[AMERICANS ABROAD] Chris Wright, the former MPSF Player of the Year at the University of New Mexico, has signed a contract with Energie Cottbus of the German Second Division. Wright, a 2009 finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship, will likely spend the rest of the season playing with Cottbus' under-23s, who play in the Oberliga Nord.

The 6-foot-5 Wright played in all five of the Lobos' NCAA Tournament games in their run to the Men's College Cup final as a freshman in 2005 and he led the MPSF in scoring with 12 goals and 28 points as a junior in 2007.

He previously trained with Atletico Paranaense in Curitiba, Brazil, and spent time with the Cape Cod Crusaders of the PDL and Sonoma County Sol of the NPSL.

He traveled to Colorado Springs in November with other finalists for an interview with the Rhodes Scholarship selection committee. The applicant group included two archaeologists, a singer-songwriter, a political aficionado and a student who will be putting a satellite into space in May.

"I'm very thankful," said Wright. "It's obviously hard to lose, but it was certainly an incredible learning experience. I was able to meet a group of fantastic individuals -- not only my fellow candidates, but also the committee members themselves."

Army senior Elizabeth Betterbed, a four-year member of the Black Knights' soccer program, was one of 32 Americans who were awarded 2009 Rhodes Scholarships and will leave next school year for Oxford University in England.