RECENT STORIES

Around the house: Tune your furnace for winter ( John Ward )
Police Blotter: Juveniles Trespass to Smoke Mariju ( YourHub.com )
Support Breast Cancer Network of Strength ( Jane Dvorak APR )
Bringing the Spirit of Giving to Life ( Megan Anderson )
Colorado dads unite to end domestic violence ( Be There for Your Kids )

share a story | more postings »

YourHub.com \\ Commerce City \\ Stories \\ Sports \\ Professional

Rapids take four in MLS draft

e-mail to a friend | print this | link to this

Contributed by: Colorado Rapids on 1/21/2008

BALTIMORE, MD. (Friday, January 18, 2008) - The Colorado Rapids added four new names to the club's roster today during the 2008 MLS SuperDraft in Baltimore including midfielder Ciaran O'Brien with the fifth overall selection.

O'Brien, a Generation adidas player from the University of California-Santa Barbara, was a NSCAA All-American Third Team member in 2007 after registering seven goals and 11 assists in 21 games. The most widely recruited transfer player in the nation in 2006, he came to UCSB after a very successful freshman campaign at the University of San Diego. As a member of FC United from 2002-07 he amassed 70 goals and 59 assists during his six years with the club, leading them to a regional championship and a national title match in 2004.

"I am very excited about joining the Rapids and look forward to joining my new teammates in Colorado," said O'Brien, who totaled 13 goals and 15 assists in only 40 collegiate games. "I felt it was right time for me to enter the draft and Generation adidas offers me an excellent opportunity to not only continue to education, but develop as a player professionally."

The Rapids' next selection came in the third round when the team chose defender Adrian Chevannes with the 36th overall pick. Chevannes earned All-Conference USA First Team honors last season at Southern Methodist University. In three seasons at SMU and one year at Clemson, he recorded 13 goals and 10 assists in 74 games played.

The Rapids made their final two picks in the fourth round, 47th and 49th overall, on a pair of midfielders, Brian Grazier and Scott Campbell, respectively. An All-Conference USA Second Team and Conference USA All-Freshman Team member in 2003, Grazier finished his career at St. Louis University with one goal and seven assists in 72 games from 2003-07. He also was a member of the U.S. U-17 National Team that participated in the U-17 World Cup in Finland in 2003. Campbell appeared in 61 games for the University of North Carolina from 2005-07, scoring 15 goals and adding 13 assists. In his first year for the Tarheels, he earned Freshman All-American and ACC All-Rookie Team honors.

"We felt that with our draft picks today we added some players that will be able to contribute to our team," said head coach Fernando Clavijo. "Remembering we have had the best Reserve team in the MLS over the last two seasons, we had a lot of young talent that these new players with have to compete with in our locker room."

All SuperDraft selection are expected to report to Colorado later this month for preseason training. The Rapids open their season on Saturday, March 29 when they host the Los Angeles Galaxy at Dick's Sporting Goods Park at 7:30 pm MT. Season tickets are available by calling the Rapids at (303) 825-GOAL or online at www.coloradorapids.com.

[Report this as objectionable content.]

SUBMIT COMMENT

Rate the above story

Talk Back : submit comments to the story

*Note: you need to log-in to add a comment or rating.

Thank you! Your comment has been updated.

CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

John Eisel

Denver , COLORADO

John Eisel has posted 2865 stories and 12 comments since joining on 9/14/2005. John Eisel's average story rating is 4.39.

view profile » view other postings from John Eisel »

SAVE AND SHARE THIS STORY

digg	Google
del.icio.us	Yahoo!
reddit	newsvine

What is this?

STORY RSS FEEDS

All stories

All stories in Commerce City

All stories by John Eisel

WANT TO WRITE FOR YOURHUB.COM?

Want to see the stories you write and the photos you shoot featured in the YourHub.com Thursday print section available all over the Front Range and with home subscriptions of the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post? All you have to do is register, then post a story or column, start a blog or tell everyone what events are happening in town. We will print the best stories, columns, event listings, photos and blog entries in our print sections.

Loading Ad