STANFORD, Calif. – Former Stanford men’s soccer student-athlete and current Seattle Sounders FC defender Chad Marshall was named to the 22-man roster that will take on Tottenham Hotspur in the 2015 AT&T MLS All-Star Game the league announced Saturday.
The 2015 AT&T MLS All-Star Game takes place on Wednesday, July 29 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado (6:00 p.m. PT / FOX Sports 1, UniMás, TSN and RDS).
It’s the second consecutive All-Star selection and fourth overall for Marshall after earning trips in 2009, 2010 and 2014. Now in his second season with Seattle, the 2014 MLS Defender of the Year has appeared in 17 games, logging 1,449 minutes and helping the club to a 0.95 goals-against-average this season (second in MLS). Marshall played for the Columbus Crew from 2004-13.
The 22-man roster is comprised of 20 players selected by All-Star Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni, taking into consideration the Fan XI and MLS player voting, as well as the two Commissioner’s Picks. The Gameday Roster, including representatives from 14 teams across MLS, is a mix of 12 All-Star newcomers and 10 All-Star veterans.
Marshall played two seasons on The Farm, starting 39 of his 40 appearances, including the 2002 NCAA Men’s College Cup final, and collected eight points on three goals and two assists. He was an All-Pac 10 First Team selection and also earned a spot on the NSCAA All-Far West Region Second Team as a sophomore in 2003.
Marshall had a strong debut campaign in 2002, earning Soccer America Freshman of the Year and All-Pac 10 Second Team honors. He scored two dramatic, game-winning overtime goals in the NCAA Tournament, helping the Cardinal to a pair of 2-1 victories over Furman in the third round and Creighton in the NCAA College Cup semifinals.
Stanford had a historic season in 2014, including the program’s first league title since 2001, a No. 1 NSCAA ranking, its most wins (13) since 2002 and its best winning percentage (.763) since 2001. The team went 13-3-3 overall and 6-1-3 in conference to advance to its second consecutive NCAA Tournament. Stanford has posted back-to-back seasons of double-digit wins for the first time since 2001-02.
Stanford is the only team in the country returning multiple NSCAA/Continental Tire First Team All-Americans in 2015 in forward Jordan Morris and left back and captain Brandon Vincent.
Morris, who has capped five times for the U.S. Men’s National Team, has become the face of college soccer in the past year. In November 2014 he became the first active collegian since 1995 to appear for the USMNT when he came on in the 76th minute in a friendly against Ireland in Dublin. On April 15, 2015 in San Antonio, Texas, Morris started and scored for the United States against Mexico, becoming the first college player to score for the USA since September 1992.
Morris and Vincent are joined by two of the country’s best freshmen from 2014 in Corey Baird and Tomas Hilliard-Arce. Both made Soccer America All-Freshman squads, Baird was on the NSCAA/Continental Tire All-Far West Region Second Team and Hilliard-Arce made that organization’s All-Far West Region Third Team.
The Cardinal, which welcomes the program’s third straight top-15 recruiting class, also returns four of its top five goal scorers and every minute in goal for a team which led the league in goals against average for the first time since 2002.
The Cardinal hosts exhibitions against CSU Bakersfield (August 17) and Santa Clara (August 22) before starting the season on the road at UC Santa Barbara on Friday, August 28. Stanford’s regular-season home opener takes place the following Friday (September 4) against Northeastern at 7 p.m.