Congratulations to former men's soccer midfielder Kyle Bekker. The Oakville, Ontario native was drafted third overall by Toronto FC in the 2013 MLS SuperDraft held today at the Indiana Convention Center.
Bekker becomes the sixth former Boston College Eagle to be selected in the MLS Draft dating back to the league's inaugural season, joining:
2013: 3 (1). Kyle Bekker, M, Toronto FC
2009: 30 (2). Paul Gerstenberger, D, Columbus Crew
2005: 43 (4). Guy Melamed, D, Colorado Rapids
2003: 29 (3). Kyle Singer, GK, New England Revolution
2003: 48 (5). Casey Schmidt, F, Colorado Rapids
1996: 6 (1). Paul Keegan, F, New England Revolution
Bekker played in 80 matches and made 79 starts while at The Heights. He ranks second all-time at Boston College in assists (22), eighth in points (56) and 10th in goals (17).
The SB Nation Toronto FC blog Waking The Red [tremendous name, by the way] reacts to the pick:
The praise for Bekker was wide spread and a lot of teams were interested in landing his services. Teams were impressed by his work rate in the combine and the fact that he could contribute on both sides of the ball. He is still a bit of a reach at number 3 overall but if Toronto was serious about bringing him in they had to snatch him up before Montreal or Vancouver had the chance to steal him.
Fans should look for Bekker to bring a lot of pace to the midfield and a lot very high work rate which will be much needed in a very old side. Torsten Frings and Julio Cesar are certainly not young and even though they have lot of skill they can not cover all the ground in the middle of the park that is needed.
For more on Toronto FC, check out Waking The Red. Follow the latest news on this year's MLS SuperDraft over at SB Nation.com's StoryStream. Congratulations Kyle!