ROCK HILL, SC-- Senior Saidi Isaac of the men's soccer team is ranked among the Top 10 collegiate forwards available for the upcoming Major League Soccer Draft according to Soccernet on ESPN.com and senior John Gilkerson is ranked among the top 50 defenders, according to Buzz Carrick of 3rddegree.net, an Independent FC Dallas News Source.
Isaac is ranked among a solid class of available forwards for the draft as Carrick, who ranked the forwards for the draft on ESPN as well, ranked him 8th. Isaac is among some strong company with Patrick Nyarko (Virginia Tech), Xavier Balc (Ohio State), Joseph Lapira (Notre Dame) Yannick Reyering (Virginia), George Josten (Gonzaga), Ely Allen (Washington) and Ryan Cordeiro (Connecticut) are ranked ahead of him. Following Isaac at 9th is Lukasz Tumicz of Rhode Island and Sherron Manswell of Boston College is 10th.
The article describes Isaac as "a slightly undersized but extraordinarily quick player that is quite gifted technically."
Isaac began his career at Park University where he scored 39 goals as a freshman. He earned NAIA All-American honors and was the Region IV Player of the Year. As a sophomore Isaac transferred to Winthrop and he led the team with 17 goals and 39 points. He finished fourth in the nation in scoring and goals per game. He was named to the All-Big South First Team and was also named to the All-Tournament Team after helping the team reach the championship game. That same season he was named to the College Soccer News and Soccer America National Team of the Week for his five goal performance (a school record) in an 8-1 victory over Georgia Southern.
The awards continued to pile in for Isaac as a junior. He was the 2006 Big South Conference Player of the Year after scoring 17 goals and dishing out six assists for 40 points as he helped Winthrop to its second conference championship in five years. He was also named to NSCAA/adidas South Atlantic Region First Team. He was named to College Soccer and TopDrawerSoccer.com National Team of the week for a four-goal performance in an 8-1 victory over conference foe Liberty. That performance also earned him National Player of the Week for Soccertimes.com. Isaac ranked 7th nationally in scoring and ninth in goals per game.
As a senior, Isaac was named the Big South Conference Preseason Player of the Year, the College Soccer News Pre-Season All-America Team and named to the Herman Trophy Watch List. His production was down a little bit in as he continued to draw more and more attention each year from opposing defenses. Isaac scored 12 goals and had five assists for 29 points, which ranked second in the Big South. He finished 12th nationally in scoring and goals per game. He was named to the All-Big South First Team for a third straight season, just the third player in school history to make First Team at least three times. He earned NSCAA/adidas All-South Atlantic Region Team again. He finished his career with 46 goals, which is the most scored by a Winthrop Eagle at the NCAA Division I level and tied for 7th all-time in the Big South.
Isaac also enjoyed a couple of nice seasons in the Premiere Development league with the Indiana Invaders. In 2007 he was named to the Central Conference All-Conference Team.
Gilkerson, who is ranked 47th among the top 50 defenders for the MLS Draft, is a three-time All-Big South conference performer and finished with three goals and four assists in his career as a defender. He was a big part in the Eagle defense that ranked among the nation’s best in 2006 and 2007 and helped Winthrop to the 2006 Big South Conference championship. In 2007 he was named to the NSCAA/adidas All-South Atlantic Region Team. During the summer of 2007 he played for the Virginia Beach Submariners of the PDL and was a two-time PDL Team of the Week selection. He was also named to the Eastern Conference All-Conference Team.
The MLS Draft will be held in Baltimore, MD at the Baltimore Convention Center on Friday, Jan. 18 from 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The first round will be live on ESPN starting at 2 p.m.
For a complete list and remarks about the top 10 forwards for the draft, click here.
For list of the defenders, click here.
