January 16, 2003

New England Revolution Web Site

CLINT DEMPSEY SELECTED BY NEW ENGLAND AT NO. 8

GREENVILLE -- Furman men's soccer standout Clint Dempsey was selected by the New England Revolution as the eighth pick in the first round of the 2004 Major League Soccer Super Draft on Friday.

Dempsey's first round selection marks the second consecutive year that a member of Furman's highly successful men's soccer program has been a first round pick in the MLS Draft. Last year, Ricardo Clark was the second overall pick by the MetroStars and went on to have an excellent rookie campaign in which he was one of three finalists for MLS Rookie of the Year.

Fourteen-year-old Freddie Adu was the first overall pick to D.C. United, followed by Stanford's Chad Marshall, Coastal Carolina's Joseph Ngwenya, UCLA's Matt Taylor, Santa Clara's Ryan Cochrane, SMUs Ramon Nunez, and Maryland's Clarence Goodson. Following Dempsey, Scott Buete of Maryland and Steve Cronin of Santa Clara rounded out the first round.

"Clint is an excellent soccer player and has been an asset to the program over the past three years," said Furman head coach Doug Allison. "We wish him the best as he continues his soccer career at the next level."

Dempsey spent three seasons at Furman before announcing last week that he would forego his final season of eligibility at Furman to play professional soccer. Clark signed a contract with Major League Soccer (MLS) as part of MLS' Project-40 program.

Dempsey, from Nacogdoches, Texas, scored 17 goals and recorded 19 assists for 53 points in his career at midfield and forward. He was selected to the NSCAA Second Team All-America squad in 2002 and was an All-Southern Conference selection all three years at Furman. He was also a two-time NSCAA All-South region choice.

Dempsey is also a member of the United States Under-20 National team.

"I had a great experience and learned a lot at Furman University over the last two and a half years," said Dempsey after announcing his decision to leave school. "I am looking forward to moving on to the next level of soccer, but I will certainly miss my teammates and this school."

"The kid¹s versatile. He's a horse, he's a monster," said Revolution Head Coach Steve Nicol. "Because he's versatile, early on in his career we might, you know what we do, we just chuck people in - and that might help him get time to begin with. And then we find out through training and everything else where his fit is."

"It's real exciting. I just hope I can in the mix, get some playing time. I'm looking forward to preseason, looking forward to meeting all the guys and learning from them," Dempsey said.

Members of the Project-40 team train together and travel overseas together to compete and train. It's members are each on a respective Major League Soccer team's roster and are full members of those teams. Another benefit of the Project-40 program, geared towards underclassmen who turn pro before graduation and high school seniors who elect not to go to college, is that MLS will pay tuition costs for those players who desire to complete their college education. Each of the first five players selected in the draft were Project-40 members.