PHILADELPHIA – The New England Revolution selected three players in today’s 2014 MLS SuperDraft, including fourth overall pick Steve Neumann out of Georgetown and 11th overall selection Patrick Mullins from Maryland. Both first-round picks were acquired following trades that enabled the Revs to move up in the draft order.
In the first two rounds of the 2014 MLS SuperDraft, the team added:
- M/F Steve Neumann (Georgetown) – first round, fourth overall
- F Patrick Mullins (Maryland) – first round, 11th overall
- M Alec Sundly (California) – second round, 31st overall
New England acquired the fourth overall pick and allocation money from the Columbus Crew on Monday, Jan.13, in exchange for the rights to defender Michael Parkhurst. In addition to the pre-draft trade, the Revolution acquired the 11th overall pick from Colorado earlier today, sending the Rapids its 12th and 19th picks in return.
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, 22, 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, 21, 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.
Sundly, 21, started 20 of Cal’s 21 games in 2013 as a defensive midfielder, and finished the season ranked second on the Bears with 20 points (nine goals, two assists). In his career, the team captain appeared in 73 games (55 starts) while scoring 13 goals and adding three assists. He was a second-team all-conference performer as a senior this year.
“In second round with Alec (Sundly), we feel like we had a little bit of a steal there,” Burns said. “He wasn’t at the MLS Combine, which probably hurt him a little bit, but we’ve seen him play and heard a lot of good things about him, so we’re looking forward to getting him into camp, too.”
