Zachary Joe Wells (born February 26, 1981, in

Costa Mesa, California Costa Mesa (; Spanish for "Table Coast") is a city in Orange County, California. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to an urban area including part of the South Coast Plaza–John Wa ...

) is an American former professional

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 as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

College

Wells 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 ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

from 1999 to 2003, where he helped the school to the NCAA Championship as a junior, and was named first-team All-Pac-10 as a senior.

MLS

Upon graduating, Wells was selected 21st overall in the

2004 MLS SuperDraft The 2004 MLS SuperDraft, held in Charlotte, North Carolina on January 16, 2004, was the fifth incarnation of the annual Major League Soccer SuperDraft. The draft was most notable at the time for the selection of one of the youngest athletes in Am ...

by the MetroStars. He spent much of the season backing up national teamer Jonny Walker, but played two games in mid-season. In 2005, with Walker recovering from surgery, Wells took over the starting role, and played well, leading to Walker's trade to Columbus. But the return of Tony Meola to the club left Wells being a backup again. He was traded to Houston for a 4th round pick in the

2006 MLS SuperDraft The 2006 MLS SuperDraft, held in Philadelphia on January 20, 2006, was the seventh incarnation of the annual Major League Soccer SuperDraft. The first selection originally belonged to Chivas USA, but they traded it to the MetroStars for the fift ...

. He was acquired along with a conditional draft pick 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 Suppo ...

for Bobby Boswell on December 12, 2007. Wells announced his retirement from professional soccer on February 17, 2009, just a month before the start of the 2009 MLS season."Zach Wells retires from Major League Soccer," D.C. United Media Relations, Tuesday, February 17, 2009.
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National team

Wells earned his only cap for the U.S. national team on February 19, 2006, in a 4–0 victory over

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas.

Honors

Houston Dynamo

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 ...

MLS Cup (2):

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, Zach 1981 births Living people American soccer players Association football goalkeepers D.C. United players Houston Dynamo FC players Major League Soccer players New York Red Bulls draft picks New York Red Bulls players People from Costa Mesa, California UCLA Bruins men's soccer players United States men's international soccer players Newport Harbor High School alumni NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament Most Outstanding Player winners