Five Huskies Added To Crossfire Roster
May 14, 2012
REDMOND, Wash. - University of Washington men's soccer is excited to again this year have the opportunity to send five players to participate on the Washington Crossfire's PDL team. The PDL is the top developmental men's league in North America.
"The great majority of our players have professional ambitions," said Huskies coach, Jamie Clark. "The PDL has proven to be an important stepping-stone for top professionals now playing throughout the world."
"We are excited that Andy Thoma, Charlie Ranahan, Ben Fisk, Alex Klein and Nathan Sackeyfio will be part of our program this summer," said Washington Crossfire's Head Coach, Adam Nowland. "I had the opportunity to see them all play with UW this past month. I expect each of them to be big contributors and leaders on the field. They have all come off of a very productive spring season with the Huskies. That environment should serve them well in our league."
"The Crossfire PDL and youth programs have been a great contributor to Husky soccer over the years. We have eight players on our current Husky squad that were part of the Crossfire youth program and a ninth, David Gebert, will be joining us next fall. All three of my captains last year have been involved with Crossfire teams as well as my two captains for the coming fall. Three Husky alums in the MLS, George John, Ellis McLoughlin and Brent Richards were part of Crossfire in their youth careers. Bernie James and Adam do a wonderful job in training and preparing their player for college and the pros."
Washington Crossfire is the only King County team involved in the PDL. Each summer they attract top level college players from all over the country. Besides the current Huskies, former UW stars Nick James, Matt Fisher and Eli Allen will also be donning the Washington Crossfire jersey.
"Though our team colors are red and black it is clear that we have a core of our team that bleeds purple. That is a good thing," said Nowland. "If we were not limited to only be allowed to take five current Washington players by the NCAA I would be thrilled to have a whole team of them."
Washington Crossfire trains and plays their matches at Redmond High School. In addition to league play, PDL teams compete in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup as well as various exhibitions.
"It is great to have such a strong program right in our own backyard where our players have a first class situation to train in the summer," commented Clark. "We have some big ambitions for our team this fall. Knowing that we have five of our players are involved in a program of Crossfire's quality gives us great confidence that they will come back to us well prepared to help us reach our goals."
