Orlando City SC took four players, three of them in the first round while Inter Miami CF took three players total in the 2021 Major League Soccer Superdraft on Thursday afternoon.
The Lions traded up to get the eighth pick, taking Georgetown Forward Derek Dodson. Dodson earned All-American honors in 2019 season where he scored 9 goals, laying off one assist in his 21 games. The striker had an even stronger year last year but with NCAA soccer in an odd place there won’t be All-Americans. He scored 11 goals and provided 8 assists, that two-way play is a good sign for the Lions who needs that depth.
Orlando managed to get the eighth pick by trading $100,000 in General Allocation Money to Portland on the day of the draft, a pick Portland had acquired from LA Galaxy in the Jorge Villafana trade.
Dodson will be joined by his Georgetown teammate after Orlando picked up defender Rio Hope-Gund with the 19th pick. The six foot tall New Yorker managed two assists from the back-line, not as a winger, and was part of the defense that managed 13 clean-sheets.
Another defender joined the Lions three picks later as Penn State’s Brandon Hackenberg rounded out the Orlando first round picks. Hackenberg has been a star in Pennsylvania starting almost every game in the last two years, while also turning in a goal each season.
City’s final pick came in the second round when the club boosted its goalkeeper stocks picking up Andrew Pannenberg. This will be a useful pickup as Pedro Gallese will miss several matches in 2021 with the Copa America taking him away to represent Peru.
Inter Miami also picked up players in the draft, picking up three total, further down than Orlando’s picks, with the draft being quite an introduction to American soccer for new manager Phil Neville.
With the 10th pick Miami took forward Joshua Penn who played 22 matches scoring six goals for Indiana. He has also been in the squad for Indy Eleven in the USL Championship for the last two seasons but has only played five matches.
Miami’s second pick boosted its defensive stocks as with the 26th pick the team selected Kentucky’s Aime Mabika. For his hometown school Mabika has played every match in the last three years and has managed to score 10 goals in his collegiate career. Last season Mabika earned Conference USA Player of the year honors along with making the United Soccer Coaches All-Region team.
With their final pick the Herons selected Oregon State defender Joe Hafferty, he played 53 games for the Beavers becoming a key part of their defense. He comes with some professional experience having played one match for the former Seattle Sounders 2 in 2017.
Inter Miami had two picks available in the fourth round but passed on their first, which led to passing the rest of the draft.
Photo: Georgetown
Florida Soccer Report 