK 6-1 177 11/10/99 Raleigh, N.C. Clemson Univ.

58 CIN PASS

59 TOR Reshaun Walkes FW 6-0 167 01/01/99 Brampton, Ont., Canada Univ. of Texas Rio Grande Valley

60 LA Chandler Vaughn DF 5-9 147 02/25/00 Woodbridge, Va. Saint Louis Univ.

61 ATX Michael Knapp MF 5-11 160 01/30/00 Bloomfield, N.J. New York Red Bulls II (USL)

62 DAL Alec Smir GK 6-2 190 04/13/99 Greensboro, N.C. Univ. of North Carolina

63 CHI Carlo Ritaccio DF 6-1 172 01/09/00 Westbury, N.Y. Univ. of Akron

64 SJ John Martin DF 5-9 155 06/21/05 Clemson, S.C. Clemson Univ.

65 MCF PASS

66 DAL Chase Niece DF 6-2 180 10/28/98 St. Louis, Mo. Saint Louis Univ.

67 MTL Ivy Brisma FW 5-8 161 09/16/00 East Windsor, N.J. North Carolina State Univ.

68 CLB Chris Donovan FW 6-1 160 08/01/00 Paoli, Pa. Drexel Univ.

69 DC Skage Simonson MF 6-3 195 04/12/98 Bergen, Norway Southern Methodist Univ.

70 LA PASS

71 NYR Giannis Nikopolidis GK 6-2 178 12/08/00 Athens, Greece Georgetown Univ.

72 VAN Theo Collomb FW 5-7 130 07/11/00 Accra, Ghana Univ. of North Carolina Greensboro

73 NYR Seth Kuhn MF 5-11 157 04/04/00 Wyomissing, Pa. Penn State Univ.

74 ORL Nick Taylor FW 5-10 153 09/02/98 Coppell, Texas Univ. of Central Florida

75 ATL Daniel Bloyou FW 5-8 156 04/18/00 Accra, Ghana Penn State Univ.

76 SEA Hal Uderitz MF 6-3 185 09/16/99 Snohomish, Wash. Seattle Univ.

77 NSH PASS

78 KC PASS

79 COL PASS

80 NE PASS

81 RSL Jasper Loeffelsend DF 5-5 146 09/10/97 Koln, Germany Univ. of Pittsburgh

82 PHI PASS

83 POR Sivert Haugli DF 6-5 200 05/05/99 Oslo, Norway Virginia Tech Univ.

84 NYC El Mehdi Youssoufi FW 5-8 160 Tangier, Morocco St. Francis Brooklyn Univ.

85.* CHI Yanis Leerman DF 6-1 177 06/15/98 Troyes, France Univ. of Central Florida

86.* VAN Vitor Dias MF 5-10 04/30/98 Brasilia, Brazil Marshall Univ.

87.* DAL Holland Rula DF 5-11 175 05/15/99 Birmingham, Ala. Wake Forest Univ.

88.* ATL Tola Showunmi FW 6-3 07/03/00 Enfield, England Univ. of New Hampshire

89.* SJ PASS

* compensatory selections for any club which previously received a 202 SuperDraft Round 4 selection via trade

TEAM-BY-TEAM SELECTIONS:

Atlanta United (4): Erik Centeno (19); Tristan Trager (47); Daniel Bloyou (75); Tola Showunmi (88)

Austin FC (3): Kipp Keller (5); Charlie Asensio (35); Michael Knapp (61)

Charlotte FC (3): Ben Bender (1); Kyle Holcomb (29); George Marks (57)

Chicago Fire FC (4): Kendall Burks (11); Charlie Ostrem (33); Carlo Ritaccio (63); Yanis Leerman (85)

FC Cincinnati (3): Roman Celentano (2); Ian Murphy (14); Nicholas Markanich (30)

Colorado Rapids (3): Mohamed Omar (23); Anthony Markanich (26); Roberto Molina (45)

Columbus Crew (4): Patrick Schulte (12); Philip Quinton (25); Jacob Erlandson (40); Chris Donovan (68)

D.C. United (3): Sofiane Djeffal (36); Alex Nagy (41); Skage Simonson (69)

FC Dallas (6): Isaiah Parker (3); Lucas Bartlett (6); Tsiki Ntsabeleng (28); Alec Smir (62); Chase Niece (66); Holland Rula (87)

Houston Dynamo FC (3): Thorleifur Ulfarsson (4); Paulo Lima (32); Arturo Ordonez (39)

Sporting Kansas City (2): Esai Easley (22); Brett St. Martin (50)

LA Galaxy (3): Farai Mutatu (21); Callum Johnson (42); Chandler Vaughn (60)

Los Angeles Football Club (0)

Inter Miami CF (4): Ryan Sailor (9); Lucas Meek (37); Justin Ingram (48); Tyler Bagley (54)

