The Union University Men’s Soccer team,
coming off its most successful season ever in 1999 with a #1
national ranking for two weeks by College Soccer Weekly and a # 3
seed in the NCCAA National Championship Tournament, has landed
several new high caliber recruits.
Jackson’s very own J.T. Lee, a 5-11
forward, produced 33 goals in 2000 to help lead his JCM High
School squad to a #9 ranking in the State of Tennessee. Lee has
earned several honors including All-District Tournament Team and
All-Tournament at the University School of Jackson Invitational.
Ryan Smith, the 1999 Georgia High
School AA Player of the Year will also be joining the Bulldog
squad. Smith averaged 3.2 goals per game this past season and
holds the Georgia single season scoring record for both the
1998-99 and 1999-00 seasons.
In addition, the Bulldogs will be adding
several highly qualified international players to its side.
Kyle McDirmaide, British Columbia Providential team standout,
is the former team captain of the 1999 goal medal winning BC
Canadian Summer Games team. Two Yugoslavian players will be
joining the squad- striker Kelec Zhivkovic and marking back
Nikola Barjaktarevic. Both young men have played many years
for two of Sebia’s top youth club programs. Kekec recently
finished a season with his club winning the gold cup and Kelec
winning the top scorer honors for the league. In addition, Leandro
Carvalho will be joining the team from Sao Paulo, Brazil. In
1999, Leandro won the golden boot award by scoring 27 goals for
his club.
Rounding out the fall 2000 recruiting class
is Grant Taylor, a 5-7 midfielder from Science Hill High
School who helped guide his team this past season to the Tennessee
State Championship game.
Union will be returning two All TranSouth
and NCCAA All-American players in goalkeeper Jeff Lean and
striker Joe Phiri. Union defense, which finished last
season ranked 9th nationally allowing a very stingy
1.16 goals against average, will be returning sweeper Cesar
Cerdeira, Dave DeLaughter, and Gordon Wilson.
Other key returnees include team captain Scott Marksberry, former
U18 Guatamalan National team player Josue Tuchez, the
"terminator" Daniel Banks, 1999 Canada Games
Gold Medal winner Adrian Yeung, and 1998-99 Olympic
Development Team member Ben Bredow, all of whom will be
called on to make major contributions during this season.
According to Coach White, "given that
we are returning 9 starters from our very powerful 1999 team, I
would say expectations are very high for the up coming
season."
