Three Men's Soccer Standouts Added To Portland Timbers U-23s
April 16, 2012
CORVALLIS, Ore. - The Oregon State men's soccer team strengthened its already profound connection with the state's professional side when Roberto Farfan, Chris Harms and Emery Welshman were named to the Portland Timbers U-23 roster for the 2012 Premier Development League season this past week.
Farfan will be entering his fourth season with the Timbers U-23s this summer and has played in 31 total games for the team over the past three years. The rising senior tallied four goals and four assists during the Timbers U-23s championship-winning campaign in 2010. Farfan started 16 games at midfield for the Beavers this past fall, finishing with four goals and two assists to garner All-Pac-12 Second Team recognition. In just two seasons in Corvallis after playing his freshman season at UNLV, Farfan has become the school's active leader in career points (20) on seven goals and six assists.
Harms returns for his third season with his hometown PDL team in 2012, having appeared in 11 total games over the 2009 schedule and an injury-shortened 2010 season. As a redshirt junior and team captain at OSU in 2011, he earned his second All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention nod after starting all 18 games, logging one assist and shutting down opponents from his spot on the back line.
Welshman will embark on his first season with the Timbers U-23s after an exceptional junior campaign at Oregon State in 2011, his first with the Beavers. The Siena College transfer recorded three goals and a team-high seven assists in 18 games. An able facilitator up top, Welshman tied the Oregon State record for consecutive games with an assist (5) when he notched one in every match from Sept. 25 to Oct. 14. His seven total assists placed him third in the Pac-12 and tied him for seventh all-time in OSU history for a single season. Welshman's 61 shots in 2011 were also good enough for second in the conference and sixth all-time at Oregon State.
The Mississauga, Ontario-native was honored as the Bank of the West Pac-12 Player of the Week on Oct. 4 for his one-goal, one-assist effort in the Beavers' upset of then-No. 22 Washington in what was the league opener for both teams. In November, Welshman became just the fifth player in Oregon State history to earn a spot on the conference's First Team, joining current professionals Danny Mwanga (2009), Robbie Findley (2004-05), Ryan Johnson (2004-05) and Alan Gordon (2002-03).
The Timbers U-23s open the 2012 PDL campaign Friday, May 11, when they play host to the Fraser Valley Mariners at JELD-WEN Field at 7 p.m.
Oregon State begins its 2012 home schedule against Sacramento State on August 24 at what will be the newly resurfaced Paul Lorenz Field at Patrick Wayne Stadium in Corvallis.
ABOUT PORTLAND TIMBERS U-23s
Founded Nov. 11, 2008, the Timbers U-23s is an amateur team affiliated with the Portland Timbers of Major League Soccer and serves as a development platform for the club's first team. The team consists of standout players from collegiate and youth programs from Oregon, the Northwest and throughout the country and competes in United Soccer Leagues' Premier Development League (PDL) - the top developmental men's league in North America. Since the founding of the Timbers U-23s, four Timbers U-23s players have signed with the first team, including midfielder Freddie Braun, goalkeeper Jake Gleeson, defender Ryan Kawulok and forward Brent Richards, who became the Timbers' first Homegrown Player in 2012. The Timbers U-23s assembled an historic campaign in 2010, posting a perfect 16-0-0 record during the regular season on their way to becoming the first undefeated champion in PDL history.
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