Mike began playing, and dominating, soccer at high levels very early on in his career. He started off playing club soccer for the Centeninal Warriors winning Snickers New Jersey State Cup tournaments the way Mike "The Situation" hits on girls, in style and often. Other than dominating his age group in New Jersey year after year his team and him played overseas in Portugal, as well as playing and being very competitive in the prestigious Dallas Cup.
Now comes high school. This is where Mike came into his own. As a freshman it was clear that he was the real deal as he started and drew double teams from just about every team he played against in the mighty Mountain Valley Conference in Union County. This continued in his sophomore year as well when it was obvious that every coach planned their game around him. Now junior year came. This year made it very clear that Michael was on another level compared to other players and I saw this on the field playing with him (a little self promotion never hurt). He was selected to the All-State and All-County teams and was the buzz of the county. Mike had such a great junior year, both in club and high school, that before his senior year began he committed to the University of Villanova. As he played in his senior season things got wild, cat (bad pun sorry). Mike smashed county and school records like Tiger Woods' wife smashed his face in. Again, he was the talk of the town and was eventually named to the High School All-American team.
In college Mike again rose to become the cream of the crop. Just like in high school, he started all four years and earned many awards and named to plenty of teams. Most notibly being the Philadelphia Soccer 7 Player of the Year and being named to the Big East All-Conference team 3 times. Although I wasn't able to see as many games as I wanted to, it was obvious Mike was going to have magically things happen to him, like Pinnochio. He was invited to the MLS combine and was called "the surprise of the combine" by a few different websites.
On draft day he was nervous, probably sweating like a (insert word here) in church but who wouldn't be. Then it happened, the team co-owned by Drew Carey himself selected one of the best athletes I've ever had the pleasure of playing with. A well deserve honor for someone who works hard and hasn't forgotten where he comes from. After being selected he was taken to the back for interviews and pictures which can be seen here http://www.soundersfc.com/News/Articles/2010/01-January/2010-SuperDraft.aspx. When you watch the video and the man references someone jumping out of their chair, that's yours truely, I get excited like a child.
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