Kene Eze (born January 21, 1992) is an American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

FC Motown FC Motown is an American soccer club based in Morristown, New Jersey. Founded in 2012, the team currently plays in both the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) and USL League Two. In 2020, the team joined the newly formed Northeast Elite Soccer ...

in the

National Premier Soccer League The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) is an American men's association football, soccer league. The NPSL is a semi-professional league, comprising some teams that have paid players and some that are entirely amateur. The league is officially ...

Career

College and amateur

A native of

Sayreville, New Jersey Sayreville is a borough in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. Sayreville is within the heart of the Raritan Valley region, located on the south banks of the Raritan River, and also located on the Raritan Bay. As of the 2010 United Sta ...

, Eze attended

Sayreville War Memorial High School Sayreville War Memorial High School (SWMHS) is a four-year public high school located in the Parlin section of Sayreville, in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary ...

, where his 106 career goals set a school record. Eze played four years of

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

, beginning at

William Paterson University William Paterson University, officially William Paterson University of New Jersey (WPUNJ), is a public university in Wayne, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Founded in 1855 and was named after American ju ...

in 2010 to 2012 and finishing in 2013 at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

Professional career

On January 21, 2014, Eze was selected 60th overall in the

2014 MLS SuperDraft The 2014 MLS SuperDraft was the fifteenth MLS SuperDraft, SuperDraft presented by Major League Soccer. The first two rounds of the four round draft took place on January 16, 2014, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Philadelphia Convention Center ...

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BMO ...

. Eze was not signed by Toronto, instead joining

USL PDL USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syste ...

club

Jersey Express The Jersey Express is a team in the American Basketball Association based in Paterson, New Jersey. The team was formed in 2005 as the Newark Express. Marsha Blount is the owner of the team. Inaugural season (2005–06) The Express ended the re ...

for their 2014 season. On January 27, 2015, Eze signed with

USL The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

club

Pittsburgh Riverhounds Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC is an American professional soccer team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1999 and beginning play in 1999, the club plays in the Eastern Conference of the USL Championship, the second tier of the American so ...

Move to Australia

In March 2016, Eze relocated to

Melbourne, Australia Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metropol ...

where he signed for

National Premier Leagues Victoria 2 The National Premier Leagues Victoria 2, commonly referred to as NPL Victoria 2, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is the second-highest in the Victorian league system, behind the National Premier Leagues Vict ...

club

North Geelong Warriors FC North Geelong Warriors Football Club, formerly known as North Geelong Croatia, is an Australian semi-professional soccer club from the regional Victorian city of Geelong. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria, Au ...

. Eze scored two goals on debut for the Warriors in a 7-1 routing of Shepparton South SC in the

2016 FFA Cup Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17 *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * '' Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film d ...

. Eze went on to also score on his league debut for North Geelong, netting the second in a 2-0 win over

Goulburn Valley Suns FC Goulburn Valley Suns are a semi-professional association football club based in Shepparton, Victoria. The club was established in 2013 and currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria 2. The Suns' home ground is John McEwen Reserv ...

. He grabbed his second league goal, and fourth overall, in an emphatic 7-2 win over Bendigo City FC in Round 7 of the NPLV2 season. Eze continued his good goalscoring form, grabbing a hattrick in a 5-2 win over FC Clifton Hill at Kevin Bartlett Reserve in Round 5 of the

. He was then selected in "The Corner Flag"'s Team of the Month for April in his conference. Eze grabbed another hattrick for the Warriors in a 3-0 win over table-toppers

Whittlesea Ranges FC Whittlesea Ranges is a professional soccer club based in the suburbs of Epping and Lalor, Victoria, Australia. All home games are played at Epping Stadium. Formed in 1971, the club currently competes in the Victorian State League 1 North-West ...

Epping Stadium Epping Stadium is an Australian soccer ground on Harvest Home Rd in Epping, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. The stadium has a capacity of 10,000, with approximately 1000 seats in its sole grandstand. The venue was host to several National Socce ...

in Round 23 of the NPLV2. Eze re-signed with North Geelong for the 2017 National Premier Leagues Victoria season in December 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eze, Kene 1992 births Living people American soccer players Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's soccer players Jersey Express S.C. players Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC players Association football forwards People from Sayreville, New Jersey Sayreville War Memorial High School alumni Soccer players from New Jersey Sportspeople from Middlesex County, New Jersey Toronto FC draft picks USL League Two players USL Championship players FC Motown players National Premier Soccer League players