{"id":8450,"date":"2012-01-12T14:08:27","date_gmt":"2012-01-12T19:08:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=8450"},"modified":"2012-01-12T16:16:24","modified_gmt":"2012-01-12T21:16:24","slug":"take-22-revs-pick-polak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=8450","title":{"rendered":"Take 22: Revs Pick Polak"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

The New England Revolution selected defender Tyler Polak from Creighton with the 22nd overall pick of the 2012 MLS SuperDraft. (Photo Credit: Andy Mead \/ MLSsoccer.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

Seeking to address its defensive shortcomings, the Revolution turned its attention to the rear by selecting Tyler Polak\u00a0with the 22nd overall pick in the SuperDraft.<\/p>\n

Polak, the second Generation adidas player taken by the team (Generation adidas member Kelyn\u00a0Rowe\u00a0being the first)\u00a0on Thursday, is a 19-year-old\u00a0left back from Creighton University who Jay Heaps will rely upon to help patch\u00a0together a\u00a0defense that allowed 58 goals to pour through\u00a0last season.<\/p>\n

The 5-8, 150lb. defender started all 24 of Creighton’s games in 2011. He added a goal and five assist to the Bluejays’\u00a0cause. In his two years at Creighton, the wingback started in all 44 of his games, scored three goals and chipped in with six assists.<\/p>\n

In 2011, Lincoln, Neb. native earned NCSAA All-Midwest First Team honors for the second straight season and picked up Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year in 2010.<\/p>\n

Polak is a left-footed player that gives the Revolution a much-needed true left back. Last year, the Revolution\u00a0primarily\u00a0leaned upon\u00a0Darrius Barnes and\u00a0Chris Tierney – neither of whom are\u00a0pure wingbacks – to\u00a0man the left wing. During last month’s Re-Entry Draft, New England selected Danleigh Borman in Stage 1 to address the left side of the rear. But the former University of Rhode Island midfielder\/defender remains unsigned.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Polak is the second Creighton left back taken by the Revolution in the second round of the\u00a0SuperDraft in the team’s last three drafts. Seth Sinovic was selected 25th overall in 2010, but was waived by the club last March. He went on to sign with Sporting Kansas City and earned a starting spot with the playoff-bound squad.<\/p>\n

With\u00a0a natural left back\u00a0in the fold, the Revolution can turn its attention to the glaring deficiencies up top in\u00a0next week’s supplemental draft.\u00a0With Milton Caraglio gone, and the uncertainty surrounding Rajko Lekic’s contract negotiations, the team’s only true forward\u00a0at the moment\u00a0is Zack Schilawski.<\/p>\n

Like\u00a0fellow Revolution draftee Kelyn Rowe, Polak’s salary will not be counted against the team’s salary cap.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Revolution selected its second Generation adidas player of the afternoon by taking Tyler Polak from Creighton. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8459,"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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[95,9,3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/polakfeaturel.jpg?fit=490%2C240&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8450"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8450"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8473,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8450\/revisions\/8473"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}