Splash Trades Captain to Seattle for Draft Pick
Ralph Black, the Continental Indoor Soccer League’s player of the year and Splash team captain, has been traded to expansion Seattle for the fourth pick overall in next week’s draft, the team said Tuesday.
In addition, Seattle assured the Splash that it would not select any other Splash player in the April 20 draft; the team says it’s unlikely it will lose any players in the draft to Mexico City, the CISL’s other expansion team.
Black, 31, is a veteran of 13 indoor seasons. Although he spent only one season in Anaheim, he anchored a defense that allowed fewer shots (28.5) and goals per game (6.1) than all but one team, and helped the Splash to the CISL’s second-best regular-season record (20-8) and the Western Division title.
“It’s probably going to be very difficult to even come close to replacing a Ralph Black. There’s not too many players in any soccer league who have his leadership,” Splash Coach George Fernandez said. “We’re losing a lot of intangibles.”
But Black lives in Tacoma--he played five seasons in Tacoma and one in Portland--and indicated he would like to play closer to home.
“We had an unspoken bond when he came aboard that if the opportunity for him to go home presented itself, we weren’t going to hold him back,” said Tim Orchard, Splash co-governor and director of player personnel. “We’ll look for some of our veterans to step up and assume that (mantle of) leadership.
“The deal took four weeks to get done, and the deal-breaker was that they had to guarantee us that they wouldn’t take another player off our roster.”
The Splash also sent to Seattle the rights to Tacoma resident Gary Heale. His rights were obtained in the transfer of ownership from the L.A. United. The SeaDogs also have the first three selections.
The Splash protected forwards Dale Ervine, Raffaele Ruotolo and Armando Valdivia, midfielder Doug Neely and defender Denis Hamlett.
In addition, the Splash protected three local amateurs who completed their NCAA eligibility in 1994: forward Eddie Soto, one of the nation’s leading scorers, midfielder Brad Wilson from Cal State Fullerton, and midfielder Adel Afkarian from UC Irvine.
In a three-way trade, the Splash received the 17th overall pick--which could become the 18th depending on final protection lists, which must be submitted today--from Portland in exchange for goalie Jim Brazeau, who was obtained from Washington. The Splash traded its rights to last year’s first-round pick, Phillip Gyau, and a second- and third-round pick, to get Brazeau from Washington.
The Splash’s other picks will be the 48th, 65th and 78th selections.
