SuperDraft Success?
By: Chris | January 13th, 2011
Anthony Ampaipitakwong, or Ampai for short, and Stephen Lenhart are the newest members of the Earthquakes following today’s SuperDraft.
The Quakes decided to trade away their number 15 draft spot and allocation money to Columbus for a player that would be revealed later. Less than an hour later it was announced that the Quakes would be getting forward Lenhart. The Quakes’ 2nd round pick was for midfielder Ampai. Ampai was Akron’s number 10 player this last season as the Zips went on to win the NCAA College Cup.
Ampai played as an attacking midfielder for Akron. He has the ability to hold the ball and distribute well in the final 3rd of the field. His two targets will most likely be Lenhart and Wondo. Lenhart is a tall forward who was unlucky to score more goals than he did with Columbus. After looking at his stats for last year, 6 goals and 2 assists, I was shocked that they weren’t higher. I just assumed that he was their strike man being so tall and commanding in the box. I guess when you’ve got Schelotto and Renteria on your team, goals aren’t necessarily scored solely by the big man.
Here is head coach Frank Yallop discussing the SuperDraft picks today:
Not only were the Quakes looking at the SuperDraft, they are also actively trying to re-sign Khari Stephenson. This article from today’s edition the San Jose Mercury News describes the team’s desire to re-sign Stephenson. Khari came to the Quakes in the middle of 2010 and had 1 assist and 1 goal. He slipped from a starter to a sub towards the end of the season and into the playoffs. His contract was not renewed and he was not protected in the Expansion Draft, but ultimately he was not picked up by Portland or Vancouver. While the Quakes seem fine with moving on from Eduardo, Geovanni and Glen, the team is trying to pick up Stephenson again. Stephenson and Ampai will be fighting with Sam Cronin for that position of attacking midfielder.
General Manager John Doyle had stated his desire to go after a forward to partner with Wondo and a goal keeper to study under Busch. While we may have found our attacker with 24 year old Lenhart, we’re still looking for that 2nd goalie. Doyle and other scouts have been looking in several countries for talent. The second goalie might come from abroad. I’m not sure how signing a player from abroad works, but I think MLS teams have until the end of January to sign players, just like the European clubs. If we can’t find what we need in this transfer window, we’ll have to wait until July and August, and that’s just too far away!
Training camp for the Quakes starts at the end of January. Open tryouts are next week I think. Maybe we’ll find a diamond in the rough from open tryouts?
GO QUAKES!
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