USL PRO Week in Review for 3/4/2011
It’s been another busy week for USL PRO clubs as they prepare their rosters for the opening of the 2011 season. FC New York signed two Englishmen, former Arsenal veteran Paul Shaw and young forward Ben Algar, 21. The Dayton Dutch Lions announced the signing of Mettin Copier, Kolby LaCrone and Englishman Joe Tait. The Wilmington Hammerheads signed two former UNC-Wilmington players, Brock Duckworth and Devan Carroll. They also signed four players who’ve played for the Ventura County Fusion: Dylan Riley, Ivan Becerra, Manny Guzman, and Hakop “Jack” Avesyan.
Veteran John Wilson has returned to the Charleston Battery. But the Battery lost the other half of their deadly 2010 strike force when Lamar Neagle signed with the Seattle Sounders of MLS. His 2010 Battery scoring partner, Tom Heinemann, had earlier signed with the Columbus Crew. The Richmond Kickers announced that defender Henry Kalungi has been called up to the Ugandan national team for their African Cup of Nations qualifier against Guinea Bissau on March 26.
FC New York
The FC New York team announced that former Arsenal man Paul Shaw, 37, will be their captain for the 2011 season. The Englishman began his career with Arsenal in 1991, but spent most of his time with Arsenal on loan to Burnley, Cardiff City and Peterborough United. He made 12 first team appearances for Arsenal, scoring two goals before signing with Millwall in 1997, where he scored 25 goals in 109 matches. The attacking midfielder left Millwall in 2000 and has since played for Sheffield United, Rotherham United, Chesterfield, Oxford United and most recently at Retford United. Shaw also played for Ferencvarosi in Hungary between 2008 and 2010, scoring 21 goals. The Hungarian team is owned by English club Sheffield United.
“Paul had a great foundation growing up in the Arsenal Academy and a fantastic career scoring goals,” said FC New York President Doug Petersen. “He was in New York this summer and will serve as not only a fine captain for the club, but a mentor to our younger players as well as an ambassador.”
FC New York also announced the signing of young forward Ben Algar. The native of Chesterfield, England inked his deal at Copthorne Hotel in Bramall Lane, with Sheffield United dignitaries there in support. The 6’1″ player came up in the Sheffield United system and has played for Chesterfield and Matlock Town. One can see the influence of Sheffield United Executive Director Mike Farnan on the New York club. Farnan was added to the club’s advisory board in late January and both new player signings have a relationship with the English club.
Dayton Dutch Lions
The Dutch Lions added to their already strong Netherlands influence by signing central defender Mettin Copier. The 22-year-old of dual Austrian and Dutch background and has played for Telstar, AZ Alkmaar and FC Oss. Dutch Lions Technical Director Cor van Hoeven feels that Copier is a good fit for his club.”Mettin is a talented young defender, who has spent many years of youth development in the Dutch professional football clubs,” van Hoeven said. “He made his debut at AZ and on the national youth team (under 21) of Austria. Mettin is a great talent that fits into our football culture.”
The Dutch Lions also announced the signings of Kolby LaCrone and Joe Tait. LaCrone, 24, played his college soccer at West Virginia and Marshall University, and played PDL ball for the West Virginia Chaos. The 6′ forward played professionally with the Cleveland City Stars in 2009 and the Pittsburgh Riverhounds in 2010. Tait was the 2010 PDL Defender of the Year, playing for the Baton Rouge Capitals. The Englishman signed a three year contract with the Dutch Lions.
Wilmington Hammerheads
The Hammerheads announced six player signings in the past week. Brock Duckworth and Devan Carroll are both former Seahawks from the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. Duckworth is a 6’1″ Texan who helped the Seahawks to their first ever NCAA tournament appearance in 2009. The 21-year-old also made 27 appearances for the Carolina Dynamo of the PDL in 2009 and 2010. Carroll, 22, is a North Carolina native who scored 10 goals for the Seahawks.
The Hammerheads also added four players who were members of the Ventura County Fusion 2009 PDL National Championship squad. Dylan Riley, a 6’2″ midfielder/defender, played his college ball at Cal State-Northridge and had 40 appearances for the Fusion between 2007 and 2010. Manny Guzman is a 5’9″ midfielder who also played PDL ball for the Bakersfield Brigade and attended Cal State-Bakersfield. Hakop Avesyan, 22, is a midfielder from Armenia who played in 15 contests for the Fusion, scoring twice. Ivan Becerra is a Mexican player from San Luis Potosi. Besides playing for the Fusion, Becerra, 26, has spent time with the Columbus Crew and Portland Timbers since attending UC-Santa Barbara.
“We have a good working relationship with the Fusion, and I believe it will continue to grow. There is a lot of great talent on the West Coast, and the Fusion is helping to bring that talent to Wilmington,” said Hammerheads head coach David Irving.
