Last season, the trio of goalkeepers included Chris Seitz, Brad Knighton and Brian Perk.
Heading into the second season in Philadelphia Union history, an entirely new trio consists of Faryd Mondragón, Zac MacMath and Thorne Holder.
The Union officially announced the signing of Holder – an athletic 'keeper who stands 6-4 – and midfielder Ryan Richter on Tuesday. At the same time, the club announced that former Temple University midfielder J.T. Noone and forward Nick Zimmerman were waived.
Holder joined the Union from Adelphi University, but he also spent time at the University of Maryland under goalkeeper coach Rob Vartughian.
Union manager Peter Nowak deferred questions about Holder to Vartughian, who also participated on a conference call Wednesday from Greece.
“If you had a chance to see him then you would know that he was a pretty underrated college goalkeeper,” Vartughian said. “He is a really talented kid.
He has been involved in youth national teams for Trinidad and he's on the radar for the full team. He didn’t play at a big program and maybe didn’t get the attention others did. I’ve known about him for several years and have followed his career. He stayed in school and has become a very good goalkeeper.”
Holder, 24, ranks second on Adelphia’s career shutout list (19) and fourth on the career wins list with 30. Ranked in the top 23 in the nation in goals against average in 2009 and 2010, the Trinidadian goalkeeper was named First-Team All-ASC and Co-Defensive MVP of the ASC Tournament, as well as to the NSCAA North Atlantic Second-Team in 2010.
“He’s still learning,” Vartughian said. “He’s very skilled and still learning the position. He has good hands and all the tools. We will put him in an environment and see how good he is. I think the sky is the limit for the kid.”
Holder spent three seasons at Adelphi, earning two NSCAA all-region honors, three All-Atlantic Soccer Conference nods and capping his career by being named ASC Tournament Co-Defensive MVP along with teammate Mauricio Mora.
Holder also occupies three of the top six spots in single season goals against average, posting numbers of 0.66 (third), 0.70 (fourth) and 0.77 (sixth).
While Holder gives the Union some terrific depth at goalkeeper, some of the club's other roster moves – in addition to waiving Zimmerman and Noone, Andrew Jacobson was recently traded and Michael Orozco Fiscal's loan option was not exercised – were more difficult to make.
Just ask Nowak.
“At the end of the day, we had to decide what was best for the team at the moment,” Nowak said. “On the other hand, we feel like we improved the roster. As hard as the decisions were to make, we needed to make those decisions.”