Twenty-one D.C. United academy alumni will be competing for the NCAA College Cup this postseason. These 21 players are split among nine different teams that play in six separate conferences. Among these 21 alumni, there are five players that made all-conference teams, three who scored clinching goals for conference semifinals or finals and one club that can claim them all as former players. Coastal Carolina, Maryland, George Mason, Georgetown, Penn, St. Johns, Virginia, Wake Forrest and William and Mary all have at least one or up to six D.C. United academy alumni playing for them this season.
“We are very proud of our academy alumni,” said D.C. United Director of Youth Development Sonny Silooy. “Our academy coaches, Nolan Sheldon and Tom Torres, along with our Academy Manager Steve Olivarez, have done a very good job implementing the system I introduced and helping these players cultivate their skills and grow into more complete players. We really enjoy seeing players who have been in our system for three or more years succeed on the national stage. Hopefully we’ll see some of them return to D.C. United in the future.”
All of these players have been a part of the MLS D.C. United Academy system that aims to scout, identify, develop and cultivate players with the intention of them playing in top college soccer programs or for D.C. United someday.
Below is a list of the D.C. United academy alums competing in the NCAA Tournament along with the achievements they have garnered. Good luck to all of our alums in the postseason!
Coastal Carolina
Kennedy O’Shea
Maryland
Sulianman Dainkeh
Mikias Eticha
Cody Niedermeier
Michale Sauers—All-ACC Freshman Team and scored the winning goal in OT of the ACC semifinal against Clemson
George Mason
Julio Arjona
Jannik Eckenrode
Ryan Harmouche
Alex Herrera—All A-10 Second Team and scored the winning goal in the A-10 Conference Championship
Ahmed Ismail
Edgar Zepeda
Georgetown
Tyler Rudy
Penn
Nicky Yin
St. Johns
Cody Albrecht
Virginia
Patrick Foss
Kevin McBride
Marcus Salandy-Defour—scored the winning goal in the ACC semifinal against Notre Dame
Wake Forest
Rafael Fagundo
Ian Harkes—All-ACC Freshman Team
Jalen Robinson—All-ACC Second Team
William and Mary
Chris Perez—All-CAA Second Team
