Big Ten teams announce incoming classes

• by Soccer America , Feb 17, 2010

[MEN'S RECRUITING] Michigan State, Penn State and Wisconsin announced their recruiting classes. Other schools to welcome incoming classes: Notre Dame, UCF, UNC Wilmington and Valparaiso ...

MICHIGAN STATE. Josh Barens (Derby County Wolves), Wesley Curtis (Andromeda), Ryan Keener (Derby County Wolves) and Tim Kreutz (Sockers FC Chicago) will join the Spartans this fall. Curtis, who captained Andromeda in 2009, is currently training with the reserve squad for Los Estudiantes de La Plata, a Primera Division club in Argentina.

NOTRE DAME. Notre Dame announced the signing of seven players: forward Leon Brown (Mattapan, Mass.), goalkeeper Adam LaPlaca (Glastonbury, Conn.), defender Luke Mishu (Knoxville, Tenn.), defender Andrew O’Malley (West Chester, Pa.), forward Alex Priede (Cincinnati, Ohio), midfielder Harrison Shipp (Lake Forest, Ill.) and goalkeeper Patrick Wall (Sugarland, Texas).
 
 “This is another excellent group of players for us,” said Irish coach Bobby Clark. “I’ll tell you in three years just how good they are, but we’re very excited with this group of players. We lost a good senior class, but I think this group has the potential to keep the program where it is and maybe hedge it up a little bit further. We’re very excited with this group.”

PENN STATE. The Nittany Lions added Sepp Dasbach (Blue Bell, Pa.), Robbie Edwards (State College, Pa.), and Jordan Tyler (Rochester, Mich.).

UCF. Matheus Saroli, Jose Presti and Sebastian Evers will join UCF in 2010. The trio of athletes from the state of Florida joins two others who enrolled at UCF this spring – Austin Jay Nelson and Christian William Eissele.

UNC WILMINGTON. Seahawks coach Aidan Heaney announced Alex Leonard (Charlotte Soccer Academy), Andy McDaniel (Dallas Texans Houston), Michael Parrish (Dallas Texans Houston) and Calder Street (GFA Elite) will enroll at UNCW in 2010.

“I think we have a wonderful balance in this group of players,” said Heaney, who guided the Seahawks to the Colonial Athletic Association title and the NCAA tournament. “Obviously we have the nucleus of our championship winning team returning, but feel that Alex, Andy, Michael and Calder will all compete to break into our team, and at the least, increase the depth of our team."

VALPARAISO. The Crusaders signed Charles Barden, Ben Burnett, Michael Chwistek and Fabian Urquiza.
 
“This group represents a tremendous boost to our recruiting class for 2010,” said Coach Mike Avery.

WISCONSIN. John Trask, who was named head coach on Jan. 20, announced the addition of the 10 scholarship players: Jacob Gerondale (FC Dallas Juniors), Luke Goodnetter  (FC Milwaukee), Nick Janus (Sockers FC), Max Jentsch (Elm Grove), Nick Lund (St. Croix Red Devils), Chris Prince (Chicago Fire Academy), Blake Succa (PA Classics), Joey Tennyson (Croatian Eagles), Trevor Wheeler (Chicago Fire Academy) and Paul Yonga (Arsenal FC SuperEagles).

"The addition of these young men will provide the backbone of our program for the coming years," Trask said. "I really like this class because I believe that the quality of player and person will fit in nicely with our returning players and give our fans something to be excited about."