Utahn Update - 16 May 2011

While Utah’s MLS side didn’t find the back of the net over the weekend, one of the state’s homegrown talents bagged himself a hat trick at Red Bull Arena.

MLS
Justin Braun (Salt Lake City) -- Tallied his first three goals of the season for Chivas USA in an impressive performance against the Red Bulls in New Jersey. His first strike, from just outside the penalty area, was particularly well taken.



Maikon Orellana (Provo) -- Started and went just over an hour for Real Salt Lake’s reserves in a 1-0 loss to the Houston Dynamo on Saturday night.

WPS
Liz Bogus (Sandy) -- Scored her first goal of the 2011 season while going the full 90 minutes for the Boston Breakers in a 3-2 loss to Western New York.

Elli Reed (Park City) -- Came on in the second half and went 25 minutes for the Boston Breakers in a 3-2 loosing effort to Western New York.

Utahn Update - 12 July 2010

It’s been a good week for Utah natives playing either professionally or internationally. Three out of the four notable players got on the score sheet, scoring a total of four goals among them. Following is a list of the players and their tie to the state in parenthesis.

MLS

Justin Braun (Salt Lake City) -- Scored a brace at Kansas City this weekend helping Chivas USA improve to a 4-9-2 record. Watch highlights of the Skyline HS alum twice hustle past the KC defense here.

WPS

Liz Bogus (Sandy, Utah) -- Played a full 90 for the Boston Breakers and cored her first WPS goal in a 3-1 win over the Atlanta Beat.

Katie Larkin (BYU; Draper, Utah) -- Started and played 70 minutes for the Atlanta Beat in a 3-1 losing effort over the weekend.

US National Team

Elli Reed (Park City, Utah) -- US U-23 WNT -- Opened the scoring for the US U-23 Women's National Team in a 3-1 win over England on July 3 as part of a four-nations tournament in Brighton, England. Reed also started in the second match on July 9, playing 59 minutes before coming off. The United States will close the tournament against Sweden.

Utahan Update - April 15

Utah's professional players didn't fare well this last week, as only one of the three made an appearance. Although, there are at least three players of the younger generations with ties to Utah who have been called into upcoming training camps for the U.S. National Team.



Justin Braun (Salt Lake City) -- Dressed, but did not play in Chivas USA's 2-0 victory over the New York Red Bulls this last weekend.



Liz Bogus (Sandy, Utah) -- Did not dress for the Boston Breakers' 2-1 victory over the Washington Freedom.

Katie Larkin (Draper, Utah) -- Came on for the Atlanta Beat in the 90th minute of a 0-0 draw with the Philadelphia Independence. It was the inaugural match for both clubs.



Elli Reed (Park City, Utah) -- US U-23 WNT -- As mentioned last week Reed will train with the U-23 WNT April 18-25 in Corvallis, OR. Reed is no stranger to the national team system as she was a member of the US U-20 squad that won the World Cup in 2008.

Lindsi Lisonbee (BYU; Park City, Utah) -- US U-20 WNT -- A press-release from US Soccer included Lisonbee in the line up for the U-20 WNT camp that is currently gathered in Carson, Calif. Although, the information can not be confirmed on ussoccer.com. Interestingly enough, when Lisonbee is on the roster Cloee Colohan is not.

Cloee Colohan (West Point, Utah) -- US U-20 WNT -- According to ussoccer.com Colohan was called into camp with the U-20 WNT that convenes this week. Although, Colohan's name was missing from a recent press-release, she remains on the roster on the website.

Luis Gil (Real Salt Lake) -- US U-18 MNT -- The RSL teenage sensation, who made an appearance for the professional side in US Open Cup play this week, will train with the U-18 MNT at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. April 25-May 2.

Utahan Update - Apr. 8

With the summer seasons of the American professional leagues get started this month Desert Crown will follow the progress of players with ties to the state of Utah. If you know of any other players who are getting paid to play, and are not included in the list below, please let us know so we can keep everyone informed.

