Engineering management major Camden Riley '19 was selected by Sporting Kansas City in the 2019 MLS Super Draft

Major League Soccer nabs Tiger standout Camden Riley '19

For the second-straight year, Pacific men's soccer is sending a player to Major League Soccer.

With the 21st pick in the second round, Pacific senior midfielder Camden Riley '19 was selected to Sporting Kansas City. The West Coast Conference Player of the Year is the second Tiger to ever be drafted into the MLS. Riley joins Tristan Blackmon, who was the third overall pick in 2018 to Los Angeles Football Club.

Riley put together an incredible senior season in which he scored nine goals this season with five coming in the final six games which helped propel the Tigers to an NCAA Tournament berth as an at-large team. He set the single-season program record for points with 23 and tied the single-season records for goals with nine and game-winning goals with four. Riley wraps up his career at Pacific as the program's all-time leader in goals (19), points (48) and is tied for the all-time leader in game-winning goals (6). The engineering management major was announced as a semifinalist for the 2018 MAC Hermann Trophy in November, which is presented to the most outstanding collegiate soccer player each season.

Riley was one of two players selected by Sporting KC and the only player to be selected so far from the West Coast Conference. Sporting KC is coming off a season in which it finished first in the Western Conference of the MLS with an 18-8-8 record before running to the Western Conference Finals of the MLS Cup Playoffs. Riley joins a club that boasts former United States Men's National Team players Matt Besler and Graham Zusi. He will play under long-time Sporting KC Manager Peter Vermes who won the MLS Cup in 2013 and has led Sporting KC to three U.S. Open Cup titles. Vermes himself was a USMNT player from 1988 to 1997 who was capped 66 times. He is the only person that has won the MLS Cup both as a player and coach.

Opportunities to be drafted into the MLS are not done yet for Tiger hopefuls, the final two rounds will be held on Monday via a conference call starting at 1 p.m. EST, 11 a.m. PST.