Lane United FC News Release -- www.laneunitedfc.com
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
EUGENE, Ore. -- Lane United FC introduced on Wednesday four players who will play for the Reds for the club's inaugural season in the PDL in 2014, pending league approval. The announcement comes after two previous blocks of recruiting commitments were finalized, one in February and one at the end of January. The total number of players committed to play for Lane United in 2014 now stands at 15.
Three of the four highlighted players are internationally born and raised but are current student-athletes at American Division I universities. Germans Christian Dietrich and Martin Lukaschik play for Fairleigh-Dickinson University in New Jersey, while Briton Pierce Kiembi, pictured, currently attends the University of Texas at Brownsville. The fourth player, Mikhail Doholis, plays for Oregon State and hails from Vancouver, Washington.
Lukaschik, according to head coach John Galas, was recommended by another college player that Lane United was targeting (who then ended up drafted by an MLS team). Galas called Lukaschik a "box-to-box central midfielder with the engine to get up and down the field for 90 minutes." He started nearly every game for Fairleigh-Dickinson in 2013 and finished tied for second on the team in goals.
Lukaschik's countryman and college teammate Dietrich was also a regular starter at Fairleigh-Dickinson, averaging 70 minutes per game. "A lot of his work doesn't show up in the box score," said Galas, "but as a solid outside midfielder he will complement our style of play and has great tactical understanding of the game." Dietrich grew up training in the FC Union Berlin youth system in Germany.
Kiembi, the Brit, "reached out to us," Galas mentioned, "and said he wanted the challenge and responsibility of helping a new club grow." Since initially moving to the U.S. to begin school and play soccer at Bryan College in Tennessee, Kiembi has transferred to UT-Brownsville and in the meantime has played a season with the PDL side River City Rovers in Louisville, KY. Galas called him "a big, strong, athletic player who can be put anywhere in the midfield." Kiembi was a regular starter for Brownsville in 2013.
Galas complimented the final recruit, the Northwest native Doholis, on his technical ability as an attacking midfielder and made reference to the fact that he started all but one game for the Beavers as a sophomore in 2013. He also enjoyed significant playing time as a freshman the year before. In high school, he played with fellow Lane United recruit Brenden Anderson in Gresham, OR, on the national championship-winning ESUFC Liverpool club side.
All 15 of Lane United's currently committed and introduced players may be found on the roster page of our site.