ST. LOUIS -- With few picks in the day, Real Salt Lake looked to add some young talent to their roster. With their first pick of the day, No. 12 overall, RSL selected midfielder Jean Alexandre from Lynn University.
"We're moving to a grass field. We wanted to get more athletic," Real Salt Lake general manager Garth Lagerway said. "We got the best athlete in the draft."
And then they waited until the fourth round. Real Salt Lake selected midfielder Raphael Cox, out of the University of Washington, with the No. 54 overall selection and Alabama A&M forward Futhi Bhembe (No. 57) to round out the day.
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"Both players represent something we don't currently have on the team," Real Salt Lake head coach Jason Kreis said. "They're two players we'd like take a bit of a chance on."
In his four seasons at Lynn, Alexandre appeared in 69 games, with 34 goals and 16 assists. He wrapped up his college career with 23 goals and seven assists in 2008. Real Salt Lake might have been the only team familiar with Alexandre. And getting him with the No. 12 pick, Kreis said will work to their advantage.
"We played against Jean last year in Ft. Lauderdale," Kreis said. "After the game, the whole coaching and technical staff said he was the best player on the field -- both teams included. He still had college eligibility left, so we couldn't make an acquisition. We were hopeful that he'd still be around at No. 12 and he was.
Cox comes to Salt Lake after spending three seasons with the University of Washington. The Tacoma, Wash. native played in 59 matches with 14 goals and 17 assists. He earned All-Pacific 10 Conference in his final two seasons. Cox had a career high seven goals and six assists in his senior campaign.
A native of Swaziland, Bhembe joins the club after playing at Alabama A&M University. He tied for third in NCAA Division I in goals per game, scoring 14 goals in 16 games last season.
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