Dec. 1, 2006
Santa Clara, Calif. - Senior Erik Ustruck has been invited to participate in the Major League Soccer Player Combine that will be held from Jan. 5 - 8, 2007 at Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Following an impressive career at Santa Clara, Ustruck will play four days of games along with 57 other Division I players in front of coaches and general managers from all 13 MLS teams. The 2007 MLS SuperDraft will then be held on Friday, Jan. 12 in Indianapolis, Ind.
"Erik had a great four years for us at Santa Clara," said Broncos head coach Cameron Rast. "Being invited to the combine is recognition of his hard work and his ability to possibly play at the next level. We hope that he shows well at the combine and earns the interest of some teams so that he can get a chance in MLS."
Ustruck wrapped up a stellar four-year career in 2006 by helping lead the Broncos to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament. The Saint Louis, Mo. native started every game of his senior year and scored one goal and notched three assists. His goal was an important one as he scored in the second round of the NCAA's against Washington to help SCU to a 3-2 overtime win. For his career, Ustruck appeared in 81 games and scored eight goals and had six assists.
He helped lead the Broncos to four NCAA Tournament appearances and two West Coast Conference titles. He twice earned All-WCC honors, being named All-WCC Second Team in 2003 and 2006.
Last season, two Broncos were selected in the MLS SuperDraft and MLS Supplemental Draft. Mehdi Ballouchy was picked second overall by Real Salt Lake in the SuperDraft and went on to be a finalist for MLS Rookie of the Year in 2006, while Hector Guzman was selected in the Supplemental Draft by the Houston Dynamo. Former Santa Clara All-American Ryan Cochrane recently helped the Dynamo win the MLS Cup championship. He just completed his third season in MLS.
The 2007 adidas MLS Player Combine will see the players divided into four separate teams, which will play doubleheaders at Lockhart Stadium on Jan. 5, 6 and 8. John Trask (University of Illinois at Chicago), John Rennie (Duke University), Mike Noonan (Brown University) and Greg Andrulis (George Mason University) will coach the four teams. MLS coaching staffs and general managers from all 13 MLS teams will be on hand to scout players for the 2007 MLS SuperDraft, which will take place in Indianapolis on Jan. 12. The SuperDraft is held in conjunction with the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Convention.
The 58 players named were selected by a panel of Division I coaches representing all NCAA conferences. The college coaches nominated and voted for players in conjunction with their counterparts from MLS.
