Rusty Pierce

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rusty Pierce
Personal information
Full name Rusty Pierce
Date of birth July 24, 1979 (1979-07-24) (age 28)
Place of birth    The Woodlands, Texas, U.S.
Height 5'10
Playing position defender
Club information
Current club unattached
Youth clubs
1997-99 UNC-Greensboro
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
2000-04
2005
2006-07
 New England Revolution
Real Salt Lake
Columbus Crew
 113 (0)
15 (0)
39 (0)   

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 13 January, 2008.
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 4 December, 2006.
* Appearances (Goals)

Rusty Pierce (born July 24, 1979 in The Woodlands, Texas) is an American soccer defender.

Pierce played college soccer at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro from 1997 to 1999, appearing in 51 games during his time there. Following his junior season, Pierce signed a Project-40 contract with MLS, entering the 2000 MLS SuperDraft, where he was selected 14th overall by the New England Revolution.

As a rookie, Pierce quickly earned a place in the Revolution starting lineup with his tenacious defending, and finished the season second on the team in minutes played, having started in 29 of the team's 32 games. Pierce remained a constant in the New England backline for the next four years when healthy, although injuries limited his playing time in the 2002 and 2004 seasons.

Following the 2004 season, Pierce's impending free agency led the Revolution to leave him unprotected for the 2004 MLS Expansion Draft, where he was selected in the eighth round by Real Salt Lake. After the 2005 season, his rights were traded to the Crew. With Salt Lake in 2005 and the Crew in 2006, Pierce played around half of all games during the season. Pierce was released by the Crew in the run-up to the 2008 season.[1]

As of the end of the 2006 season, Pierce had played more league games without scoring than any other MLS player except Brandon Prideaux of D.C. United.[2]

Pierce has played for United States national team at a number of youth levels, but is currently uncapped at the senior level.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Pierce among four waived by Columbus", March 3, 2008, retrieved March 27, 2008.
  2. ^ "Nick Garcia hits the net", Climbing the Ladder, July 1, 2006 , retrieved December 4, 2006.