Lawrence Olum Signs 2-Year Contract with Austin Aztex

Photo By Jeremy Olson - www.digitalgopher.net

Another former Minnesota Thunder player rostered in 2009, has moved on. Lawrence Olum, who came to Minnesota via the Portland Timbers, has signed a 2-year deal with the Austin Aztex. Former MN Thunder general manager Djorn Buchholz, who is now the CEO at Austin, has been working on signing Olum for several months. The deal was announced via the Aztex website on Friday.

“We are delighted to have signed Lawrence, especially considering the competition we had for his signature,” said Aztex head coach Adrian Heath.  “He will be a great addition to the squad.  After playing against him last season, we were very impressed with what he can do on the pitch to help his team.”

Olum started slowly for the Thunder last season but ended the season as one of the best midfielders in the league. He was named to the USL All-League Second Team squad. The central midfielder was not afraid to get his hands messy and do the dirty work of winning balls. But the former St. Louis Lions PDL player was also good at holding the ball and starting attacks.

The Nairobi, Kenya native logged in with the 3rd highest amount of minutes played for the team behind Jeremiah Bass and Nic Platter. He became an important part of the midfield almost from day one and ended the season with 5 goals and 3 assists for 13 pts. Olum was the fourth highest Thunder player for points in 2009, following closely behind veterans Ricardo Sanchez (22 pts), Melvin Tarley (17 pts) and rookie Marco Terminesi (16 pts).

It was previously announced that Minnesota has lost several other key players to their roster: Midfielder Ricard Sanchez signed with the Vancouver Whitecaps and defender/midfielder Quavas Kirk inked a contract with the Portland Timbers.