by Riley Bauling
Daily Lobo
You didn't see ex-UNM soccer players Brandon Moss, Jeff Rowland and Lance Watson on the first day of classes.
Actually, you won't see them at all this semester.
The three just got finished playing at the Major League Soccer Combine in Carson, Calif., in front of MLS general managers, coaches and scouts Thursday through Sunday.
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None of them are enrolled in classes at UNM, even though they all still have some credits to take for their degrees.
However, that's the last thing on their minds.
Friday is the MLS SuperDraft in Philadelphia, where 48 players are taken in four rounds by the 12 teams in the league.
"There's definitely nothing to regret," Moss said. "We went out there every day and played the best that we could. It's not in our hands anymore."
Seventy players at the combine are broken up into four teams and play a round-robin tournament.
Moss said he did more than hold his own, considering his name wasn't even on the original invite list. Only All-Americans Rowland and Watson got that honor.
Moss's invite came only after the Lobos made it to the NCAA Championship game, before they fell to the University of Maryland 1-0.
There's no doubt the MLS is regretting the snub, considering Moss was named the fifth best player at the combine based on general consensus, according to the MLS's Web site, MLSnet.com.
"I guess it was making it as far as we did in the tournament," Moss said. "I don't know if I could say there was one game, but I think they said, 'This guy deserves it.' Fortunately I was one of six or seven guys that got in there at the last minute."
Rowland, a runner-up for the Hermann Trophy given to the men's college soccer player of the year, was the only Lobo to score a goal in the combine, netting one in his first game. Moss said the shifty Watson might have had the best showing of the three Lobos at the combine.
No matter what happens on Friday, Moss said the three aren't worried about their financial security in the coming months because opportunities to play professionally abound.
"Talking with our agent and everything, we're all pretty confident," Moss said. "We could play in the A-League if we didn't make the MLS."
The A-League is another professional league in the United States. Players aren't guaranteed as much money, and the league doesn't draw the attendance numbers that the MLS does, but Moss said that doesn't mean there's not more than enough money in A-League contracts to make a living.
Moss, Rowland and Watson will fly out to Philadelphia together on Thursday and let the worry set in on Friday at the draft.
Until then, Moss said he's just happy he got the opportunity.
"Of course everyone is a little bit nervous," he said. "There's only a select few people who know what their professional status is going to be. We'll just wait and see."
