Seattle Sounders FC has signed former Monmouth University goalkeeper Bryan Meredith.
Meredith was Seattle’s fourth pick and 29th overall in the 2011 MLS SuperDraft. Meredith trained with Seattle throughout the preseason and started in net for the USL Premier Development League champion Kitsap Pumas this year. Meredith started Kitsap’s 2-1 loss to Sounders FC in the U.S. Open Cup third round on June 28.
“We are so excited for Bryan and his family,” said Monmouth head coach Robert McCourt in a press release from the university. “He is obviously a talented player, but he is also a wonderful young man. This is a tremendous opportunity for Bryan. Seattle is one of the top MLS franchises and has unbelievable fan support. It is an ideal place for him to develop into a top-notch professional soccer player. Like a good young pro, he put in his time with Kitsap and now has been rewarded with a four-year contract. It is great to see all of his hard work paying off.”
Meredith claimed his second straight All-Region First Team honor in 2010 after being one of the nation’s top keepers in 2009. He earned his firstAll-Northeast Conference First Team accolade as a senior after making the second team as a junior. The former captain led the NEC in goals-against average (0.70), save percentage (84.2 percent) and shutouts (11) in 2010. Meredith, who was named the 2010 NEC Tournament Most Valuable Player in helping the Hawks advance to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season, ended his stellar collegiate career with 36 shutouts and a 44-7-10 record.
Meredith helped lead Monmouth to four straight Northeast
Conference regular-season titles and back-to-back league tournament crowns. This past season,
Meredith also helped the Hawks stay in the NCAA national rankings all season long.
Meredith is the second Hawk from that team to be playing in the MLS. Ryan Kinne, the team’s attacking forward, plays for the New England Revolution. He was a First TeamAll-American and NEC Player of the Year while at Monmouth.
McCourt said that during his four years at Monmouth, Kinne was a “positive role model on and off the field for us.”
Playing for the Revolution amounts to a homecoming for Kinne, who is a native of Naugatuck, Conn.