Mark Lisi (born October 11, 1977) is an American former

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 played

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

until his retirement due to debilitating injuries at the finish of the 2006 season. Lisi Court in Franklin Township, NJ is named after him.

Career

Lisi, who was born in Englewood,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, played

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 ...

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enro ...

from 1997 to 2000. As a freshman, Lisi recorded three goals and six assists, despite starting only four games for the Tigers. As a sophomore, he was named second-team All-American and first-team All-ACC, after scoring 10 goals and 17 assists for the team. His junior season was not as impressive, as he finished with only 5 goals and 6 assists, but he was named first-team All-ACC nevertheless. In his senior season, he scored 14 goals and 8 assists, and was named a first-team All-American. He finished his career at Clemson with 33 goals and 37 assists. Upon graduating, Lisi was selected third overall in the 2001 MLS SuperDraft by

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

. He immediately earned a starting role with a mediocre D.C. team, and finished the year with four goals and five assists in 25 games. However, shortly into the 2002 season, Lisi was traded along with

Craig Ziadie Craig Ziadie (born 20 September 1978 in Pembroke Pines, Florida) is a Jamaican-American soccer player, who last played right back for the MetroStars of Major League Soccer. Youth and College Although he was born in Florida, Ziadie grew up ...

to the MetroStars in exchange for

Petter Villegas Petter Villegas (born November 15, 1975 in Esmeraldas) is an Ecuadorian-born Puerto Rican footballer who played for Puerto Rico Islanders in the North American Soccer League. Career Youth and college Villegas came to the United States with h ...

and

Orlando Perez Orlando Perez (born July 12, 1977 in Pomona, California) is an American soccer defender, who played eight seasons in Major League Soccer. Perez never played college soccer, but he was drafted twice in MLS, both times by coach Octavio Zambran ...

. Lisi played mostly as a reserve for the Metros, and finished the year with two goals and an assist in a combined 23 games played. The next year, Lisi saw an enlarged role with the Metros, starting 20 games and finished the year second in the league with 11 assists, along with one goal. However, Lisi lost his starting role in 2004, as

Eddie Gaven Eddie Gaven (born October 25, 1986) is an American former soccer player who played 11 seasons in Major League Soccer, primarily with the Columbus Crew. In July 2012, Gaven became the youngest player to play in 250 MLS matches at 25 years and 257 ...

emerged as a certain starter, and the team acquired

Joselito Vaca José "Joselito" Vaca Velasco (born August 12, 1982 in Santa Cruz de la Sierra) is a Bolivian footballer. He currently plays as an attacking midfielder for Blooming in the Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano (Bolivian Professional League). C ...

. He only started eight games, missed a lot of time due to various injuries, yet finished the season with four assists. In 2005, Lisi played in 28 league games, and totalled five assists. In 2006, Lisi saw only nine games for the team, missing almost the entire season due to knee injury, and retired at the end of the season. At the time of his retirement, he was the team's longest-serving player.MLSnet.com player bio

References

External links

footballdatabase.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lisi, Mark 1977 births Living people American soccer players Clemson Tigers men's soccer players D.C. United players New York Red Bulls players Major League Soccer players D.C. United draft picks Soccer players from Colorado All-American men's college soccer players Men's association football midfielders