Rob Vincent

Rob Vincent (born 26 October 1990 in Liverpool, England) is an English footballer currently playing for Pittsburgh Riverhounds in the USL Professional Division.^[1]

Career

Youth

Vincent spent time with Everton and Crewe Alexandra as a youth. He played for the Stockport County youth academy from 2007 to 2009, contributing eight goals until injury in pre-season 2008.^[2] At the end of his youth contract, he was not offered a professional contract, and moved on to play college soccer in the United States.^[3]

College and Amateur

Vincent played college soccer at University of Charleston where he was named the 2009 WVIAC Freshman of the Year.^[4] He became a team captain for the Golden Eagles in the 2010 season. During his time at UC, Vincent was part of the team that won 4 consecutive conference titles, and went to the NCAA Division II National Tournament on 3 occasions.^[5] In his time at UC, he scored 9 goals in each of his 4 years; a total of 36 career goals as well as 25 assists.^[6] Vincent won Conference Player of the Year honours in 2010 and 2012.^[7] He also was named as an Division II All-American in each of his four years at UC.^[8]

Vincent signed with the West Virginia Chaos of the USL Premier Development League, the fourth level of the United States soccer pyramid, in 2010 after an impressive freshman campaign at UC. However, he struggled with injury for much of the season and only played in 7 games, contributing 3 goals.^[9]

He returned to the Chaos for the 2011 season, this time as the youngest team captain in the franchise history. He played every minute of the 16 league games, scoring 9 goals and adding 6 assists along the way.^[10]

In 2012, he trained with Michigan Bucks before transferring to Carolina Dynamo, also of the PDL. In his one season with the club, Vincent played a total of 72 minutes in two appearances.^[11]

Professional

Vincent was invitied to the Real Salt Lake pro combine in December 2012. During his final semester of college, Vincent contacted the Pittsburgh Riverhounds requesting a trial. After impressing the coaching staff during pre-season, Vincent signed a professional contract with the Riverhounds in April 2013.^[3] Although he did not appear in the match, Vincent was on the bench for the season opener against the Richmond Kickers on 6 April 2013.^[12] Vincent made his first professional appearance, coming on as a late substitute in the Riverhounds' 1–2 defeat at Dayton Dutch Lions.^[13] Vincent scored his first professional goal on 23 June 2013 in a 4–1 victory over Antigua Barracuda.^[14] He scored his second goal on 2 August 2013 in a 2–1 victory over VSI Tampa Bay FC.^[15] Vincent finished his rookie season with 3 goals and 1 assist, participating in 23 of the club's 26 league games.^[16]

References