For the third consecutive year the New England Revolution has to be celebrating another terrific MLS SuperDraft.
In 2012 the Revs picked Kelyn Rowe with the third pick overall and last year they moved up to take Andrew Farrell with the first pick overall.
Entering the draft today, New England had three picks in the first round and were expected to pick striker Patrick Mullins with their first pick, fourth overall.
But the Revs surprised many observers and took M/F Steve Neumann out of Georgetown who was ranked in the top six.
Surprisingly Mullins slipped down the draft board and Revs GM Mike Burns traded up with the Colorado Rapids to get Mullins, a forward who was ranked as one of the best four players in the draft. So overall New England picked up two of the betsy six players in the draft. Very Belichick of them!
In the second round New England added midfielder Alec Sundly. While Neumann and Mullins signed contracts with the league prior to the SuperDraft and have been automatically added to New England’s roster, Sundly will come into preseason unsigned.
“Coming into this draft, we were looking to strengthen a couple areas, with the attacking third being our primary focus,” General Manager Michael Burns said. “We feel pretty good about coming out of today with both Steve (Neumann) and Patrick (Mullins). We’re looking forward to getting them both in to camp next week, and then seeing how they adjust to MLS and our group.”
“Every team prepares their draft boards and when we looked at ours, I don’t think we envisioned both Steve and Patrick being available to us when we just held the number 12 pick. But when they ended up being available, we thought it was too good of an opportunity to pass up and drafted them,” Burns said.
Neumann earned 2013 BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year honors and capped his four-year career following a pair of NSCAA All-America honors as four all-conference selections, as well as a 2012 Hermann Trophy finalist nod. He scored 41 career goals and added 34 assists in 86 appearances (67 starts) for the Hoyas, spanning four seasons. He scored at least 10 goals in each of his four years at Georgetown.
Mullins is the two-time defending MAC Hermann Trophy winner, garnering national player of the year honors in both 2012 and 2013. In 92 career matches at Maryland, he scored 47 goals and added 35 assists and helped lead the Terrapins to the NCAA College Cup in both 2012 and 2013, finishing as semifinalist in 2012 and the runner-up in 2013. Mullins was a two-time first-team All-ACC performer and a two-time All-ACC Championship Most Valuable Player.
Both Mullins and Neumannn should be on the Revs opening day roster, while Sundly has an outside chance of making the team as a utility player in midfield.
