Stephen King (born March 6, 1986) is a former 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.

Career

Youth and high school

King attended Shawnee High School where he was a four-year starter (2000–03) under coach Brian Gibney. He led the Renegades to a 99–5–3 record during his tenure, including 2001 and 2003 Group IV state championships. During the latter title run, King's senior year, he recorded 24 goals and 27 assists. King was named the New Jersey

Gatorade Gatorade is an American brand of sports-themed beverage and food products, built around its signature line of sports drinks. Gatorade is currently manufactured by PepsiCo and is distributed in over 80 countries. The beverage was first develop ...

and

NSCAA The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than 30 ...

Player of the Year. He was also selected as a ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...

'', EA Student Sports and NSCAA/adidas All-American. Additionally, King was named a USYSA Inter-Regional All-American and finished his prep career with 46 goals and 56 assists. King was selected to play for the Region I Olympic Development Program team from 1999 to 2004 and participated as a U–16 national pool player. During his earlier years he was the captain of the U–15 national team and also played for the nationally prominent FC Delco club team.

College

Heavily recruited out of high school, King chose the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

over other high-profile schools such as Wake Forest,

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, St. John's and

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

. During his four-year tenure in which he started all 93 contests he played in (a Maryland career starts record), King would lead the Terrapins to two

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Sweet Sixteens, the 2004 College Cup, and the 2005 National Championship.''UMTerps.com'': King Chosen By Chicago Fire In MLS SuperDraft
. Accessed March 23, 2008. He was a

Hermann Trophy The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the United States's top men's and women's college soccer players. History In 1967, Bob Hermann, the president of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and the ...

semi-finalist for his junior and senior seasons, and a

Lowe's Lowe's Companies, Inc. (), often shortened to Lowe's, is an American retail company specializing in home improvement. Headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina, the company operates a chain of retail stores in the United States and Canada. A ...

Senior CLASS Award, ''College Soccer News'' First Team All-American and First Team All-

ACC ACC most often refers to: * Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US *American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...

for his senior season. According to UMTerps.cstv.com, "King finished his career second all-time in assists at Maryland with 33 while his 93 career points ranks sixth. He also scored 30

goals A goal is an objective that a person or a system plans or intends to achieve. Goal may also refer to: Sport * Goal (sports), a method of scoring in many sports, or the physical structure or area where scoring occurs ** Goals, the goal frame in ...

which is one away from the top 10. His three-assist performance against No. 14

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

on November 3, 2007 tied the program record for assists in a game. He racked up 13 assists in 2007 which is the second most in school history in a single season." King was also named the 2007 ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for men's soccer, an award for recognizing the top junior or senior student-athlete in each respective ACC sport. Candidates must maintain a career 3.0 or better grade point average and have gotten 3.0+ each of their past two semesters to qualify. He was also named to

ESPN The Magazine ''ESPN The Magazine'' was an American monthly sports magazine published by the ESPN sports network in Bristol, Connecticut. The first issue was published on March 11, 1998. Initially published every other week, it scaled back to 24 issues a year i ...

's 2007 Academic All-America Men's Soccer Team.

Professional

On January 18, 2008, King became the

Maryland Terrapins The Maryland Terrapins, commonly referred to as the Terps, consist of 19 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Maryland, College Park in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divis ...

' 22nd

MLS 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 ...

draftee since its inception in 1996. The Chicago Fire selected him in the third round (40th overall). He made his MLS debut against

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 20 ...

on March 29, entering in the 54th minute., and made his first career start against the

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

on April 12. King scored his first MLS goal against the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

on May 3. It was an unassisted goal in the 76th minute. On November 26, 2008, King was selected by

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...

in the fourth round of the 2008 MLS Expansion Draft. He made his Sounders debut on May 2, 2009 appearing as a substitute against his old club

Chicago Fire FC (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. King was traded to

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 ...

on April 30, 2010. Seattle received a second-round pick in the

2011 MLS SuperDraft The 2011 MLS SuperDraft was the twelfth annual SuperDraft presented by Major League Soccer. It was held on January 13, 2011 in Baltimore, Maryland, during the 2011 NSCAA Convention at the Baltimore Convention Center. The 2011 SuperDraft consiste ...

in exchange. He made his debut for DC a day later in a 2–0 loss at home to the

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 ...

. King signed a new contract with D.C. on September 8, 2011. Terms were undisclosed. King was released by D.C. United on December 18, 2012.

Statistics

Honors

Seattle Sounders FC

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 ...

(1):

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Personal

King is the son of Douglas and Jayne King, and has two brothers, Brian and Sean.''UMTerps.com'': Stephen King profile page
. Accessed March 23, 2009.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:King, Stephen 1986 births Living people People from Medford, New Jersey Sportspeople from Burlington County, New Jersey Shawnee High School (New Jersey) alumni Soccer players from New Jersey American soccer players Maryland Terrapins men's soccer players Chicago Fire FC players Seattle Sounders FC players D.C. United players Major League Soccer players Chicago Fire FC draft picks Men's association football midfielders