The Union took three collegians, two midfielders and a forward, in rounds three and four of the draft. None had been invited to the 2018 MLS Combine.

The players

Mike Catalano, a 22 year-old senior from Wisconsin majoring in business (finance and investment banking), stands 6’0″ and weighs 194 lbs. His official Badgers bio says he led his team in scoring this season, netting 2 in the NCAA tournament loss to Akron “to give them a fighting chance.”

#55 overall was Aidan Apodaca, a 21 year-old senior from Division 2 California Baptist majoring in biology, stands 5’9″ and weighs 175. He is the forward. His official Lancers bio says he scored 29 of his team’s 59 goals as a senior for a team whose only loss was the last game of its 20-game season., It tied twice and won all the rest. Apodaca set many school scoring records.

#77 overall was Matt Danilack, a 22 year-old senior from Dartmouth whose major was not given stands 6’2″ and weighs 185. His official Big Green bio says he was second on the team in goals scored with 6. He was first team all Ivy League his last three years in college. This season he was a teammate of Union Academy graduate and repeated 2017 Bethlehem Steel player Dawson McCartney.

Snippets

Catalano was expected to be crucial to Wisconsin’s 2017 success in  a preseason analysis by Will Parchman for Top Drawer Soccer. A second preview of 2017 from College Soccer News describes him as a powerful box-to-box midfielder.  His body proportions are reminiscent of Bethlehem’s James Chambers.

In Apodaca the organization may hope to replicate last year’s success with a Division 2 forward (Santi Moar).  Like Moar, the Californian will have to make the huge adjustment from D2 to the pros, though he’ll most likely be with Bethlehem in USL so the learning curve won’t be quite so steep. Given his stature and the organization’s template of striker play, he will probably move to the flank as did the Spaniard.

And Danilack was thought likely to join teammate Wyatt Omsberg in playing professionally by MLS writer Travis Clark when prospect-spotting during the early rounds of the NCAA tournament. Clark referred to him as part of Dartmouth’s spine. The comment hints he might be a candidate for the number 6, or a center back role.

Highlights and news reports for all three men mention each scoring multiple game-winning goals collegiately.  The most technically spectacular was a 90th-minute bicycle kick at Harvard by Danilack.