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Lightning Officially Announce First Six Players

November 2, 2009 - Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL)
Louisville Lightning News Release


The Louisville Lightning has signed their first six players for the 2009-2010 Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL-Pro) season. The signings come just three weeks away from the first game of their inaugural season, when the Lightning play host to 1790 Cincinnati Express, last year's Eastern Division champions and North American Championship finalists.

"With four solid weeks of training under our belts and the opening of the regular season knocking on the door, we felt it was time to make our first signings." Head Coach and General Manager David Horne said. "We are very happy with our first group of signings, and expect a lot out of this quality batch of players."

Within the six signings are players with previous professional and international experience, players named as All-Americans, and players with various All-Conference honors. "We have a wide variety of players from a wide variety of backgrounds. Each brings their own ability and style to the table, and that's why we're so excited with this first group." Horne continued.

Leading the group is defender Glenn Volk, a Lexington KY native and product of Henry Clay High School, and midfielder Safet Kovacevic (Louisville, KY, Bosnia).

Volk played collegiately at Colgate University, leading the team to two NCAA tournament appearances and garnering Patriot League All-Conference honors and NSCAA/adidas Regional All-American honors during his time as a Red Raider. Following his career at Colgate, Volk had a trial stint with the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer, before being signed by the Puerto Rico Islanders of the United Soccer Leagues 1st Division. Volk has re-signed with the Islanders for the 2010 season, and is taking his game indoors before his return to Puerto Rico.

Kovacevic joins the Lightning after spending time playing professionally abroad in both his native Bosnia as well as Germany. In Bosnia, Kovacevic was a member of FK Sarajevo, and also made appearances with the Bosnian Youth National Team. He later moved to Germany where he played with the Stuttgarter Kickers, Sportfreunde Siegen, VFL Aalen, and finally VFL Lubeck.

"Both Glenn and Safet have extremely impressive résumés. Given their professional backgrounds and solid form in training, we are confident in their ability to come aboard the Lightning and set the tone of what we expect in a professional organization."

Albert Gross, (MID, Lexington KY, Tates Creek High School) comes in alongside fellow Lexington KY native Jonathon Kincheloe (DEF, Lexington Catholic High School). Both Gross and Kincheloe played collegiately together at Transylvania University, where both were stand-outs on the field.

Gross was a 3-time Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) 1st Team selection between 2002 and 2004. An NSCAA/adidas Regional All-American, Gross went on to play professionally with the Cincinnati Kings of the United Soccer Leagues 2nd Division (USL-2) in 2005.

Kincheloe was a 4-time HCAC 1st Team Selection between 2001 and 2004, being named as the 2001 HCAC Freshman of the Year and 2004 HCAC Player of the Year. In 2004, Kincheloe was named to the NSCAA/adidas All-American team, becoming the first All-American in Transylvania's program history.

"We're very happy to have both Albert and Jonathon join the Lightning. Albert brings some much needed creativity in the midfield, while Jon is relentless in his defending. Both have the high-level game experience necessary to succeed in this league." Horne commented.

Rounding out the Lightning's first group of signings is local product Adam Boyer (DEF, Louisville KY, DuPont Manual High School) and former University of Louisville stand-out Ryan McDonald (DEF, Nashville TN, Franklin Road Academy).

Boyer comes to the Lightning after recently graduating from Centre College, where in 2008, he became the program's first NSCAA/adidas All-American and NSCAA/adidas Academic All-American in the same year. A two-time Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) 1st team selection, Boyer was also a three-time captain and three-time NSCAA/adidas Regional All-American for the Colonels.

A four-year starter, McDonald finished his career with the University of Louisville in 2008. Named as the Team MVP his senior year, McDonald played outside-back for the Cardinals, scoring 8 career goals while leading the team to two NCAA Tournament appearances. A three-time high school All-State selection out of Tennessee, McDonald gained professional experience with the Nashville Metros of the USL Premier Development League in 2008 and 2009.

"We are extremely excited to have both Boyer and McDonald on board with the Lightning. As defenders, they both have proven their ability to play at the professional level. They are exactly the type of defenders needed to win games in the PASL."

The Lightning expects to continue making more signings as the kick-off to their first season in the league draws even closer. "We are continuing to evaluate players daily in training and plan to make more signings prior to the start of the season. The level of play in practice has been extremely high, and we're very happy with the progress our organization is making," Horne adds.

1790 Cincinnati Express comes to Louisville on Friday, November 13th for a 7:30pm kick-off. General admission tickets are $10 with Premier Seating at $12 per person. For more information, visit the Tickets section on LouisvilleLightning.com.



Professional Arena Soccer League Stories from November 2, 2009


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