MISL Holds Amateur Draft
December 17, 2002 - Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2) News Release
(Westport, Conn., December 17, 2002) â The Major Indoor Soccer League conducted its 2002 Amateur Draft via teleconference on Tuesday. The draft included a territorial round and four standard rounds of selections. Eight MISL clubs participated in the five-round event. Selection order was based on teams' winning percentages from their previous season of play.
The 2002 draft focused on offense as 12 forwards and nine midfielders were selected. In addition, four players who can play either the midfield or forward positions were chosen. A total of eight defenders were picked with four midfielder/defenders and three goalkeepers selected.
The Harrisburg Heat held the first pick in each of the five rounds. The Cleveland Force chose second, followed by the Baltimore Blast, Kansas City Comets, Dallas Sidekicks, San Diego Sockers, Philadelphia Kixx and Milwaukee Wave. Prior to the draft, Cleveland acquired the first-round selections of Kansas City and Dallas. Milwaukee had previously obtained San Diego's second-round pick.
In the territorial round, players chosen had to be either a permanent resident of the club's home state and played high school and/or youth soccer in the state, attended college for a minimum of two years in the club's home state or have been born in and played high school and/or youth soccer in the club's home state.
Harrisburg selected Messiah College (PA) midfielder Hayden Woodworth with the draft's first pick. Cleveland took Duke University midfielder/defender Adam Guren with the second pick while Baltimore chose Loyola College (MD) defender Niall Lepper with the third pick. University of Missouri â Kansas City goalkeeper Beau Williams went with the fourth selection to Kansas City while Southern Methodist University forward Diego Walsh was taken by Dallas with the fifth pick. San Diego selected Azusa-Pacific University defender Jacob Ward with the sixth pick while Philadelphia chose Penn State University midfielder Brent Jacquette with the seventh selection. Milwaukee closed the territorial round by taking University of Wisconsin â Milwaukee defender Chad Dombrowski with the eighth overall selection.
Past MISL Amateur Drafts have yielded future indoor soccer stars such as Baltimore's P.J. Wakefield and Billy Nelson, Cleveland's Anthony Maher and Milwaukee's Sean Reti. Nelson, selected in the 2000 draft, was the 2001-02 MISL Rookie of the Year. Wakefield, Maher and Reti, all taken in the 2001 event, are leading candidates for the 2002-03 MISL All-Rookie Team.
A complete recap of the 2002 MISL Amateur Draft follows.
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2002 MISL AMATEUR DRAFT
TERRITORIAL ROUND
No. MISL TEAM PLAYER POS SCHOOL
1. (1) Harrisburg Hayden Woodworth M Messiah College
2. (2) Cleveland Adam Guren M/D Duke University
3. (3) Baltimore Niall Lepper D Loyola College (MD)
4. (4) Kansas City Beau Williams GK University of Missouri-KC
5. (5) Dallas Diego Walsh F Southern Methodist University
6. (6) San Diego Jacob Ward D Azusa-Pacific University
7. (7) Philadelphia Brent Jacquette M Penn State University
8. (8) Milwaukee Chad Dombrowski D University of WI-Milwaukee
FIRST ROUND
No. MISL TEAM PLAYER POS SCHOOL
1. (9) Harrisburg Brian Rowland GK UMBC
2. (10) Cleveland Rhian Dodds M Robert Morris University
3. (11) Baltimore Jonathan Cole D University of Virginia
4. (12) Cleveland (a) Joel Bailey F Wheeling Jesuit University
5. (13) Cleveland (b) Guido Cristofori M/F Syracuse University
6. (14) San Diego Machel Millwood F Towson University
7. (15) Philadelphia Matt Osbourne F George Washington University
8. (16) Milwaukee Joe Hammes M/D St. Louis University
SECOND ROUND
No. MISL TEAM PLAYER POS SCHOOL 1. (17) Harrisburg Byron Carmichael F Marshall University
2. (18) Cleveland Mike Ritch F Auburn University Montgomery
3. (19) Baltimore Marcus Johnson M/D North Carolina State University
4. (20) Kansas City Sandre Naumoviski M Southern Nazarene University
5. (21) Dallas Mike Tranchilla F Creighton University
6. (22) Milwaukee (c) Steve Lawrence D Marquette University
7. (23) Philadelphia Phil Swenda F Seton Hall University 8. (24) Milwaukee Nick Walls M/F St. Louis University
THIRD ROUND
No. MISL TEAM PLAYER POS SCHOOL
1. (25) Harrisburg Bryan Hopper M/D University of Pittsburgh
2. (26) Cleveland Ryan Hall D Syracuse University
3. (27) Baltimore Andy Hicks GK Towson University
4. (28) Kansas City Joe Sithonnorath M Drake University
5. (29) Dallas Josh Card F Trinity University
6. (30) San Diego Rob Friend F University of Santa Barbara
7. (31) Philadelphia Rudy Lormil F Keane University
8. (32) Milwaukee Matt Miller M Dartmouth College
FOURTH ROUND
No. MISL TEAM PLAYER POS SCHOOL
1. (33) Harrisburg Troy Sauer M/F Messiah College
2. (34) Cleveland Ryan Smith D Sonoma State University
3. (35) Baltimore Carlos Garcia F The College of William & Mary
4. (36) Kansas City Mario Gonzalez M Tulsa University
5. (37) Dallas Ryan Kneipper M/F University of North Carolina
6. (38) San Diego Todd Dunivant D Stanford University
7. (39) Philadelphia Guy Abrahamson M Rutgers University
8. (40) Milwaukee Johannes Maliza M Stanford University
Notes:
(a) Acquired from Kansas City for the playing rights to Chad James and Nikola Vignjevic
(b) Acquired from Dallas for the playing rights to Beau Brown
(c) Acquired from San Diego for the playing rights to Matt Johnson and Aaron Susi
The number in parentheses found in the No. column represents the overall selection in the draft.
The Major Indoor Soccer League is a single-entity organization featuring a coast-to-coast presence with eight teams located across the United States. The MISL is the single major league of indoor soccer, playing a 144-game schedule that began on September 28, 2002 and concludes on March 23, 2003. For more information on the MISL, visit the League's website at www.MISL.net.
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Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from December 17, 2002
- MISL Transaction Report - MISL 2
- MISL Holds Amateur Draft - MISL 2
- Heat Makes Woodworth Top Pick In Draft - Harrisburg Heat
- Marinaro Reaches Another Milestone - Cleveland Force
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