Indiana University Athletics
Tudela, Hayden Invited to 2007 MLS Player Combine
11/29/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Nov. 29, 2006
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Senior midfielders Josh Tudela and John Michael Hayden have been selected to participate in the 2007 adidas Major League Soccer (MLS) Player Combine, held at Lockhart Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Jan. 5-8, 2007.
"I am happy that these two young men will have an opportunity to showcase their talents in front of professional coaches," head coach Mike Freitag said. "They've been winners here at Indiana, and both have what it takes to play at the next level."
Tudela was named Big Ten Player of the Year in 2006. After redshirting his first year, he went on to start 83 of the 90 games that he played in for the Hoosiers. Tudela scored 11 goals and tallied 17 assists in his career. A team captain as a senior, he led the team in the midfield, and set up a number of goals several passes before the score. Tudela assisted on the game-winning goal against Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship title game in 2006.
Hayden, a first-team All-Big Ten selection as a senior, scored 13 goals and had 10 assists in his Indiana career. Both of his goals this season came on penalty kicks. One of the biggest goals of his career came in his sophomore season in the 2004 NCAA semifinals against Maryland. Hayden scored off a header with 48 seconds remaining to send Indiana to the championship game.
Tudela and Hayden completed their careers with two NCAA championships (2003 and 2004), two Big Ten Championships (2003 and 2006) and an overall record of 64-14-15.
The initial list of players for this year's combine includes 58 college seniors from 44 Division I schools. The list was determined by a select panel of Division I college coaches representing all conferences who nominated and voted for players in conjunction with MLS coaches. Youth players from the Generation adidas program will join additional collegiate players from NCAA Division II and III schools, NAIA schools and Division I alternates to finalize the 2007 adidas Player Combine. Those players will be announced in the near future.
The players will be separated into four teams and feature doubleheaders at Lockhart Stadium on Jan. 5, 6 and 8. Each team will be coached by one of four college coaches.
Through 10 years of MLS, Indiana has seen 27 players drafted into the league. Last year, Brian Plotkin (Chicago Fire), Jed Zayner (Columbus Crew), Jacob Peterson (Colorado Rapids) and Mike Ambersley (FC Dallas) were all drafted into the league. In 2000, Nick Garcia (Kansas City Wizards) was the No. 2 overall pick, Indiana's highest pick in the history of the draft.
2007 adidas MLS Player Combine List by Position
Goalkeepers (5): Talmon Hall (San Diego State University); Justin Hughes (University of North Carolina); Chris Konopka (Providence College); Phil Marfuggi (Clemson University); Nick Noble (West Virginia University)
Defenders (11): Andrew Boyens (University of New Mexico); Ty Harden (University of Washington); Michael Harrington (University of North Carolina); Kyle Helton (Duke University); Aaron Hohlbein (University of Wisconsin); Zach Kirby (Boston University); Hugh MacDonald (Monmouth University); Nigel Marples (Towson University); Billy Meier (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee); Jay Needham (Southern Methodist University); Steve Purdy (University of California)
Midfielders (19): Rich Asante (Syracuse University); Karim Boukhemis (Marshall University); Bryan Byrne (University of California-Santa Barbara); Alex Cunliffe (Fairfield University); Steven Curfman (Wake Forest University); Greg Dalby (Univeristy of Notre Dame); John DiRaimondo (St. Louis University); Eric Ebert (University of California); John Michael Hayden (Indiana University); Scott Jones (University of North Carolina-Greensboro); Jared Kent (Old Dominion University); Nick LaBrocca (Rutgers University); Justin McGrane (Northern Illinois University); Nate Norman (University of Notre Dame); Ryan Solle (Wake Forest University); Wells Thompson (Wake Forest University); Josh Tudela (Indiana University); Sinisa Ubiparipovic (University of Akron); Chase Wileman (Southern Methodist University)
Forwards (23): Charles Altchek (Harvard University); Gerardo Alvarez (Northwestern University); Corey Ashe (University of North Carolina); Aaron Chandler (University of San Francisco); Adam Christman (University of Virginia); Omar Cummings (The University of Cincinnati); Andrew Daniels (Brown University); Edson Elcock (Old Dominion University); Brad Evans (University of California-Irvine); Robbie Findley (Oregon State University); Jeff Gonsalves (University of Rhode Island); Willy Guadarrama (Campbell University); Ryan Guy (University of San Diego); Chris Loftus (Duke University); Jerson Monteiro (University of Alabama at Birmingham); Frederico Moojen (Clemson University); Simon Omekanda (Penn State University); Riley O'Neill (University of Kentucky); Randi Patterson (University of North Carolina-Greensboro); Dane Richards (Clemson University); Mike Sambursky (University of South Carolina); Jarrod Smith (West Virginia University); Erik Ustruck (Santa Clara University)
