Featured / Philadelphians Abroad

Philadelphians abroad: Gaudette steps in

Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Galaxy

It had been six years since Bill Gaudette had started a game in Major League Soccer. His start Saturday proved an eventful one.

Gaudette filled in for LA starting GK Josh Saunders and held Dallas to one goal in a 1-1 draw. He faced his first shots in the game’s first minute and stopped four shots on the day.

Unfortunately, the shot he couldn’t stop was a penalty kick by Brek Shea. The goal was set up by a strange play in the 59th minute, when Los Angeles defender David Junior Lopez made the ill-advised decision to chest a cross into the box back to Gaudette. The problem was that he did this in the midst of traffic, and Dallas striker Blas Perez recovered the ball. Gaudette went to ground to make a play and was forced to foul Perez to stop a point blank shot on goal, drawing a yellow card in the process. Shea buried the resulting kick from the spot.

Gaudette had signed with Los Angeles as a third-string keeper behind Saunders and former Philadelphia Union goalkeeper Brian Perk. After Perk went down with an injury, Gaudette moved up to second string. Perk was back on the game day roster Saturday, but Gaudette got the start.

The graduate of Lower Dauphin High School in Hummelstown, located about 45 miles west of Reading, hadn’t started an MLS game since 2006 with the Columbus Crew. Since then, he’d spent most of his time in the second tier of North American soccer, becoming USL goalkeeper of the year with the Puerto Rico Islanders in 2008 and helping lead them on a great run to the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals in 2008-09. Last year, he spent the season with Montreal before signing with Los Angeles in March.

Elsewhere around the league, defender Zarek Valentin started and helped Montreal collect the first clean sheet in the club’s inaugural MLS season.

Also, we’re going to start adding USL and NASL players to the roundup, as much as we can track their results. (Information tends to be much more limited in the lower divisions.) Please let us know about guys not included below, and we’ll track them as best as we can.

Here’s the full roundup:

Major League Soccer

Jeff Larentowicz, M, Colorado —  Started, played 90 minutes, received a yellow card, drew a penalty kick, and scored a goal off the PK in a 4-0 win over Chivas USA. Season: 7 games, 7 starts, 1 goal.

Zarek Valentin, D, Montreal — Started and played 90 minutes in Montreal’s 2-0 win over Portland.  Season: 5 games, 5 starts.

Dan Gargan, D, Chicago — Started and played 90 minutes in a 2-1 loss to Chicago.  Season: 5 games, 5 starts.

Jeff Parke, D, Seattle —  Started and played 90 minutes in a 2-1 win over Chicago.  Season: 4 games, 3 starts.

Cristhian Hernandez, M, Philadelphia — Played 8 minutes in a 2-1 loss to San Jose.  Season: 2 games

Bill Gaudette, GK, Los Angeles — Started, played 90 minutes, drew a yellow card, made 4 saves and gave up 1 goal in a 1-1 draw against Dallas. Season: 1 game

Andrew Wenger, M, Montreal — Did not play.  Season: 6 games, 1 goal.

Antoine Hoppenot, M/F, Philadelphia — Did not play for Philadelphia.  Season: 1 game

Jeremiah White, M, New England — Did not play. Season: 2 games.

Chris Albright, D, Philadelphia — In the 18 but did not play. Season: 3 games, 2 starts

Bobby Convey, M, Kansas City — Kansas City did not play this week. Season: 7 games, 7 starts, 1 assist.

Corey Hertzog, F, New York —In the 18 but did not play.  Season: 0 games

Jimmy McLaughlin, M, Philadelphia — Did not play.  Season: 0 games

Zach Pfeffer, M, Philadelphia — In the 18 but did not play.  Season: 0 games

Mike Seamon, M, Seattle — Did not play. Season: 0 games.

Jeremy Vuolo, GK, New York — In the 18 but did not play. Season: 0 games

USL Pro

J.T. Noone, M, Harrisburg — Harrisburg had no USL game this week. Season: 2 games, 2 starts, 1 goal

Tom Brandt, D, Harrisburg — Harrisburg had no USL game this week. Named to the USL Pro team of the week for the previous week and was the subject of this feature story Sunday.  Season: 1 game, 1 start

Morgan Langley, M, Harrisburg — Harrisburg had no USL game this week, but Langley scored in a 1-1 friendly Saturday against the University of Maryland. Season: 2 games, 2 starts

Ryan Richter, M, Charleston — Started and played 90 minutes in a 1-0 win over Pittsburgh. Named USL Pro player of the week for the previous week. Season: 4 games, 3 starts, 1 goal, 1 assist.

Tony Donatelli, M, Charleston —Started and played 90 minutes in a 1-0 win over Pittsburgh. Season: 3 games, 2 starts, 1 goal.

Austrian Bundesliga

Eddie Gustafsson, GK, Red Bull Salzburg — In the 18 but did not playSeason: 15 games. (More complete stats are not available via the Bundesliga and Red Bull web sites.)

5 Comments

  1. Isn’t langley british?

    • Ed Farnsworth says:

      No, he was born in Hawaii. He played at Swarthmore, where he set the school’s all-time record for points and assists, and then with the City Islanders from the start of the 2011 season before joining the Union in September of 2011. He was released by the Union in January, 2012.

    • Yeah, we include him because he spent 4 years at a local college. We figure that’s enough to plant roots as a local, as locals will be interested in following his progress.

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