Minnesota United FC (1): Tani Oluwaseyi (17)

CF Montréal (2): Jojea Kwizera (15); Ivy Brisma (67)

Nashville SC (2): Ahmed Longmire (10); Will Meyer (38)

New England Revolution (2): Jacob Jackson (24); Ben Reveno (52)

New York Red Bulls (4): Matthew Nocita (7); O'Vante Mullings (20); Giannis Nikopolidis (71); Seth Kuhn (73)

New York City FC (3): Kevin O'Toole (34); Kingsford Adjei (56); El Mehdi Youssoufi (84)

Orlando City SC (3): Jack Lynn (18); Nathan Dossantos (46); Nick Taylor (74)

Philadelphia Union (0)

Portland Timbers (3): Justin Rasmussen (27); Julian Bravo (55); Sivert Haugli (83)

Real Salt Lake (2): Pedro Fonseca (53); Jasper Loeffelsend (81)

San Jose Earthquakes (3): Ousseni Bouda (8); Oskar Agren (13); John Martin (64)

Seattle Sounders FC (2): Achille Robin (43); Hal Uderitz (76)

Toronto FC (2): Luka Gavran (31); Reshaun Walkes (59)

Vancouver Whitecaps FC (5): Simon Becher (16); Luis Felipe Fernandez-Salvador (44); Giovanni Aguilar (49); Theo Collomb (72); Vitor Dias (86)

COLLEGE-BY-COLLEGE SELECTIONS:

U.S. Air Force Academy (1): Tristan Trager

Univ. of Akron (2): Will Meyer; Carlo Ritaccio

Bowling Green State Univ. (1): Jacob Erlandson

California State Univ., Northridge (1): Giovanni Aguilar

UCLA (2): Ahmed Longmire; Ben Reveno

Univ. of Central Florida (2): Yanis Leerman; Nick Taylor

Clemson Univ. (6): Oskar Agren; Charlie Asensio; Luis Felipe Fernandez-Salvador; Callum Johnson; George Marks; John Martin

Cornell Univ. (1): Tyler Bagley

Univ. of Dayton (1): Kingsford Adjei

Drexel Univ. (1): Chris Donovan

Duke Univ. (2): Ian Murphy; Thorleifur Ulfarsson

Florida Gulf Coast Univ. (1): O'Vante Mullings

Georgetown Univ. (1): Giannis Nikopolidis

Grand Canyon Univ. (2): Esai Easley; Justin Rasmussen

Indiana Univ. (1): Roman Celentano

Univ. of Louisville (1): Pedro Fonseca

Loyola Marymount Univ. (1): Jacob Jackson

Loyola Univ. Maryland (1): Justin Ingram

Marshall Univ. (2): Vitor Dias; Nathan Dossantos

Univ. of Maryland (2): Ben Bender; Brett St. Martin

Michigan State Univ. (1); Farai Mutatu

U.S. Naval Academy (1): Matthew Nocita

Univ. of New Hampshire (1): Tola Showunmi

Univ. of North Carolina (1): Alec Smir

Univ. of North Carolina Greensboro (1): Theo Collomb

North Carolina State Univ. (1); Ivy Brisma

Northern Illinois Univ. (2): Anthony Markanich; Nicholas Markanich

Univ. of Notre Dame (3): Jack Lynn; Mohamed Omar; Philip Quinton

Oregon State Univ. (2): Sofiane Djeffal; Tsiki Ntsabeleng

Univ. of the Pacific (1): Erik Centeno

Penn State Univ. (2): Daniel Bloyou; Seth Kuhn

Univ. of Pittsburgh (2): Jasper Loeffelsend; Arturo Ordonez

Princeton Univ. (1): Kevin O'Toole

Providence College (1): Paulo Lima

St. Francis Brooklyn Univ. (1); El Mehdi Youssoufi

St. John's Univ. (3): Lucas Bartlett; Luka Gavran; Tani Oluwaseyi

Saint Louis Univ. (6): Simon Becher, Isaiah Parker, Kipp Keller; Chase Niece; Patrick Schulte; Chandler Vaughn

Santa Clara Univ. (1): Julian Bravo

Seattle Univ. (1): Hal Uderitz

Southern Methodist Univ. (1): Skage Simonson

Stanford Univ. (1); Ousseni Bouda

Univ. of Texas Rio Grande Valley (1): Reshaun Walkes

Utah Valley Univ. (1); Jojea Kwizera

Virginia Tech Univ. (1): Sivert Haugli

Wake Forest Univ. (2): Kyle Holcomb; Holland Rula

Univ. of Vermont (1): Alex Nagy

Univ. of Washington (5): Kendall Burks; Lucas Meek; Charlie Ostrem; Achille Robin; Ryan Sailor

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