PORTLAND, Ore.
– United Soccer Leagues today announced that Portland Timbers U-23s forward
Brent Richards
and midfielder
Freddie Braun
were selected to the all-league team for the Premier Development League.
Voted on by team management from around the league, the 2010 All-PDL Team highlights the top 11 players in the league; nearly 2,000 players competed among the league’s 67 clubs this season.
The Western Conference-champion Timbers U-23s play host to the 2010 PDL Championship on Friday and Saturday at PGE Park. They enter the league’s championship tournament as the No. 1 seed and aim to become the first team in the PDL’s 15-year history to finish as undefeated champions. Portland faces Reading United AC in the semifinals Friday at 7:30 p.m. at PGE Park. Tickets for the semifinal doubleheader are $10 and go on sale Wednesday at 10 a.m. through the PGE Park box office, area Ticketmaster outlets, online at www.ticketmaster.com or by phone at (800) 745-3000.
Richards and Braun each earned their first-career All-PDL Team selections, helping the Timbers U-23s record the first perfect 16-0-0 regular-season record in the PDL since 1998. The pair finished the regular season as the two leading scorers for the Timbers U-23s, who scored a league-high 53 goals during the campaign.
Richards, 20, finished the regular season among league leaders in scoring and goals scored. He was the Timbers U-23s’ leading scorer with 14 goals and two assists in 12 games during the campaign. A native of Camas, Wash., Richards set a new team record, scoring four goals in a single game as part of a five-game scoring streak during the season.
Braun, 22, appeared in all 16 matches for the Timbers U-23s during the regular season and compiled five goals and eight assists; his assist total ranked third-best in the league. He was a PDL Team of the Week honoree July 21. Braun also logged a goal and an assist in the Timbers U-23s playoff run to the Western Conference title.
2010 PDL All-League Team
GK – Ryan Meara, Ironbound Express
D – Joe Tait, Baton Rouge Capitals
D – Mark Lee, Kitsap Pumas
D – Matthew Hedges, Reading United AC
D – Alexis Pradie, Ottawa Fury
M – Scott Rojo, Carolina Dynamo
M – Frank Alesci, Ironbound Express
M – Freddie Braun, Portland Timbers U-23s
M – Kenny Uzoigwe, Michigan Bucks
F – Brent Richards, Portland Timbers U-23s
F – Moses Aduny, Mississippi Brilla
