Area prospects at the 2018 MLS Superdraft

By Cincinnati.com

PHILADELPHIA — It's draft day for Major League Soccer and several players with Greater Cincinnati ties are hoping to get good news.

Following the MLS player combine earlier this week in Orlando, America's top-tier soccer league will welcome in a draft class of new talent to the workforce during Friday's SuperDraft.

The draft will take place in the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Center City, Philadelphia in conjunction with the United Soccer Coaches Convention, the annual conclave and trade show for coaches from all levels of the game.

Some 12,000 people will attend the convention, which lasts through Sunday. 

Scattered amongst the more than 200 players eligible for the draft are two Xavier Musketeers, a Kentucky Wildcat and a Wright State product that could earn a ticket to MLS on Friday. 

The most likely local product to earn a SuperDraft selection appears to be Xavier Musketeer, defender and New Zealand native, Cory Brown. Brown was an All-Big East honoree and was named to the MAC Herman Trophy watch list during his senior season last fall. 

Brown made 80 career appearances for the Musketeers and was named the Big East Defensive Player of the Year in 2016. He was noted Wednesday by MLSSoccer.com as a player whose draft stock improved on the final day of the now-concluded MLS Combine.

After Brown, fellow Musketeer Matt Vasquenza is one of the 220 players eligible to be selected in the SuperDraft. Vasquenza, a forward player, was prolific in the attacking third over the course of his 79 appearance over four years at Xavier. Vasquenza tallied 26 goals, 69 overall points and placed 47 percent of his shots on-target during his four-year career.