The club got a bit bigger after selecting five players in Tuesday's Supplemental Draft.
The Sounders FC has plenty of players in training camp, but on Tuesday they added five more through the MLS Supplemental Draft.
Just five days after bringing in Eriq Zavaleta from Indiana and Dylan Remick from Brown in the MLS SuperDraft, the Sounders added two midfielders and three forwards through the Supplemental Draft. Those five picks will join the team at various times over the course of the next week, with some waiting until the second phase of training camp in Arizona beginning next Tuesday before taking part in training camp.
Forward Will Bates fell to the Sounders with the fifth pick, a pick they acquired along with allocation money in exchange for defender Jeff Parke last month.
A great scoring presence in his four years at the University of Virginia, Bates netted 46 goals and 10 assists in 77 matches over four seasons for the Cavaliers. While his college numbers were impressive, a knee injury caused him to fall in the order. He will have surgery to repair his meniscus, and is expected to join the team upon his rehabilitation.
“It’s a little bit of a risk, but if that goes well, we feel like we got a good player,” Sounders FC head coach Sigi Schmid said.
Of the five players that were selected, Bates was the only one who did not participate in the Sounders FC Invitational Combine in Las Vegas in December.
Seattle’s second pick in the first round, 16th overall, went to Kevin Durr, a midfielder from the Air Force Academy. In 80 career matches, he tallied 18 goals and 19 assists, including a career-best season as a junior in which he had six goals and 10 assists in 22 matches.
The former U-15 National Teamer is working to postpone his post-graduate service time in order to have the opportunity to earn a spot to play with the Sounders. Growing up in Germany, he played in the youth programs for Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich.
With the 35th overall pick in the second round, the Sounders tabbed University of South Florida midfielder Kevin Olali. The former U.S. U-17 National Teamer had four goals and eight assists in 76 matches with the Bulls.
At 54, Seattle selected South African forward Lebogang Moloto out of Lindsey Wilson College. A three-time NAIA All-American, he finished his college career with 42 goals and 20 assists in 83 appearances, including 11 goals and nine assists as a junior and 16 goals and four assists as a senior.
With their final pick the Sounders picked Jennings Rex, a forward from UNC-Charlotte, with the 73rd overall pick. In four years, he notched 23 goals in 73 appearances with a career-high 11 goals in 20 matches as a senior.
“The Supplemental Draft is always a lot of players in there that teams for various reasons have a feeling might have success or not have success,” Schmid said. “We were happy with the guys we picked. We feel that there’s something there and now we have to bring them in and see how that develops.”
The Sounders finished their second day of training camp on Tuesday, playing 11v11 on a half-field, then 10v10 on a field with goals on the top of each 18-yard box.
They will resume training at Starfire on Wednesday and Thursday before doing fitness testing at the indoor facility at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center on Friday and Saturday.