Charleston Battery
Former Clemson Tiger and South Carolina native John Wilson, 33, has decided to return to the Battery for the 2011 season after contemplating retirement. The veteran defender has appeared in almost 170 matches for the Battery since 1999, while also playing in the MLS for DC United, the New England Revolution and Kansas City Wizards along with the Rochester Rhinos. He was a part of the Battery’s 2010 USL-2 regular season and playoff championships, and won the Supporters Shield with DC United in 2008.
The Battery will be without winger/forward Lamar Neagle in 2011. The Washington native signed with the Seattle Sounders, joining 2010 Battery teammate Tom Heinemann in the MLS. Neagle and Heinemann combined for 22 goals in all competitions for the Battery in 2010, and their absence will certainly leave a void. The Battery were honored by a resolution on March 1 by the Berkeley County Council congratulating the team on its 2010 championship.
Richmond Kickers
Defender Henry Kalungi of the Richmond Kickers has been called up to the Ugandan national team for its Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against Guinea Bissau. Uganda is atop its group with four points, tied with Angola (who made the 2006 World Cup), with Guinea Bissau and Kenya making up the rest of the group.
Kalungi joined the Kickers out of Winthrop University in 2009. The 6’2″ backliner has been in 39 matches for Richmond, following time with PDL clubs the Hampton Roads Piranhas and the Fredericksburg Gunners. Kickers Head Coach Leigh Cowlishaw commented on Kalungi’s selection to his country’s national team.
“We are pleased that Henry’s consistent performances for the Kickers have been recognized,” said Cowlishaw. “Henry is a model professional who has contributed greatly to the team’s success over the last two seasons. It is a dream of players around the world to represent their country and we congratulate Henry on achieving this wonderful honor.”
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“THIS SITE HAS BECOME NOTHING BUT A MOUTHPIECE FOR THE NASL.” -peanut gallery
Where is the peanut gallery, now?
Did I read that right? FC New York’s captain is 37? And he’s a striker? Welp, I’m sold. Get me season tickets.
In a limited role he could be vert effective, Steve. I guess we will have to see but a veteran like that means a lot to a team that will be presumably filled with youngsters.
It looks like a lot of players have come up from the USL’s PDL league to fill out their rosters. Many more NCAA collage eligible players will now get a chance to play at a high level in regional leagues over the summer.
More is better for everybody.
Will really be interested to see how the Hammerheads do this year.
Don’t know how good they’ll be on the field, but really liking that Dayton crest. Simple, clean, traditional looking.
I like these series of updates for both USL and NASL.
I think you missed three signings for Rochester announced on Tuesday; goalkeeper Ryan Kenny, defender Connor Tobin and midfielder Frank Alecsi.
http://www.rhinossoccer.com/news.php?id=1391
I’m wondering how many players the Rhinos and Orlando/Austin will lose to the NASL by opening day.
Hi thesuperrookie,
I’ll bite.
“Gerry has written extensively about the 2010 USSF D2 season for the NASL Fanatic (formerly AC St. Louis Fanatic) and has also contributed to the NASL Fanatic podcasts. … Gerry will be contributing articles primarily in regard to Division II soccer but will also occasionally cover USL PRO soccer as well as PDL.” -BQ’s introduction of Gerry
It seems that the “peanut gallery” died down once Gerry realized (perhaps from the criticisms) that being a staunch NASL advocate wasn’t doing IMS any favors.
P.S. I didn’t even read the article. I only clicked on it because I knew you would post something regarding this. I figured you could use a response, so maybe you’ll quit now.
“It seems that the “peanut gallery” died down once Gerry realized (perhaps from the criticisms) that being a staunch NASL advocate wasn’t doing IMS any favors.”
Not how it happened at all. Our agreement was to cover everything as I have in the past. The first article he posted was something USL related. The next one NASL. There was a lot of bantering too and fro concerning USL and NASL. He wrote a commentary, the only commentary he has written and it was about his believe that it was good that the NASL was moving forward after there provisional status had gotten taken away. In hind site he was correct.
I used to do a similar thing to what Gerry is doing with this week in review for the old USL and it took most of my whole Sunday. This is a very, very time consuming project to gather all the player movement from the week and put it together in this form. I for one am very grateful and yes, sedlie, maybe SR will quit with that now.
BQ, perhaps I should have phrased it this way. The “peanut gallery” seemed to die down once Gerry took the time to write an article about the USL that made sense. The first one that he wrote did not fully explain the playoff format. (It never stated who plays against the division winners in the first round match-up. Pretty important information in an article explaining the playoff format.) So going from an introduction of: NASL fanatic, primarily cover D2, etc. To a poorly written USL article. To an NASL article. Then an NASL commentary. You can see why there was all of the suspicion. Luckily he seems to have turned it around, which coincided with the critics backing off, and thesuperrookie spouting off.
But who cares? The Timbers spanked the flounders last night! Ha ha!