{"id":19157,"date":"2013-04-24T22:38:23","date_gmt":"2013-04-25T02:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=19157"},"modified":"2013-04-24T22:38:23","modified_gmt":"2013-04-25T02:38:23","slug":"pdl-roundup-phoenixs-french-connection-rams-grow-a-phantom-captain-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=19157","title":{"rendered":"PDL Roundup: Phoenix’s French Connection, Rams Grow, a Phantom Captain & More"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

While the Revolution’s form is\u00a0fizzling at the top of the American soccer pyramid, New England itself is electric at the bottom as more and more Premier Development League clubs prepare to launch in less than a month.<\/p>\n

Announcements vary from major player commitments to clubs –\u00a0including the GPS Portland Phoenix, Boston Rams, and CFC Azul –\u00a0to achievement recognition, as Seacoast United Phantom Ryan Dunn has been named captain of the Boston College Eagles for his final collegiate season.<\/p>\n

The Portland-French Connection<\/b><\/p>\n

Starting in Maine, the Phoenix have remained true to form in adding a number of international players to their roster as they do every year, only now with a larger emphasis on younger prospects.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Last year) we had a number of older players who had experience with pro soccer teams in Europe,\u201d said Phoenix General Manager Alistair Bain in an earlier interview regarding Portland\u2019s preseason goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year, we\u2019ve switched our focus to taking on younger players.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the additions of backfielders Jonathon Lupinelli and Gilbert Manier (both 23), forward Pierre Omanga (24), and defender Clement Bompart (24), Portland\u2019s definitely meeting its youth quota.<\/p>\n

Hailed as a \u201cFrench Connection\u201d on the Phoenix website, of the four internationals, three boast time spent in the French system with Lupinelli playing for Ligue 1\u2019s F.C. Girondins de Bordeaux and Manier with Stade Rennais F.C. while Bompart competed in the lower leagues with clubs such as Narbonne and the Aviron Bayonnais FC reserves (Bayonne B).<\/p>\n

The Herd Grows<\/b><\/p>\n

Moving down I-95 to Easton, Mass., The Re\u00e1l Boston Rams have also added a number of internationals to their ranks for 2013. Among them is English-born Paul Latif, Tokyo native Kento Nakamura, and Cape Verdean Danielson Ferreira.<\/p>\n

Each adds key components to the Rams\u2019 inaugural roster, whether it\u2019s Latif\u2019s versatility as a midfielder\/winger\/forward and experience (veteran of Wallsend Boys Club, Franklin Pierce, and Boston Victory SC), Nakamura\u2019s reliability as a core player who started in all of his matches at Tufts University, or Ferreira\u2019s all-around skills that, according to Boston\u2019s press release, \u201cimpressed not only the Rams coaches and staff but also the Revolution coaches on hand\u201d during his tryout in March.<\/p>\n

Phantom\u2019s Dunn Made Captain<\/b><\/p>\n

Moving back up I-95 to Portsmouth, N.H., big news hit Seacoast United when Boston College announced Phantom vet Ryan Dunn had been made captain of the Boston College\u00a0men’s soccer team\u00a0for his final season.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as soccer goes, it\u2019s a huge honor to have been named captain for my senior year, especially at a program that is sending players to the pros every year,\u201d said Dunn in a Seacoast press release.<\/p>\n

According to the Phantoms, Dunn has been with the program since he was ten and has contributed to the club every year since, including this upcoming PDL season.<\/p>\n

Azul\u2019s Bring Back Five and New Zealander<\/b><\/p>\n

And\u00a0last, but certainly not least, CFC\u00a0Azul\u00a0looks to capitalize on\u00a0the formula that\u00a0put nearly\u00a0earned them a playoff berth\u00a0last season by\u00a0announcing the return of several key players from the 2012 roster, as well as new comer and New Zealand national player, Jonny Raj.<\/p>\n

Raj comes to Azul on the heels of graduating from Fairfield University, where he played as a defender for four years, winning multiple awards and tournaments including the 2012 MAAC regular-season and tournament titles.<\/p>\n

He also has time spent with the Chicago Fire\u2019s PDL U-23 team as a captain in 2011 before moving on to Reading United AC in 2012, the same club Sporting Kansas City\u2019s C.J. Sapong and Vancouver Whitecaps\u2019 Corey Hertzog played for during their time in the system.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, rejoining with Azul defender Pat Boucher (who recommitted earlier this year) are midfielders Paul Templeton, Jesse Menzies, Mario DiMiceli, Sony Narro, and forward Steve Obasi.<\/p>\n

When combined, the five accounted for 8 of the 24 goals Azul scored in 2012 as well as 51 shots.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the start of the PDL season only weeks away, the rosters of New England’s PDL clubs begin to fill out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19157"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19157"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19164,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19157\/revisions\/19164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}