MLS

Justin Braun - CD Chivas USA (MLS) - Started and played 81 minutes in a loosing effort in the El Classico with the Los Angeles Galaxy. Chivas will host the red hot Red Bulls of New York on Saturday, April 10.


WPS

The Woman's Professional Soccer season is set to kickoff on April 10th. The off season saw the demise of WPS finalists LA Sol, which housed both of the representatives from Utah in Katie Larkin and Liz Bogus. As the roster dispersed through out the league Larkin ended up with the 2010 WPS Expansion side, the Atlanta Beat and Bogus is in Boston playing for the Breakers. The Beat came out on the winning end of a 2-1 pre-season match against Boston this week. Bogus made an appearance in the match as a substitute.

Bogus and the Breakers will open the 2010 season on the road against the Washington Freedom on Saturday, April 10. While Larkin and the Beat will travel to Philadelphia to take on the Independence in a battle of the 2010 expansion teams.


U.S. National Team

U-23 WNT - Park City's Elli Reed has been called into a training camp with the Under-23 Women's National Team at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Ore., from April 18-25. Reed, currently a student at the University of Portland, was included in the list of 24 of the nation's best collegiate players who will train under coach Bill Irwin and then face Oregon State and the University of Portland.

U-20 WNT - After a shortened freshman season at Portland, Cloee Colohan will rejoin the U.S. National Team system as part of the U-20 squad preparing for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Germany later this year. Head coach Jill Ellis will bring 26 players to a training camp April 11–18 at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. Ellis will have one more domestic training camp in May, followed by a trip to Germany in June before she selects her 21-player roster to represent the USA at the World Cup in late July.

WPS: Larkin debuts in opener, Bogus signs with Sol

The dawn of Womens Professional Soccer burned bright on Sunday afternoon as the Los Angeles Sol took on the Washington Freedom at the Home Depot Center. The state of Utah was represented in the match by Draper-native Katie Larkin, who patrolled the left flank for the duration of the second half.

Larkin spent most of her time hugging the sideline, providing an outside option for her teammates to spread the field. She recorded no shots in the Sol's 2-0 victory.

In the same week that Larkin took the field in WPS action for the Sol the Los Angeles squad signed Provo-native Liz Bogus to a developmental contract. Bogus spent the WPS preseason training with the FC Gold Pride but was let go when rosters were finalized. The Sol wasted little time as Bogus was reported to be training with the team within days of being cut from the Gold Pride.

Since graduating Brighton High School, Bogus played three years at Arizona State University before moving on to play for the Pali Blues of the USL W-League in 2008. Incidentally, the Blues took the W-League title that season. Bogus played in nine matches while scoring four goals and setting up another.

The Sol will travel across the country for their second match as they face Sky Blue FC at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, NJ. The match takes place Sunday, April 5. Kickoff is slated for 4pm ET.

Larkin Makes LA Sol Roster!

As the dust cleared from a competitive Womens Professional Soccer preseason the only Utahn reaming on a WPS roster was former Alta HS and BYU product Katie Larkin, after all seven teams released their Opening Day rosters on Wednesday.

Larkin will be playing along side one of the league's highest profile players in Marta, and for one of the highest profile teams in the Los Angeles Sol.

This years casualties of the roster trimmings are former Alta HS standout Allison Martino, released by the Boston Breakers, and Brighton HS alum Liz Bogus let go by FC Gold Pride.

The WPS allows each team 18 players to fill a roster. In addition to the final 18, each team can carry four players as "developmental" players rounding out the rosters to a full 22.

(photo courtesy of Celtic Storm)

Utahns in the Pros Update

There were some highs and some lows for Utah-based players in the professional ranks this week. Among the highlights are the performances of Katie Larkin and Liz Bogus who each scored for their respective teams in preseason Womens Professional Soccer league action. A downer piece of news is that Kyle Christensen seems to have fallen off of the Chivas USA roster as the Major League Soccer season gets under way.

