Taylor Twellman Retires

November 3rd, 2010

Taylor Twellman has announced that he is ending his career with the New England Revolution because of ongoing medical issues relating to a concussion he suffered over two years ago.

The 2005 league MVP had made just two substitute appearances in 2009 and none in 2010. His last game for the Revs, and the last of his 101 Revolution goals came in a 4-0 win over the New York Red Bulls on June 7, 2009 when he scored two second-half goals seven minutes apart.

Taylor Twellman

Twellman ends his playing career as the club's all-time leader in a number of categories, including goals (101), game-winning goals (28), hat-tricks (3), multiple-goal games (16) and goals per game average (0.58).

He is the only player in MLS history to reach the 100-goal mark with a single team and is one of three Revs players who started all four of the Revolution's MLS Cup appearances.

“There are very, very few players like Taylor,” said Revolution head coach Steve Nicol in a statement. “There was no better center forward or pure goal scorer in our league, and there was no better guy you wanted in the locker room. It's been a pleasure to come to work every day for the last nine years and know Taylor was ours – on our squad – fighting for the Revolution. It's very disappointing that he is no longer able to play, but we know he'll continue to have as significant an impact on our sport off the field as he did on it.”

Twellman began his MLS career in 2002 after the Revolution drafted him second overall in that year's SuperDraft. Prior to MLS, he had played collegiately for two seasons at the University of Maryland and for two more seasons with TSV 1860 Munich in Germany where he made a few dozen appearances in the reserves.

His first MLS start on April 20, 2002 saw him score the game-winning goal in a 2-0 win over the Columbus Crew, and by the end of the 2002 season, his 23 goals and six assists had led the previously inept Revs all the way to the MLS Cup Final. The local team lost 1-0 to the LA Galaxy at Gillette Stadium in what would be the first of four losing appearances Twellman would make in the league's showcase event.

On the international level, Twellman never quite made the impact that his league accomplishments suggested he should. He earned 30 caps with the U.S. Men's National Team between 2002 and 2008 but he only managed to score six goals in that time, and three of those came in a single game against Norway on January 29, 2006. He was never picked for a World Cup squad, though he was named and alternate to the 2006 team.

The beginning of the end came on August 30th, 2008 in a game against the LA Galaxy. A left wing cross from Khano Smith caused Twellman to hurl himself at the ball just as Galaxy keeper Steve Cronin came off his line to punch clear. Though Twellman reached the ball first and managed to score on the play, the force of the collision led to ongoing medical issues which hampered the 30-year-old throughout the final two years of his career.

The Revolution will officially honor Twellman at a designated home game during the 2011 season. The precise date of that game will be announced when the 2011 schedule is finalized.