Vancouver Whitecaps FC announced today the signing of free agent veteran forward Joel Bailey.
Bailey, 27, joins the Whitecaps after playing with the Montreal Impact the last three seasons. The 5’11, 165-pound native of San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago played 22 regular season games and scored two goals last year with the Impact. Bailey’s second goal in 2006 came on July 16 at Swangard Stadium. During that match, Bailey entered the game at the start of the second half and ten minutes later found the back of the net, scoring the game’s lone marker. In last year’s playoffs, he played in both matches against Vancouver; Bailey came off the bench in the first match, and started the second match.
Bailey’s first start with the Impact came on May 28, 2004, a 4-1 victory over the Toronto Lynx which saw him score the game-winning goal. He finished his rookie season third in team goal-scoring despite missing eight weeks of action with a knee injury.
He made his professional debut in 2003 with the Cleveland Force of the Major Indoor Soccer League. He finished his first season with six goals and 13 assists, 43 shots on goal while playing in 22 games.
Bailey finished his collegiate career as the top scorer in Wheeling Jesuit University (West Virginia) men’s soccer history, with 92 goals and 31 assists for a total of 215 points from 1999-2002. In 2000, he tallied 36 goals and 86 points, earning him team MVP honours, as well the NCAA scoring title and the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC)’s Player of the Year award. He was selected to the NCAA Division II All-American teams in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
Joel Bailey USL First Division Regular Season Stats:
YEAR TEAM LEAGUE GP GS MIN G A PTS S F C E
2006 Montreal USL-1 22 12 1014 2 0 4 25 22 2 0
2005 Montreal USL-1 3 1 116 0 0 0 1 1 1 0
2004 Montreal USL-1 18 12 1139 4 1 9 23 20 0 0
USL-1 Total 43 25 2269 6 1 13 49 43 3 0
The Whitecaps regular season kicks off on Saturday, April 21 versus the Seattle Sounders. Season tickets start at just $199 and include all Whitecaps men’s and women’s regular season and playoff matches at Swangard, call 604.669.WAVE (9283) for more information.