TFC goes with Trinidad winger at #1, with Mississauga forward selected 20th in MLS SuperDraft
Published December 20, 2023 at 8:44 pm
Toronto FC took Lipscomb University winger Tyrese Spicer with the first pick in Tuesday’s Major League Soccer SuperDraft, while four GTA products were also drafted, including players from Mississauga, Brampton and Hamilton.
Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares – born in Mississauga and raised in Oakville – announced the selection.
Spicer, a Trinidad native, was a United Soccer Coaches first-team all-American, the Atlantic Sun Conference Player of the Year and a semi-finalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy for the top soccer player in the NCAA this year. He had 29 goals and 18 assists in 57 career appearances for Nashville-based Lipscomb.
Toronto forward Kimani Stewart-Baynes was an attractive option for the Reds but the Big Ten Freshman of the Year (Maryland) was instead taken fourth overall by the Colorado Rapids.
Minnesota used the 20th pick of the first round to select another forward, Mississauga’s Marcus Caldeira from West Virginia. The 19 year-old scored 12 goals and was named a second-team All American.
Caldeira played for Toronto-area academy Sigma FC until he was 16, when he got a development contract with Forge FC in Hamilton. He started this past season on a roll, scoring seven goals in the first six games, including a hat trick in a 5-2 win over No. 1 Marshall.
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Syracuse defender Olu Oyegunle, from Brampton (also a Sigma FC product). was taken with the fourth pick of the second round by the Chicago Fire.
Hamilton midfielder Malik Henry (Akron University) also went in the second round, 39th overall, to Montreal.
With files from Canadian Press
Tyrese Spencer was selected with the first pick of the MLS SuperDraft by Toronto FC