Mark Baena
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| Mark Baena | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Mark Baena | |
| Date of birth | November 27, 1968 | |
| Place of birth | Sunnyvale, California, United States | |
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | |
| Playing position | Forward | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| 1987-1988 1989-1990 |
De Anza College Cal State-Sacramento |
|
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1991-1995 1996 1997-1998 1998-1999 1999 1999-2001 2001 |
TUS Hoisdorf Sacramento Scorpions California Jaguars Seattle Sounders → San Jose Clash (loan) San Diego Flash Portland Timbers |
? (46) 6 (5) 35 (24) 44 (41) 0 (0) 16 (9) 24 (13) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Mark Baena (born November 27, 1968 in Sunnyvale, California) is a former U.S. soccer forward. Baena is the highest goalscorer in the history of USL First Division, where he amassed 86 goals.
Contents |
[edit] College
Baena attended De Anza College, a two year community college, located in Cupertino, California. While at De Anza, Baena was named All State. He then transferred to Cal State-Sacramento where he was the team captain and led the team in scoring both seasons. He finished his two years at Sac State with 20 goals.[1]
[edit] Germany
In 1992, Baena signed with German Third Division club TuS Hoisdorf. In his four seasons with the team, he scored forty-six goals and assisted on another forty-four.
[edit] USISL/A-League
In 1995, he left Hoisdorf to return to the U.S. where he joined the Sacramento Scorpions of USISL. He played only six games with the Scorpions before moving to the California Jaguars of the USISL A-League for the 1997 season. Baena scored twenty goals that year, putting him at second on the league’s goals list. Baena was also named as a first team All Star. He began the 1998 season with the Jaguars, but was traded to the Seattle Sounders after eight games. He continued his torid scoring pace in Seattle, this time topping the league’s goals list with twenty-five goals in twenty-eight games. He was named a first team All Star and the league MVP. On February 17, 1999, Baena signed a two year contract with the Sounders. That year he was invited to the Major League Soccer (MLS) combine, but was not drafted. Instead, he was called up to the San Jose Clash in June 1999 after three Clash players suffered three injuries in a pre-season game with the Sounders.[2] However, Baena never appeared with the Clash first team. Instead, he returned to the Sounders, tying for first on the league’s goals list and garning his third straight first team All Star nod. On November 9, 1999, the Sounders traded Baena to the San Diego Flash for Michael N’Doumbe, Anthony Farace, cash and San Diego’s first two picks in the 2000 draft. In 2000, Baena was continuing his scoring pace (nine goals in sixteen games) when an ankle injury sidelined him for half of the season. On March 23, 2001, Baena moved again, joining the Portland Timbers . He had another productive season, scoring thirteen goals in twenty-four games. However, on November 27, 2001, the Timbers released Baena at his request in order to allow him to pursue business opportunities.
In 2003, USL inducted Baena into the league’s Hall of Fame.
He now works for Websense as a Senior Manager.