Following is a status report on each of the Utah-based professional players of whom we are aware. If you know of any other players with ties to the state please let us know so that that we can keep tabs on the local talent.

MLS

Justin Braun (Skyline HS) - Started and went the full 90 minutes for Chivas USA in their 2-1 win over Colorado in Carson, CA on Saturday.

Kyle Christensen (Layton HS) - Although there has been no official announcement, it appears that Christensen did not make the final Chivas roster for this season. Over on BigSoccer it is reported that he has returned to Denver to finish school.

WPS

Katie Larkin (Alta HS, BYU) - The Los Angeles Sol took on FC Gold Pride, that's the San Francisco Bay Area WPS team for those not aware. Larkin started in both matches, scoringing in the 35th minute of the first game in the series.

Liz Bogus (Brighton HS) - Scored a goal for FC Gold Pride in their preseason tuneup with The Bay Area Select All-Stars.

Allison Martino (Alta HS) - Made the first cut for the Boston Breakers preseason 25-player roster. The final roster should be announced any day now.

Homegrown Talent: Utahns Drafted

Last season Justin Braun grabbed national attention by getting invited to Chivas USA camp by non other than the manager of Chivas himself, Preki. The former Skyline High School standout made the most of his opportunity to impress, earning a consistent spot in the Chivas lineup and even scoring for the Red-and-White in the playoffs - ironically against Real Salt Lake.

Every time I saw something on Braun I thought there had to be other Utah-based players playing beyond their high school careers. Those thoughts have lead me to watch for exceptional players from the state.

The folks over at the Utah Youth Soccer Association have made the initial search quite easy with their recent story on three former UYSA players who were drafted in this years Major League Soccer and Womens Professional Soccer drafts. As I like to consider myself a gentleman, we'll start with the ladies first.

Katie Larkin, Los Angeles Sol

An All-American standout at Brigham Young University, Draper native Katie Larkin was the 19th selection in the first WPS Draft. The Los Angelos Sol picked up the Midfielder/Forward who was a Hermann Trophy candidate her senior season at BYU. Larkin was also in the US National Team Player Pool from 2002-2004. Among her teammates in Los Angelos will be three-time FIFA Women's Player of the Year Marta.

Larkin also holds several offensive records from her days at Alta High, where she also received NSCAA High School State Player of the Year honors in 2004.

(Photo courtesy of Geoffrey McAllister)


Allison Martino, Boston Breakers


Another Alta graduate was also taken in the WPS Draft. Allison Martino headed south after high school to play in the Big XII with Texas A&M. Playing in one of the nation's toughest conferences for women's soccer, Martino stood out as one of the top talents in the conference earning All-Big XII honors her senior season in 2007.

Following her days as an Aggie, Martino spent 2008 playing for the Boston Renegades of MassPremierSoccer. It appears that she won't be needing to move as she was picked up by the Boston Breakers.

(photo courtesy of Texas A&M)


Kyle Christensen, Chivas USA

Following a standout career at Layton High School, Kyle Christensen jumped over the Rocky Mountains to continue his playing career at the University of Denver. Christensen capped his extremely successfull college career by leading the Pioneers to the school's first ever Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title in 2008, as well as DU's first appearance in the NCAA tournament. His efforts led Christensen to receive MPSF Player of the Year honors in that same season.

While at the University of Denver Christensen did not play during the 2005 and 2006 seasons while he served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during that time.

Christensen also played two seasons with the Ogden Outlaws, of the Premier Development Leauge. While with the PDL side, he netting 10 goals and 4 assists in 20 games.

Preseason has already started for Chivas USA and Christensen has wasted no time making in impression, as he has already found his way on the scoresheet for the Goats. The Layton native scored the fifth and final goal in the Red-and-White's 5-1 trouncing of Shandong Luneng Taishan F.C. of the Chinese Super League.

(photo courtesy of University of Denver)

Hat tip to @RSLSoccerPod