Canadians Tani Oluwaseyi, O’Vonte Mullings and Mo Omar went in the first round of the MLS SuperDraft on Tuesday.
Oluwaseyi, a forward from St. John’s University, was taken 17th overall by Minnesota United while Mullings, a forward from Florida Gulf Coast University, went 20th to the New York Red Bulls and Omar, a defensive midfielder from Notre Dame, was selected 23rd by the Colorado Rapids.
Expansion Charlotte FC, the league’s 28th team, used the first pick to take Maryland sophomore Ben Bender, the Big Ten Midfielder of the Year in 2021.
Toronto FC traded away its third overall pick on Monday.
CF Montreal, after trading down, took Utah Valley University winger Jojea Kwizera with the 15th overall pick. Vancouver then chose Saint Louis University forward Simon Becher with the 16th pick.
Kwizera, a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo who went to high school in Utah, played two seasons at USU Eastern in Price, Utah, before switching to Utah Valley. He had three goals and eight assists in 14 games last year.
Becher, a first team all-American and Atlantic 10 Conference Offensive Player of the Year, scored 21 goals and added 13 assists in 46 career games for Saint Louis University. He was the fourth member of the Billikens to go in the first round.
Oluwaseyi was the first Canadian taken with former Canadian international Mark Watson, Minnesota’s technical director, calling out his name in the virtual draft.
“He’s been a player we’ve targeted and known about for a while. He’s very gifted athletically and he’s got a ton of upside,” said Minnesota coach Adrian Heath.
The 21-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., has seen limited action since the 2019 season due to the pandemic and knee surgery. But in 2019 as a sophomore, Oluwaseyi became the first Red Storm player since 1996 to win Big East Offensive Player of the Year honours after scoring 11 goals and adding five assists. His 11 goals were the most by a St. John’s player since 2003.
The six-foot-two 170 pounder underwent surgery after dislocating his left kneecap last June while playing for Manhattan SC in USL League Two. He returned to action in the fall, but pulled the plug after two games to give the knee a little more time.
The Red Bulls traded to get Mullings, sending US$75,000 in general allocation money and a second-round pick (43rd overall) to Seattle to get the Toronto native.
Mullings, who led Florida Gulf Coast with seven goals last season, ranks second all-time in FGCU history with 28 goals and 63 points in 57 games.
Named Notre Dame’s co-captain last August, Omar played 69 games for the Fighting Irish, including 55 starts. He started 23 games last season, with four goals and one assist.
Prior to Notre Dame, the six-foot-three Toronto native played at Berkshire School in Massachusetts which also helped produce Toronto FC’s Jacob Shaffelburg and Ifunanyachi Achara. Omar also spent time with the Toronto FC academy, playing for Toronto FC III.
The first five picks of the virtual draft were all members of the Generation Adidas class – collegiate underclassmen signed by the league whose salaries will not count against their team’s salary cap budget.
Recent Canadian Generation Adidas players include Tajon Buchanan (taken ninth in the 2019 draft) and Richie Laryea (seventh, 2016). Both have now left their MLS clubs for Europe with Buchanan at Belgium’s Club Brugge and Laryea at England’s Nottingham Forest.
Bender is the 50th Maryland player taken in the history of the MLS SuperDraft – and the third to go first overall following Maurice Edu (taken by Toronto FC in 2007) and Leo Cullen (1998).
The first-team all-American had seven goals and five assists in 18 games last season for the Terrapins.
FC Cincinnati, which gave up a league-worst 74 goals last season, used the second pick on Indiana junior goalkeeper Roman Celentano. The six-foot-three Hoosier is the first player in Big Ten history to win the conference’s Goalkeeper of the Year award multiple times (2020-21 and 2021).
FC Dallas, with the third overall pick acquired from Toronto, took Saint Louis University freshman winger Isaiah Parker who was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie team in 2021.
Toronto traded the pick Monday in a salary dump that sent veteran forward Dom Dwyer and the draft pick for $50,000 in general allocation money. Dallas promptly bought out Dwyer’s contract and waived him.
Canadian Pat Onstad, the new GM of the Houston Dynamo, took Duke sophomore forward Thor Ulfarsson with the fourth pick. The native of Iceland was the 2021 ACC Offensive Player of the Year with 15 goals.
Austin FC completed the top five by selecting Saint Louis University centre back Kipp Keller, the 2021 Atlantic 10 Conference Defensive Player of the Year.
CF Montreal traded down in a three-way deal with the New York Red Bulls and Chicago Fire.
The trade saw Montreal drop to No. 15 from No. 11 while gaining $100,000 in general allocation money from the Red Bulls. New York then sent the 11th pick and $100,000 in GAM to Chicago, using the Fire’s seventh overall pick to select six-foot-eight defender Matthew Nocita from the U.S. Naval Academy.
The three remaining Generation Adidas players went before the 20th pick: Stanford junior forward Ousseni Bouda (San Jose, eighth), Saint Louis University junior goalkeeper Patrick Schulte (Columbus, 12th) and University of the Pacific freshman defender Eric Centeno (Atlanta, 19th).
Toronto selected St. John’s goalkeeper Luka Gavran in the second round pick (31st overall). The 21-year-old from Hamilton, who stands between six foot five and six foot six, recorded 12 shutouts and posted an 0.57 goals-against average in 20 games last season.
Vancouver used the first of two second-round picks on Clemson midfielder Luis Felipe Fernandez-Salvador (44th overall). Two picks later, Orlando City took Marshall defender Nathan Dossantos, from Oakville, Ont.
The Whitecaps then used the 49th overall pick, obtained earlier in a deal with Nashville, to take Cal State-Northridge midfielder Giovanni Aguilar, a Big West first-team All-Conference selection.
Toronto used its third-round pick (59th overall) to take Canadian forward Reshaun Walkes from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. A native of Brampton, Ont., Walkes had nine goals and sevens assists in 17 games last season.
In the third round, Vancouver took North Carolina Greensboro’s French forward Theo Collomb (72nd overall) and Marshall’s Brazilian midfielder Vitor Dias (85th overall). Collomb is coming off a 15-goal season.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 11, 2022
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.
The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.
The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.
Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.
The final is scheduled for Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
