Supplemental Draft Plucks Six Locals

Five College Standouts and One Crusader Get Call

January 26, 2008

By Nick Williams

Thursday's MLS Supplemental Draft brought six players with local ties one step closer to playing for Major League Soccer. Five players from local colleges, including two from the University of Rhode Island, and one Cape Cod Crusader were selected in the four-round teleconference draft designed to flush out each team's developmental roster.

URI striker Lukasz Tumicz was one of six players with local ties selected in Thursday's MLS Supplemental Draft. (Photo source: URI Athletics)

The New York Red Bulls picked URI midfielder Danleigh Borman in the first round (7th overall) then used their last pick (49th overall) to select Laurent Manuel, a defender/midfielder out of Brown. Borman's teammate at URI, forward Lukasz Tumicz, was picked up by Columbus in the third round (34th overall). DC United plucked Cape Cod Crusader midfielder Dan Stratford in the second round then used their four-round choice (52nd overall) on Franklin Pierce goalkeeper James Thorpe. Another local, Hartford midfielder Daniel Antunez, went to Colorado in the third round (33rd overall).

For the Revolution's four picks, including Mass. native Chris Tierney, please click here.

Borman was a Atlantic-10 Second Team selection this season at URI. The midfielder scored seven goals and notched 16 assits in his four-year career with the Rams. Manuel, New York's other pick along with Borman, anchored a Brown team that notched seven shutouts in the 2007 season.

Borman's college teammate, the much-heralded Tumicz, was invited to the MLS Combine, but did not get selected in the SuperDraft. Tumicz made the Atlantic-10 First Team and the NSCAA Mid-Atlantic region First Team. He recorded 31 goals and 24 assists at URI, his 86 points ranking 8th all-time at the school.

Stratford played his college soccer at West Virginia and played one season for the Crusaders last summer. The English midfielder had four goals and 6 assists in 16 games with Cape Cod and was an attractive gamble for DC United, which also took a chance on Division II Player of the Year Thorpe, who led Franklin Pierce to its first-ever National Championship this fall.

Thorpe earned Most Outstanding Defensive Player honors at the NCAA Division II Final Four after he held all opponents scoreless in 200 minutes of action. He led the Northeast-10 during his senior season with 12 shutouts, while his 0.63 goals-against average ranked second (10th nationally) and his .786 save percentage ranked fourth. The East Longmeadow, Mass. native was the only three-time All-American selection in Ravens' history.

Antunez, the Rapid's third-round pick, started all 17 games at midfielder for Hartford this season, scoring three goals with four assists for the Hawks.

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