Daniel Wasson Lost for Season; Gbandi, Gilkerson, Woods Ink Contracts with Minnesota Stars
The NSC Stars announced yesterday they have lost stalwart defensive midfielder Daniel Wasson to a torn ACL. Wasson will most likely miss the entire season.
Last season the Ardmore, Oklahoma native played in 28 games logging in 2435 minutes, 3rd highest on the team. He scored 2 goals and had 4 assists. The ball-winner has played for the Colorado Rapids in 2007 where he made 22 appearances with one goal. He then moved to Germany where he played for SV Meppen and VfL Osnabrück II, playing in 32 games for those teams. He joined the Stars in 2010 and immediately became a regular fixture for the team at midfield.
Wasson, who tore his right ACL before he reported to the Stars preseason camp, has been retained by the front office and will assist in several capacities.
“Danny’s injury is very emotional for me… he’s at about the same age I was when I sustained the same injury,” said Stars head coach Manny Lagos. “I’m glad that we’ve worked something out for him for this year to keep him part of the family and around this team as he goes through his recovery process.”
The Stars also announced the signing of 3 new players yesterday, Sandy Gbandi, John Gilkerson and Ryan Woods. Midfielder Gbandi and defender Gilkerson are two veterans of professional D2 soccer who will help to fill in some holes in the Stars roster.
Gbandi is a a 27-year-old Liberian midfielder/defender who was drafted by FC Dallas in the 2007 MLS Supplemental Draft. He played for the Puerto Rico Islanders from 2008-2010, making 76 appearances and scoring 6 goals. He played in 33 matches for the Islanders in 2010 and scored 4 goals with 5 assists.
Gilkerson came to Minnesota via the Carolina RailHawks where he spent the 2010 season. He made 17 appearances for the RailHawks last year and has played in 37 matches for Carolina since joining them in 2009. The 25-year-old defender also spent time with the Richmond Kickers in 2008 when he was on loan from the New York Red Bulls after being picked in the MLS Supplemental Draft. Gilkerson agreed to part ways with RailHawks head coach Martin Rennie at the end of last season after frustrations with “revolving lineups and expanding roster size” that led to a constant shuffling of Carolina’s starting eleven.
Woods comes from Preston, England where he trained in the Blackburn’s Rovers youth system and played for England in the their U-16 team. More recently he played three seasons at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University where he played attacking midfield and scored 12 goals in 16 appearances with the Eagles. Last season Woods played for the FC London PDL team.
The Stars now have 15 players signed with more expected yet this week.
JER# POS NAME
26 M Ely Allen
16 D Kyle Altman
19 F Simone Bracalello
11 D Chris Clements
20 F Brian Cvilikas
15 F Devin Del Do
6 D Kevin Friedland
x M Sandy Gbandi
x D John Gilkerson
17 M Geison Moura
23 M Lucas Rodriguez
13 M Kentaro Takada
1 GK Joe Warren
8 M Daniel Wasson
x M Ryan Woods
Comments are closed.
All good strong players.
Disappointed to hear about Daniel’s injury he is a good hard working center mid who played both directions well.
It has great to see Wasson promoting the Stars with youth soccer teams at the NSC Fieldhouse, and I know he has been active in other team events off the field. He is a great ambassador for the team on and off the pitch.
Sandy Gbandi is very good signing. He is battle tested. He will definitely be missed by some of the PRI supporters. I wish him the best with NS
Gilkerson is a solid player but he has been know to let opposing fans get into his head. When he was with Red Bulls I was grilling him one night. Osorio was screaming at him because he was getting torched by Baltimore’s USL2 guys. He starts glaring at me, so I start letting him have some more. All really tamed stuff about him getting lit up.
When he went to Carolina I didn’t lite him up. I’m not going to front; One of my boys was playing with the Railhawks and I didn’t want to end up at the post match bar or the hotel and have my guy be in an uncomfortable spot.
The guy can play. Hopefully now that he has a new club and a better situation he will have success. Hopefully he has learned to ignore clowns that pay to watch the game who could never even dream of being payed to play the game.