Michael Roach (born November 18, 1988) 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.
College career
Roach was born in
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
, and spent his first two college years at
Indiana University playing for the
Hoosiers in 18 of their 22 games, scoring 1 goal and logging an assist, playing alongside future New England teammates
Kevin Alston
Kevin Lawrence Alston (born May 5, 1988) is an American soccer player.
Club career
Alston played college soccer
College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very pro ...
and
Alec Purdie.
He was
redshirted his sophomore year before transferring to
Saint Louis University
Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private Jesuit research university with campuses in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Mississip ...
in 2009. He scored 14 goals and 7 assists in 68 starts for the
Billikens, being named to the
Atlantic 10 second-team All-Conference and being recognized as the Most Outstanding Player of the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship as a sophomore in 2009.
Roach broke his leg playing in a club league the summer of 2010, and later had a run-in with a sprinkler head beyond the touchline during a training match for Saint Louis, which injured his knee. Roach spent most of the Billikens' 2010 campaign on the sideline with these injuries, playing only six games for Saint Louis. Roach again suffered an injury in his senior season, missing six games. Despite this setback, he led all Billikens players with four assists.
Despite setbacks in his final two collegiate years, he became known as a leader for Saint Louis. Citing his experience and ability to work with younger players, Billikens coach Mike McGinty said of Roach "He has intangible leadership and personality qualities that this team needs...he can, at some level, be a coach on field".
Professional career
New England Revolution
The
New England Revolution drafted Roach 60th overall in the
2012 MLS Supplemental Draft The 2012 MLS Supplemental Draft was a secondary Draft (sports), draft that was held by Major League Soccer via conference call on January 17, 2012. The draft was four rounds and all 19 MLS clubs participated.
Changes from 2011
*As an expansion c ...
. Following a pre-season where Roach played in four games, scoring once, he was signed to the club's first team on March 6, 2012. New England's depth at midfield prevented him from seeing much playing time in the League schedule, only serving as an unused
substitute in one game. He made his first team debut on May 29 of that year, playing all 90 minutes of New England's
U.S. Open Cup
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in men's Soccer in the United States, soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing nati ...
game against the
Harrisburg City Islanders. He was waived at the end of the season.
St. Louis Ambush
Roach signed with
Major Indoor Soccer League expansion team
St. Louis Ambush for the 2013–14 season.
Saint Louis FC
On March 13, 2015, it was announced that Roach had 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 ...
expansion club
Saint Louis FC.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roach, Michael
1988 births
Living people
American men's soccer players
Indiana Hoosiers men's soccer players
Saint Louis Billikens men's soccer players
New England Revolution players
Saint Louis FC players
Soccer players from St. Louis
New England Revolution draft picks
USL Championship players
Men's association football forwards
St. Louis Ambush (2013–) players
Major Indoor Soccer League (2008–2014) players
Chaminade College Preparatory School (Missouri) alumni