Sidelines

Thomas Jefferson High School graduate Lamar Neagle had a breakout rookie season with the Sounders FC. Neagle, a winger, finished third on the Sounders with seven goals,  including a hat trick.

Neagle was one of 11 players protected by the Sounders’ front office in preparation for the Major League Soccer Expansion Draft, which will be held Nov. 23 for the Montreal Impact.

Here’s a press release from Sounders FC regarding the Expansion Draft:

Montreal to Select from Unprotected Players on Wednesday, November 23.

RENTON, WASH. – Seattle Sounders FC has submitted the list of protected players for the 2011 Major League Soccer Expansion Draft, to be held on Wednesday, November 23 at 12 p.m. PT. The League’s 19th team, the Montreal Impact, will begin to take shape following the 10-round draft. The event will be streamed live on MLSsoccer.com.

“Given the fact we’ve lost three players to expansion drafts the past two seasons we are bracing ourselves for the possibility of losing someone,” said Sounders FC general manager Adrian Hanauer. “Despite those losses we have developed a deep squad and grown stronger. We couldn’t protect everyone, so some of those who contributed significantly to our success are bound to be exposed. It will be interesting to see how Montreal approaches this.”

Each current MLS club has had the opportunity to protect 11 players from their 2011 roster. Generation adidas players (who did not graduate at the end of the 2011 season) and Homegrown players are automatically protected and do not count against a team’s 11 protected roster spots. Designated Players do not have to be protected unless the player has a no trade clause in his contract. MLS Clubs may lose no more than one player from their 2011 roster during the Expansion Draft.

A complete list of the Expansion Draft Rules can be found by CLICKING HERE.

At the conclusion of the Expansion Draft teams may resume trading.

Protected
Alonso, Osvaldo
Evans, Brad
Fernandez, Alvaro
Friberg, Erik
Hurtado, Jhon Kennedy
Montero, Fredy
Neagle, Lamar
Ochoa, Sammy
Parke, Jeff
Rosales, Mauro
Zakuani, Steve
*Michael Tetteh (automatically protected as Generation adidas player)

Non-Protected
Boss, Terry
Carrasco, Servando
Estrada, David
Ford, Josh
Fucito, Mike
Gonzalez, Leo
Graham, Taylor
Ianni, Patrick
Jaqua, Nate
Levesque, Roger
Meredith, Bryan
Montano, Miguel
Noonan, Pat
Riley, James
Sanyang, Amadou
Scott, Zach
Seamon, Michael
Wahl, Tyson
White, O’Brian