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Philadelphia Union Select Andre Blake with First Overall Selection in 2014 MLS SuperDraft

Published on January 16, 2014 under Major League Soccer (MLS) News Release


PHILADELPHIA (Thursday, January 16, 2014) - After making a deal to obtain the first overall selection, Philadelphia Union chose Generation adidas goalkeeper Andre Blake with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 MLS SuperDraft presented by adidas, held Thursday at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Blake, who attended the University of Connecticut, became the first goalkeeper ever selected with the No. 1 overall selection in a Major League Soccer draft. Blake was the first of three Jamaicans selected in the first round, with youth international Andre Lewis taken No. 7 overall by Vancouver Whitecaps FC and University of Hartford product Damion Lowe selected eighth by Seattle Sounders FC.

D.C. United originally held the No. 1 overall selection, but traded the position to Philadelphia for the No. 2 pick, which they then used to select defender Steven Birnbaum of the University of California. Vancouver Whitecaps FC followed with another University of California product with the third selection, Generation adidas defender Christian Dean.

Blake and Dean were two of seven members of the Generation adidas class, all selected within the first 17 picks overall. Blake was the first player selected No. 1 overall from the University of Connecticut since Chris Gbandi, who was selected first overall in 2002 by Dallas.

The University of California led all schools with three players selected in the first round and four overall, with defender Ryan Neil taken by Real Salt Lake with the 18th selection and midfielder Alec Sundly taken by New England Revolution with the 31st selection. The University of Maryland, winners of the 2013 NCAA Division I College Cup, had two players taken in the first round: two-time M.A.C. Hermann Trophy winner Patrick Mullins (No. 11; New England Revolution) and forward Schillo Tshuma (No. 17; Portland Timbers).

Players from 28 colleges and universities were represented in the 38 selections overall, led by four selections from the University of California.

Rounds three and four of the SuperDraft will take place Tuesday, January 21 via conference call. For a complete recap of the first two rounds of the 2014 MLS SuperDraft, please visit: www.MLSsoccer.com .

A round-by-round summary of the 2014 SuperDraft follows:

ROUND 1

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

1. PHI @ Andre Blake * GK 6-1 168 11/21/1990 Mary Pen, Jamaica Univ. of Connecticut

2. DC @ Steven Birnbaum DF 6-2 180 1/23/1991 Irvine, Calif. Univ. of California

3. VAN Christian Dean * DF 6-3 205 3/14/1993 East Palo Alto, Calif. Univ. of California

4. NE Steve Neumann FW 6-0 165 10/2/1991 New Hope, Pa. Georgetown Univ.

5. MTL # Eric Miller * DF 6-1 175 1/15/1993 Woodbury, Minn. Creighton Univ.

6. DAL $ Tesho Akindele FW 6-1 180 3/31/1992 Thornton, Colo. Colorado School of Mines

7. VAN Andre Lewi s MF 5-9 145 8/12/1994 Portmore, Jamaica Portmore United (JAM)

8. SEA Damion Lowe * DF 6-3 175 5/5/1993 Kingston, Jamaica Univ. of Hartford

9. SJ JJ Koval MF 6-1 175 5/19/1992 Camarillo, Calif. Stanford Univ.

10. TOR % Nick Hagglund DF 6-1 193 9/14/1992 Cincinnati, Ohio Xavier Univ.

11 . NE & Patrick Mullins FW 6-1 172 2/5/1992 New Orleans, La. Univ. of Maryland

12 . COL & Marlon Hairston * MF 6-0 157 3/23/1994 Jackson, Miss. Univ. of Louisville

13. CHI Marco Franco DF 5-11 155 10/6/1991 Chino Hills, Calif. Univ. of California, Irvine

14. CLB Ben Sweat DF 6-2 175 9/4/1991 Palm Harbor, Fla. Univ. of South Florida

15. PHI % Pedro Ribeiro MF 6-4 208 6/13/1990 Belo Horizonte, Brazil Coastal Carolina Univ.

16 . H OU A.J. Cochran * DF 6-3 195 2/9/1993 St. Louis, Mo. Univ. of Wisconsin

17 . POR Schillo Tshuma * FW 5-10 162 9/21/1992 Bulawayo, Zimbabwe Univ. of Maryland

18. RSL Ryan Neil DF 6-1 165 1/2/1992 Mission Viejo, Calif. Univ. of California

19. COL & Grant van de Casteele DF 6-2 165 5/10/1991 Plano, Texas Univ. of Notre Dame

* Generation adidas

@ DC trade No. 1 overall selection in 2014 to PHI for No. 2 selection in 2014 and allocation money

# DAL trade No. 5 overall selection in 2014 to MTL for No. 10 selection in 2014, allocation money and 2014 international slot

$ PHI trade No. 6 overall selection in 2014 to DAL for No. 10 selection in 2014 and allocation money

% PHI trade No. 10 overall selection in 2014 to TOR for No. 15 selection in 2014 and allocation money

& NE trade No. 11 overall selection in 2014 to COL for No. 12 and No. 19 selection in 2014

