Notre Dame's Joseph Lapira, the 2006 Soccer America Player of the Year and Hermann Trophy winner, heads the initial list of 54 players invited to the 2008 adidas MLS Player Combine, which will be held Jan. 11-5 at Lockhart Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

The draft concludes three days before the 2008 MLS SuperDraft to be held on Jan. 18 in Baltimore.

Lapira, born and raised in Louisiana, played for the Ireland national team last spring and had a trial at Scottish club Rangers last summer. He holds an Irish passport -- his mother is Irish-born -- and therefore should attract interest from British clubs.

Four college coaches -- Mike Jeffries, the Duke assistant head coach, Ed Kelly, head coach at Boston College for the past 20 seasons, Bobby Muuss, in his first season as the head coach at Denver after six years as the top assistant coach at Wake Forest, and Tim Lenahan, head coach of Northwestern -- will work with the four teams that will be formed for the combine.

2008 adidas MLS Player Combine

GOALKEEPERS: Dominic Cervi (Tulsa); Brian Edwards (Wake Forest); Andrew Kartunen (Stanford); Casey Latchem (Ohio State); Steve Sandbo (SMU);

DEFENDERS: Scott Bolkan (Stanford); Matthew Britner (Brown); Eric Brunner (Ohio State); Adrian Chevannes (Southern Methodist); Sean Franklin (Cal State Northridge); Matt Hatzke (Santa Clara); David Horst (Old Dominion); Andy Iro (UC Santa Barbara); Julius James (Connecticut); Jonathan Leathers (Furman); Rauwshan McKenzie (Michigan State); Ryan Miller (Notre Dame); Brandon Owens (UCLA); Andre Sherard (North Carolina); Julian Valentin (Wake Forest); Yomby William (Old Dominion); David Worthen (UNC Greensboro); Mike Zaher (UCLA).

MIDFIELDER: Jeremy Barlow (Virginia); Eric Burkholder (Tulsa); Geoff Cameron (Rhode Island); El Hadj Cisse (North Carolina State); Hugh Cronin (North Carolina State); Pavle Dundjer (UIC); Joe Germanese (Duke); Brian Grazier (Saint Louis); Pat Healy (Towson); Andrew Jacobson (California); George Josten (Gonzaga); Stephen King (Maryland); AJ Kulp (Old Dominion); Peter Lowry (Santa Clara); Ryan Maduro (Providence); Pat Phelan (Wake Forest); David Roth (Northwestern); Shea Salinas (Furman); Luke Sassano (California); Ben Shuleva (SMU); Dan Stratford (West Virginia); Michael Videira (Duke); Andy Wright (West Virginia); Cesar Zambrano (UIC);

FORWARDS: Ely Allen (Washington); Xavier Balc (Ohio State); Ryan Cordeiro (Connecticut); Kevin Forrest (Washington); Joseph Lapira (Notre Dame); Sherron Manswell (Boston College); Lukasz Tumicz (Rhode Island)


2008 adidas MLS Player Combine
Boston College
Sherron Manswell (Trinidad & Tobago)

Brown
Matthew Britner (Canada)

California
Andrew Jacobson
Luke Sassano

California State Northridge
Sean Franklin

Connecticut
Julius James (Trinidad & Tobago)
Ryan Cordeiro

Duke
Joe Germanese
Michael Videira

Furman
Jonathan Leathers
Shea Salinas

Gonzaga
George Josten

Maryland
Stephen King

Michigan State
Rauwshan McKenzie

North Carolina State
El Hadj Cisse
Hugh Cronin

North Carolina
Andre Sherard

Northwestern
David Roth

Notre Dame
Ryan Miller
Joseph Lapira

Old Dominion
David Horst
Yomby William (Cameroon)
AJ Kulp

Ohio State
Casey Latchem
Eric Brunner
Xavier Balc

Providence
Ryan Maduro

Rhode Island
Geoff Cameron
Lukasz Tumicz (Poland)

Saint Louis
Brian Grazier

Santa Clara
Matt Hatzke
Peter Lowry

SMU
Ben Shuleva
Steve Sandbo
Adrian Chevannes

Stanford
Andrew Kartunen
Scott Bolkan

Towson
Pat Healy

UCLA
Brandon Owens
Mike Zaher

UC Santa Barbara
Andy Iro (England)

UIC
Pavle Dundjer (Serbia)
Cesar Zambrano

Tulsa
Dominic Cervi
Eric Burkholder

UNC Greensboro
David Worthen

Virginia
Jeremy Barlow

Washington
Ely Allen
Kevin Forrest

Wake Forest
Brian Edwards
Julian Valentin
Pat Phelan

West Virginia
Dan Stratford (England)
Andy Wright (England)