WEST DES MOINES, Iowa – Sunday, Jan. 21, 2018 – Add another member of the 2016 Des Moines Menace to the list of Major League Soccer draftees.

In the third round of the 2018 MLS SuperDraft, reigning champion Toronto FC this afternoon selected Andre Morrison. The defender from Hartford was the 69th overall pick.

Morrison’s news comes two days after a trio from the 2016 Menace – No. 6 pick Chris Mueller (Orlando City SC) and second-rounders Lucas Stauffer (Vancouver Whitecaps FC) and Tommy Barlow (New York Red Bulls) – went in the earlier rounds of this two-day draft.

A native of Clarendon, Jamaica, Morrison played the full 90 minutes in each of his two early-season appearances with Des Moines. As a senior at Hartford last fall, he earned a spot on the America East Conference’s first team.

Like Mueller and Stauffer, Morrison was part of the 2018 MLS Combine, Jan. 11-17 in Orlando.  

With the exception of 2011, at least one former Menace player has been drafted by an MLS team every year from 2001 to 2018. By the organization’s records, 49 Menace alumni have been drafted, and 34 have signed MLS contracts.  

RELATED LINKS 

• 2018 MLS SuperDraft tracker
• Menace Alumni in the Pros (scroll down for the list of MLS draft picks)  

FOOTNOTES       

• Morrison is the sixth member of the 2016 Menace to be drafted by an MLS team. Last year, Jalen Brown (New York City FC, 38th) and Austin Ledbetter (FC Dallas, 53rd) went in the draft’s second and third rounds.
• The 2016 Menace ties the 2010 Menace for the most MLS draft picks for the franchise. The 2010 team’s six eventual draft picks were Matt Kuhn, Logan McDaniel, Stephen Okai, Lebogang Moloto, Kalen Ryden and Brandon Fricke.
• The 2016 Menace went 10-2-2 to clinch a third straight Premier Development League Heartland Division crown; the youthful 2010 Menace went 6-7-3 and missed the playoffs.
• Every Menace team from 1998 to 2017 has included at least one MLS draft pick; the streak continues thanks to Brandon Fricke and Lucas Stauffer from last year’s team. 
• In last month’s 2017 MLS Cup, Toronto FC defeated visiting Seattle Sounders FC, 2-0. Each side had a former Menace player – Mark Pais (2013 Menace) for Toronto and Lamar Neagle (2007-08 Menace) for Seatlle.
• Morrison is the Menace’s 25th MLS draftee in the last seven years.