ROUND 2

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

20. CHV Thomas McNamara MF 5-9 170 2/6/1991 West Nyack, N.Y. Clemson Univ.

21. SEA Jimmy Ockford DF 6-1 185 6/10/1992 Yardley, Pa. Univ. of Louisville

22. NY Chris Duvall DF 5-10 150 9/10/1991 Duluth, Ga. Wake Forest Univ.

23. LA Kyle Venter DF 6-3 190 3/13/1991 Aurora, Colo. Univ. of New Mexico

24. TOR Daniel Lovitz MF 5-10 170 8/27/1991 Wyndmoor, Pa. Elon Univ.

25. PHI Kevin Cope DF 6-2 175 10/16/1991 Canton, Mich. Michigan State Univ.

26. POR Taylor Peay DF 6-2 180 9/5/1991 Salt Lake City, Utah Univ. of Washington

27. PHI Robbie Derschang DF 6-0 165 3/16/1992 Englewood, Colo. Univ. of Akron

28. SJ Joe Sofia DF 6-2 180 10/8/1991 Dove Canyon, Calif. UCLA

29. DC ^ Victor Munoz MF 5-7 160 7/25/1990 Madrid, Spain UCLA

30. VAN Mamadou Diouf FW 6-1 170 9/15/1990 Dakar, Senegal Univ. of Connecticut

31. NE Alec Sundly MF 6-0 157 7/8/1992 Capistrano Beach, Calif. Univ. of California

32. HOU Mark Sherrod FW 6-3 185 8/13/1990 Knoxville, Tenn. Univ. of Memphis

33. COL Jared Watts MF 6-1 155 2/3/1992 Statesville, N.C. Wake Forest Univ.

34. NY Eric Stevenson MF 5-8 145 8/30/1990 Columbus, Ohio Univ. of Akron

35. COL John Berner GK 6-3 195 2/14/1991 St. Louis, Mo. SIU-Edwardsville

36. POR Aaron Long MF 6-1 173 10/12/1992 Oak Hills, Calif. Univ. of California, Riverside

37 . MTL George Malki MF 5-10 160 4/21/1992 Scottsdale, Ariz. Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo

38 . KC Adnan Gabeljic FW 6-3 200 4/13/1992 St. Louis, Mo. Saint Louis Univ.

^ MTL trade No. 29 overall selection in 2014 to DC for 2014 international slot

TEAM-BY-TEAM SELECTIONS:

Chicago Fire (1): Marco Franco (13)

Chivas USA (1): Thomas McNamara (20)

Colorado Rapids (4): Marlon Hairston (12), Grant van de Casteele (19), Jared Watts (33), John Berner (35)

Columbus Crew (1): Ben Sweat (14)

D.C. United (2): Steven Birnbaum (2), Victor Munoz (29)

FC Dallas (1): Tesho Akindele (6)

Houston Dynamo (2): A.J. Cochran (16), Mark Sherrod (32)

Sporting Kansas City (1): Adnan Gabeljic (38)

LA Galaxy (1): Kyle Venter (23)

Montréal Impact (2): Eric Miller (5), George Malki (37)

New England Revolution (3): Steve Neumann (4), Patrick Mullins (11), Alec Sundly (31)

New York Red Bulls (2): Chris Duvall (22), Eric Stevenson (34)

Philadelphia Union (4): Andre Blake (1); Pedro Ribeiro (15), Kevin Cope (25), Robert Derschang (27)

Portland Timbers (3): Schillo Tshuma (17), Taylor Peay (26), Aaron Long (36)

Real Salt Lake (1): Ryan Neil (18)

San Jose Earthquakes (2): JJ Koval (9), Joe Sofia (28)

Seattle Sounders FC (2): Damion Lowe (8), Jimmy Ockford (21)

Toronto FC (2): Nick Hagglund (10), Daniel Lovitz (24)

Vancouver Whitecaps FC (3): Christian Dean (3); Andre Lewis (7), Mamadou Diouf (30)

COLLEGE-BY-COLLEGE SELECTIONS:

Univ. of Akron (2): Robbie Derschang, Eric Stevenson

Univ. of California (4): Steven Birnbaum, Christian Dean, Ryan Neil, Alec Sundly

Univ. of California, Irvine (1): Marco Franco

Univ. of California, Los Angeles (2): Victor Munoz, Joe Sofia

Univ. of California, Riverside (1): Aaron Long

California Polytechnic State Univ. (1): George Malki

Clemson Univ. (1): Thomas McNamara

Coastal Carolina Univ. (1): Pedro Ribeiro

Colorado School of Mines (1): Tesho Akindele

Univ. of Connecticut (2): Andre Blake, Mamadou Diouf

Creighton Univ. (1): Eric Miller

Elon Univ. (1): Daniel Lovitz

Georgetown Univ. (1): Steve Neumann

Univ. of Hartford (1): Damion Lowe

Univ. of Louisville (2): Marlon Hairston, Jimmy Ockford

Univ. of Maryland (2): Patrick Mullins, Schillo Tshuma

Univ. of Memphis (1): Mark Sherrod

Michigan State Univ. (1): Kevin Cope

Univ. of New Mexico (1): Kyle Venter

Univ. of Notre Dame (1): Grant van de Casteele

Saint Louis Univ. (1): Adnan Gabeljic

Southern Illinois Univ.-Edwardsville (1): John Berner

Univ. of South Florida (1): Ben Sweat

Stanford Univ. (1): JJ Koval

Wake Forest Univ. (2): Chris Duvall, Jared Watts

Univ. of Washington (1): Taylor Peay

Univ. of Wisconsin (1): A.J. Cochran

Xavier Univ. (1): Nick Hagglund

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