X-Men soccer athletes hone skills in PDL

Members of the StFX X-Men soccer team will be kept busy this summer honing their skills. Three returning players and one X-Men alumnus are playing on Premier Development League (PDL) rosters during the AUS off-season.

The PDL is the highest level of amateur play in North America. Each team is allowed to carry eight professional players and the remaining spots are reserved for university players. Recent X-Men graduate Michael Marousek has secured a spot on the Vancouver Whitecaps development squad for the summer. Marousek wrapped up his five year career at StFX with numerous accolades. He was a two-time StFX Athlete of the Year, five-time AUS all-star and is the all-time leading goal scorer in X-Men soccer history. Marousek was also a two-time CIS first team all-Canadian.

Joining Marousek as a CIS first team all-Canadian this past season was X-Men defender Max Maund. A native of Courtenay, BC, Maund is playing with the Thunder Bay Chill this summer out of Ontario. StFX goaltender Andrew MacDonald also started the summer season with the Chill but was released due to injury.

Rounding out the X-Men on PDL teams are Ryan Ashlee who is playing with the Victoria Highlanders and Randy Ribeiro with the Toronto Lynx. Both Ashlee and Ribeiro recently completed their first seasons of play with the X-Men. Ashlee is a defender from Victoria, BC while Ribeiro, the StFX rookie of the year, is a defender from  Cambridge, Ont.
StFX goalkeeper Sam Hutchinson is playing with Atlantic SC in their inaugural season in the USL Super 20, which is an elite U20 league. Hutchison will be entering his second season with the X-Men this fall.

X-Men head coach Graham Kennedy comments, “The PDL is a strong league that provides the top university players in North America, along with up and coming professionals, with a chance to compete at a high level for three months.”
“The league ends with enough time for players to get a short break prior to university training camps, so it is a perfect league for our players. I encourage our guys to go out of their way to earn roster spots on PDL teams because the PDL is the best amateur league in North America. It's no coincidence that a significant number of conference all-stars in the CIS play PDL in the summer.”