Revolution select Kizza, Dulysse in 2021 MLS SuperDraft

The New England Revolution added some needed scoring depth to the forward position from Thursday’s MLS SuperDraft.

The Revolution tagged an international player from the ACC when they selected Pittsburgh striker Edward Kizza with the 24th pick. They picked up Manhattan College defender Francois Dulysse in the second round with the 51st pick. The Revolution passed on drafting a player with the 78th pick.

Kizza would be competing for playing minutes in the attacking zone with established starters Adam Buksa, Carles Gil, Gustavo Bou and the team’s leading goal-scorer, Teal Bunbury.

“We are pleased with our draft picks and our picks are a good fit for our roster,” said Revolution sporting director and head coach Bruce Arena. “Edward Kizza is a proven goal-scorer at the collegiate level.

“He’s a number nine (striker), he’s a strong player and he has a history of scoring goals. We think that is an area where we could use some help as it is with any team.”

A native of Kampala, Uganda, Kizza played three seasons for the Panthers and was a two-time All-ACC first-team performer. Kizza scored a career-high 15 goals as a sophomore in 2018 and came back the next season with 12 goals and four assists.

Kizza, who scored 31 career goals, is the first Pitt player to be selected in the first round. He inexplicably withdrew from the team on Sept. 26 from what would have been his senior year. While no explanation was given for Kizza’s withdrawal, Arena was assured by Pitt coach Jay Vidovich there were no discipline or off-the-field issues.

“We did background work and his coach who I have known for 20 years is one of the outstanding people in college soccer,” said Arena. “I trust his word and I checked with other coaches and the player came out with good grades.”

Dulysse is a 6-foot-1, 178-pound center back who started 15 games and logged 1,105 minutes as a junior in 2019. Dulysse was drafted on his past performances because Manhattan canceled its 2020 season in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Dulysse is a very athletic center back and we were able to scout him earlier in the year,” said Arena. “He got high marks but unfortunately his school did not participate this fall.

“But we saw him in training with his Haitian team and we certainly feel he has potential.”

The Revolution floundered in 2019 under general manager Mike Burns and head coach Brad Friedel. But they drafted well that year by selecting, in order, Tajon Buchanan, DeJuan Jones and Brandon Bye, all of whom contributed to the Revolution’s run to the 2020 Eastern Conference final.

Arena hit it out of the park with his first-round selection in 2020. Revisiting his coaching roots, he selected center back Henry Kessler, an All-ACC performer from Virginia with the sixth overall pick.

Kessler was named the Revolution’s Defender of the Year, the first rookie to cop the title since A.J. Soares in 2011. Kessler led all 2020 MLS SuperDraft selections in regular-season games played (22), starts (19) and minutes (1,823).

Kessler led the team in clearances (83), interceptions (34), tackles won (21) and possessions won (123), and is currently working out with the U.S. National Team’s U-23 squad at its training facility in Bradenton, Fla. Kessler’s former teammate on the Cavaliers’ back end, Bret Halsey, went to Real Salt Lake with the seventh pick in 2021.

“This year is a little different than last year because we’ve built a stronger roster entering the 2021 season as opposed to last year, but there were similar situations,” said Arena. “We didn’t anticipate our draft picks would offer immediate help to our team and Henry Kessler surprised us and I wouldn’t rule it out this year.”

The ACC was the dominant collegiate conference in the 2021 SuperDraft. Virginia Tech midfielder Daniel Pereira was the No. 1 pick by the expansion Austin FC. The ACC, which was one of the few NCAA conferences to compete last fall, produced the top-five picks, six in the top 10 and 12 in the first round.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3sKZuIM