Heat Add Goalkeeper to Final Master Roster; Southern Conference Tournament Site Announced
Written by admin, Jul 22, 2010, 0 Comments
Courtesy Vanessa Guajardo,
The United Soccer Leagues (USL) Premier Development League (PDL) final master roster deadline came and went on Tuesday, July 20th and the Laredo Heat were able to secure a player transfer from the IMG Bradenton Academics late last week. Trevor Spangenberg, a 6’3” 19 year old sophomore goalkeeper at NCAA Division I Missouri State University located in Springfield, Missouri agreed to finish our his 2010 PDL season in Laredo. Spangenberg is a graduate of Boone Grove High School is Valparaiso, Indiana.
Spangenberg’s background includes having had an outstanding prep career in Indiana where he started every game of his four year high school career at goalkeeper for Boone Grove High School. As a senior, he led his team with 12 shutouts and a 0.27 GAA (goal against average) en route to an undefeated season with a 15 – 0 – 1 record and a conference championship. Spangenberg also played his club soccer for the Chicago Fire Juniors. Trevor Matthew Spangenberg is the son of John and Melinda Spangenberg and was born in Mesa, AZ in April 1991.
“Towards the end of the regular season, we started getting a little thin at the goalkeeping position with Raul Herrera having to leave the team for personal reasons and Rodrigo Avila getting injured two weeks ago during the West Texas United match,” mentioned Heat General Manager J.J. Vela.
“With our playoff hopes on the line, we decided to make a few phone calls around the league with clubs that we have dealt with before, both in the division and in the playoffs in previous years to ask if any team might have a potential keeper that would be interested in offering his services to us during the last weeks of the PDL season.”
“After talking to several PDL teams, IMG Bradenton Academics Goalkeeping Coach Scott Bowers recommended Trevor to us and after talking to both Coach Bowers and Trevor, it was decided that Laredo could benefit from having Trevor complete his 2010 PDL Season in South Texas .”
Vela concluded, “From what we have seen in Trevor, we feel that he will be able to contribute down the home stretch and the playoffs. At 6’3” and being fairly young, he has demonstrated that he has what is needed to compete at this level and most importantly, he has adapted well in the short while that he has been in Laredo. We will see what the future brings to both Trevor and us (Heat).”
PDL Southern Conference Championship Tournament
The USL informed the Laredo Heat late Tuesday evening that the Premier Development League Southern Conference Championship Tournament, pitting the top two teams from the Southeast Division and the Mid-South Division was awarded to the Mississippi Brilla over the Laredo Heat bid to host. The PDL Southern Conference Championship Tournament will be played over the weekend of July 30th and August 1st in Jackson, MS on the Millsaps College campus.
“While we are disappointed as an organization that we are not going to host the PDL’s Southern Conference Championship Playoff Games even though our bid was a very aggressive one, we understand that other teams in the conference and league might have a sense of frustration having to come to Laredo year in and year out to play in the playoffs,” said Heat Owner Shashi Vaswani.
“Giving the opening round of the playoffs to the Mississippi Brilla, whom we know from playing against them when they were members of the Mid-South Division and whom we feel will be a very gracious host, was the USL’s way of showing impartiality to the members of the PDL’s Southern Conference,” concluded Vaswani.
In the Southeast Division, the two teams that will represent the division have already been decided. The host team, Mississippi Brilla and the Baton Rouge Capitals are only left to figure out who will be seeded one and two after their last matches this coming weekend.
In the Mid-South, the Laredo Heat has clinched a playoff spot and only need a DFW loss on Friday versus the Houston Leones or a tie or win either Friday or Saturday night in El Paso to clinch the Mid-South Division title.
The second spot in the Mid-South is still very much in the air as three teams, the DFW Tornados, the West Texas United Sockers and the Houston Leones are all still in the hunt. DFW seems to have the easiest path as a win at home versus the Houston Leones will earn them the second playoff spot from the Mid-South; however, a victory by Houston over DFW and West Texas United (their final two games) and Houston throws their hat into the playoff chase. West Texas United almost has their destiny in their hands as two wins in their last two games versus Houston and the RGV Bravos and a DFW loss or tie versus Houston (has to happen in order for West Texas United to qualify) and they could clinch the second spot in the Mid-South.
For additional information on the Laredo Heat Soccer Club, please visit our website at www.laredoheatsc.com
