Five underclassmen land GA contracts

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Dec 29, 2011

[MLS SUPERDRAFT] MLS confirmed the signing of five college underclassmen to the 2012 Generation adidas class.

Jamaican Darren Mattocks of Akron, Duke's Andrew Wenger, UC Santa Barbara's Sam Garza and the UCLA duo of Kelyn Rowe and Chandler Hoffman are all expected to be taken early in the SuperDraft, which will be held Jan. 12 in Kansas City (TV: ESPN2, TSN2, RDS2, live, 12 p.m.).

MLS also inked four seniors -- Tony Cascio (Connecticut), Nick DeLeon (Louisville), Luis Silva (UC Santa Barbara) and Casey Townsend (Maryland) -- making all nine signings attacking players.

Mattocks was second in the nation with 21 goals in 2011 after scoring 18 in 2010 as a freshman.

Hoffman led UCLA to the 2011 NCAA Men’s College Cup semifinals with 18 goals, fourth nationally.

Silva, Wenger, a converted defender, and Townsend all scored 17 goals in 2011. Garza had 17 goals and 10 assists in two seasons at UCSB after transferring from Denver. Rowe, the Pac-12 Player of the Year, scored six goals and contributed 10 assists as a sophomore for UCLA.

Cascio, who had five goals and eight assists in 2011, was named to the 2011 All-Big East second team this season after being named to the first team in 2009 and 2010.

DeLeon, son of former NASL star Leroy DeLeon, started every game since joining Louisville in 2009 from UNLV and ranked second on the team in scoring this season with six goals and six assists.