STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford senior captain Tomas Hilliard-Arce was taken with the second overall pick by the Los Angeles Galaxy in the 2018 MLS SuperDraft on Friday morning.
Hilliard-Arce is the fourth Stanford player taken in the first round under head coach Jeremy Gunn. Brian Nana-Sinkam came off the board at No. 22 to the Seattle Sounders last January, Brandon Vincent went fourth overall to the Chicago Fire in 2016 and JJ Koval was picked ninth by the San Jose Earthquakes following the 2014 season. The Matthews, N.C. product is the 23rd Stanford men's soccer alumnus to hear his name called in the MLS SuperDraft and is the highest pick in program history along with Chad Marshall, who was also picked second in 2004 by the Columbus Crew.
Hilliard-Arce is one of three two-time, first-team All-Americans in program history. A two-time Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and the 2017 Top Drawer Soccer Player of the Year, he championed a Cardinal defense that posted 47 shutouts among his 87 career appearances at center back. Stanford had a 0.59 team goals against average with Hilliard-Arce in the lineup and finished in the top 10 nationally that category each of the last three years, including second this season (0.382).
Hilliard-Arce led Stanford to three consecutive national championships, four Pac-12 titles and a 65-10-13 overall record (.813) in his time on The Farm.
The Cardinal won each of its last two national titles without allowing a postseason goal and is in the midst of an NCAA-record run of 12 consecutive postseason shutouts spanning 1,214:20 of match time. A force on set pieces, Hilliard-Arce also finished his career with 13 goals and five assists, including four goals and three assists in 2017.
