On the final day of the 2016 MLS SuperDraft, Cal Poly men’s soccer players Kip Colvey and Wade Hamilton heard their names called. Both seniors were picked in the draft’s third round, with Colvey going to the San Jose Earthquakes at No. 49 and Hamilton going to the Portland Timbers at No. 61.
Their selections round out a historic draft for the Cal Poly men’s soccer program. On Thursday, midfielder Chase Minter became the highest Mustang ever taken in the draft when the Columbus Crew picked him 21st overall.
With the addition of Colvey and Hamilton on Tuesday, this year’s draft marks the first time that Cal Poly had at least three players selected in an MLS draft.
Colvey came to Cal Poly as an already experienced international player. Hailing from New Zealand, the defender had already logged minutes with his country’s U-17 national team before setting foot on campus.
In San Luis Obispo, the kinesiology major immediately became a key piece of one of the Big West’s best defenses while at the same time improving his own scoring abilities. Colvey set a career high with three goals in his final season and was a 2015 all-conference first team selection.
Hamilton will also leave behind a decorated career at Cal Poly. The goalkeeper has been a model of consistency, starting in every match for the Mustangs the past three seasons while being named the Big West Goalkeeper of the Year for the past two.
Hamilton will join a Portland Timbers team that is coming off a season in which they won the MLS Cup, the league’s equivalent to the NFL’s Super Bowl. While the team currently sports two other goalkeepers on their roster, Hamilton’s track record at Cal Poly bodes well for potential playing time in the future.
Colvey and Hamilton, along with Minter and forward Matt Lagrassa, made up a nucleus of experienced seniors that guided the 2015 Cal Poly team to a 11-5-5 overall record. The Mustangs set the best mark in program history with only one loss in Big West Conference play and wound up clinching a birth to the NCAA Tournament.