Lapira heads adidas MLS Combine invitees
- by Soccer America , Dec 13, 2007
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)