MLS Fantasy Manager: Week 1

Running a blog and going to school full time don't always work out perfectly, as evident by the recent decline in articles. I have finals this week and then a week of relaxation and hopefully catching up on soccer! Although I was unable to write about MLS First Kick or any of my prematch predictions, I was able to find the time to pick an MLS Fantasy Team, and I will be doing a weekly recap of that team if time permits.

Week 1 Roster:

I wanted to draft some of my favorite players, while still diversifying my roster and remaining under the salary cap limit. I picked up Chris Pontius, Chris Wondolowski, and Sam Garza to fill the 3 forward spots. I felt Wondolowski and Pontius will put up consistent numbers, and wanted Garza because of his low Salary and Big West affiliation.

San Jose Continue Undefeated Record at Cal Poly

(credit Gopoly.com)

Although originally forecasted to be a sunny seventy degree day, the Central Coast Showcase ended up having a more, "European" feel, due to a light mist and fog that were present for the entirety of the game. The match was played on Friday, February 10th, at Alex G. Spanos Stadium. The San Jose Earthquakes took on the Colorado Rapids for the second consecutive year at Cal Poly, with 2,422 fans in attendance.

Colorado opened the scoreline in the 13th minute after Omar Cummings was played a high long ball to a streaking Castrillón. Castrillón controlled the ball out of the air, positioned himself with two touches, and easily slotted home a goal in a 1-on-1 situation with the keeper. San Jose maintained a majority of control during the first half, and capitalized off of a corner kick from Marvin Chavez. Khari Stephenson got his head onto the end of it and redirected the cross into the goal. The first half ended with both teams level at 1.

2012 Supplemental Draft: Success for Big West Conference

After the Big West conference saw two alumni picked fourth and sixth overall in the 2012 MLS Super Draft, many Big West Soccer fans were excited to see how the draft would play out.  However, Jacob Hustedt  (who played 3 years at Cal Poly before transferring to Washington)  was the only other player drafted with any Big West affiliation. The Super Draft concluded with Creighton and Louisville tied with 4 draftees apiece, double that of the Big West conference. With the Super Draft finished, the hopes of remaining players rested on the Supplemental Draft.


This year's Supplemental Draft consisted of 4 rounds for a total of 76 picks, and followed the format of the Super Draft. Teams aren't limited to combine players during the draft, and have the option to draft eligible college players during this time as well. This is what makes the Supplemental Draft more interesting to some, its unpredictability.

SuperDraft Aftermath

As expected, Andrew Wenger (Duke) and Darren Mattocks (Akron) were the first two draft picks. Chandler Hoffmann was allowed to slip all the way to the thirteenth round, which was a bit of a surprise (link to full draft is posted below).


UCSB teammates Luis Silva and Sam Garza were selected in the first round of the draft. Their excellent combine performances explain why they were picked so much earlier than originally projected. Silva was picked 4th overall by Toronto FC, and Garza was selected 6th by San Jose. These players bring great speed, vision, and skill with them, and Big West Soccer fans can take pride watching them continue to develop.


The LA Galaxy picked up a defender and a midfielder,  selecting Tommy Meyer (Indiana) in the nineteenth round and Kenney Walker (Louisville) in the 38th. This will help to rebuild their roster after failing to sign Juninho and losing Omar Gonzales due to injury.


The Supplemental draft is the last step for the remaining combine players, and international players like Jason Banton and Kohei Yamada will most likely be selected during this process. Big West players like Patrick Sigler and James Kiffe still have a chance for selection during this draft, and hopefully the conference will be able to boast a few more professionals after the Supplemental draft has taken place.


Super Draft results courtesy of mlssoccer.com


http://www.mlssoccer.com/superdraft/2012/roundbyround

2012 Draft Predictions and Wish-List

After the MLS combine concluded earlier this week, I took a break to re-watch some of the highlights, and digest some of the talk around the league about various players. With just over an hour remaining before the draft, I felt now would be a good time to issue my final thoughts and wish-list for the 2012 Major League Soccer Draft.

Combine Time

This is something that soccer starved MLS fans can look forward to during the offseason, the Combine. It is a great opportunity for fans to get a look at young players, and to correspond with MLS personalities. The combine will consist of 6 games this year, starting on Friday with two games. The MLS seems to be giving a good deal of coverage to the combine this year, so it will be exciting to see how things turn out.

Combine Preview

The combine, for those of you who may not know, is mainly composed of college seniors who have promising talent. They are invited to a camp, placed on teams, and then play a few games for MLS scouts to watch. Patrick Sigler, Cal Poly SLO, has received  an invite, and I wish him the best of luck. I would love to see SLO produce some MLS quality players in the near future. Gauchos Sam Garza and Luis Silva of UCSB look like definite picks for the draft, but Sigler is more of a question mark. He's had some good performances this season but doesn't have the same name recognition that his conference rivals possess. Sigler does have one thing that scouts won't have trouble recognizing, his size.

Best of luck to all the boys going in from the Big West (even those dirty gauchos). It was fun seeing Boxal's familiar face on tv this past MLS season, and I smile a little bigger when Sean Franklin (CSUN) scores. Hopefully Big West Soccer continues to produce great talent and has an even better showing at the combine this year.

Cheers!