Union pick college goalie Trent first
One of the longest and most storied streaks in MLS came to an unceremonious end Wednesday.
For the first time since 2018, the Philadelphia Union used a SuperDraft pick.
The Union selected two players — High Point goalkeeper Holden Trent with the 28th pick and Union II forward Stefan Stojanovic with the 57th selection, in the second round. The club passed on its third-round selection.
Those are the first picks made under Ernst Tanner, hired in the middle of 2018. He’s traded picks in each of the last four drafts for allocation money or other financial devices, though apparently there were no takers this year.
It’s the Union’s first pick since the fourth round of the 2018 SuperDraft — the unforgettable Matt Danilack of Dartmouth. They last picked in the first round in 2016, taking Josh Yaro, Keegan Rosenberry and Fabian Herbers in the top six picks.
This misnamed 2023 SuperDraft is being held in December 2022 instead of the usual January time to accommodate training camp beginning just over a week into the new year and a late-February start to the season.
Anyway, Trent was the two-time Big South Goalkeeper of the Year. He started his career at West Virginia University, the alma mater of fellow Union draftees Jack Elliott and Ray Gaddis, before returning closer to his native Greensboro, N.C. He landed on the all-conference first team three times and led High Point to its first NCAA tournament win in 2021, blanking the University of North Carolina.
The 23-year-old posted 22 career shutouts, sixth among active Division I keepers at the end of 2022. Over three seasons, he allowed 52 goals in 52 games, with a 31-13-8 record. At 6-2, 165, he’s an exemplary shot-stopper with a physique to be built up.
Stojanovic, 21, was drafted out of the Union II reserve team, since that doesn’t guarantee that the Union own his MLS rights, per MLS’ incomprehensible roster rules. That left Stojanovic, who played two seasons at St. Louis University and one at Georgetown, available.
The Union avoided that by drafting a player who made 16 appearances (seven starts) with a goal and two assists last year. Stojanovic has been in camp with the U.S. Under-20 team.
Also selected were three local collegians. Penn had two players drafted: Midfielder Ben Stitz 31st by D.C. United, and goalkeeper Nick Christoffersen by Montreal at No. 83. A pick later, Villanova’s Lyam MacKinnon was taken by Nashville, the Swiss-born forward the first Wildcat drafted since Chris Bared in 2018.