Five new players joined the Sounders FC roster Tuesday, two days before the start of preseason training.
Four came in the MLS Supplemental Draft, and the fifth came an afternoon trade with Real Salt Lake for a player RSL had selected earlier in the day: Andy Rose, a midfielder from UCLA, who was taken sixth overall.
The Sounders’ own draft selections were 33rd pick Tim Pontius, a defender from UC Santa Barbara; 34th pick Jason Banton, a midfielder from Tottenham, England; 53rd pick Abdul Aman, a forward from the University of Washington; and 72nd pick Wes Feighner, a defender from Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo.
“I think we have a good balance with two defenders, two midfielders, and a forward,” Sounders technical director Chris Henderson said in a release. “We were happy to do the trade to get Andy Rose. All of these players are going to have to fight to make the roster. We have a deep team.”
The Sounders received Rose in exchange for the rights to defender Leone Cruz, who was taken with the 21st overall pick in the 2011 MLS SuperDraft.
Some background on each player, provided by the club:
• Rose, 21, played four seasons at UCLA. A native of England, the holding (defensive) midfielder was named to the all-conference first team in 2010 (Pacific-10) and 2011 (Pac-12). He started all 24 appearances as a senior and started 73 of 81 appearances in his college career, scoring five goals and adding 11 assists.
• Pontius, 22, played four seasons at UCSB, making 34 starts in his 72 appearances. He was named to the all-Big West team as a senior, when he started a career-high 20 games and scored three goals and one assist. Pontius is the younger brother of D.C. United forward Chris Pontius.
• Banton, 19, played for England at the U-17 level and made his professional debut with League Two side Burton Albion in October 2011. He played in the youth systems of Arsenal, Blackburn Rovers and Liverpool before signing with Leicester City in July 2011.
• Aman, 22, played one season for the Huskies, starting six of his 14 appearances and notching two game-winning goals. Before joining UW, Aman played the 2009 season at Whatcom Community College and was named the NWAACC North MVP after leading the league with 27 goals. The graduate of Roosevelt High spent the 2008 season at Clarke University in Dubuque, Iowa, where he started 15 of 17 appearances, recording 12 goals and five assists.
• Feighner, 21, made 69 appearances for Cal Poly during his four-year career. He was a second-team all-Big West defender as a senior as he led the Mustangs to a 0.90 goals-against average with seven shutouts. Feighner was part of the U-17 national team in 2007.
ADDED TIME
The Sounders begin training camp Thursday. However, winter storm warnings caused the club to switch its Thursday, Friday and Saturday training sessions from Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila to the Seahawks’ training facility in Renton, which includes an indoor field. ... The club is still arranging its preseason game schedule. The club hopes to secure home-and-away games with a Mexican club as part of their preparations for their CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal series against Santos Laguna. If a Mexican club visits for a preseason match, that could be designated as this season’s Community Shield charity game. However, there are no plans for a Cascadia Summit round-robin of games with Vancouver and Portland this preseason as there was last spring.
Don Ruiz, 253-597-8808 don.ruiz@thenewstribune.com twitter/donruiztnt blog.thenewstribune.com/soccer
