Men's Soccer: LeBlanc Adds Three
January 11, 2011 12:04 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Coach Marlon LeBlanc has announced the addition of Patrick Eavenson (Huntersville, N.C.), Greg Judge (Raleigh, N.C.) and Francis Molasoko (Courdimanche, France) to the West Virginia University men’s soccer program. All three have enrolled at WVU starting this spring 2010 semester.
“We’re real pleased to have the three of them join the program. Losing Zach Johnson and Dan Hagey, in particular as defenders and goalkeepers, we needed to add some depth at those positions,” LeBlanc said. “With Patrick, Francis and Greg, we think we’ve added three good players that are going to help us going down the road here.”
Eavenson joins the Mountaineers after spending the previous two seasons a goalkeeper at UNC Charlotte. With the 49ers, Eavenson played in eight games, making three starts in 2010. This past season he allowed three goals in 315 minutes of play and made 10 saves with a 0.86 goals-against average. The team earned an NCAA tournament berth in 2009 and won its first Atlantic-10 regular season title in 2010.
“His experience in a good program under a good coach in Jeremy Gunn has prepared him for what he’s going to face here in the BIG EAST Conference. Certainly the job is up for grabs, but it just got that much tougher with Yale Tiley, Paul Killian and Travis Ives all retuning. Patrick really steps into a position where he will be able to compete with those three right away for the job.”
As a varsity starter at Charlotte Catholic High, Eavenson helped the school to the state championship his senior season. He also played on three NCYSA State Champion teams and participated in the 2004 ODP Region III and 2007 USL Super Y National Team Camps while a member of North Meck Academy.
“I’m really excited about joining the Mountaineer family and taking on the challenge of the BIG EAST,” Eavenson said.
Judge comes to Morgantown after captaining the Wakefield High soccer club as a defender. With Wakefield, Judge led the team to a sixth-place ranking in the state, the highest ranking for Wakefield in school history, while also being named first team 4A all-region.
“Greg came through one of the best clubs in the United States,” LeBlanc said. “He’s an athletic, raw, but very talented young defender and he’s someone we think we can help develop. That athleticism and speed will certainly help him at the BIG EAST level and we think we’ve done a good job developing players here, in particular defenders.”
As a member of 92 CASL Elite, Judge helped the squad reach rankings as high as fourth in the nation, placed fifth in the National League and won the North Carolina State Cup. He also played for the ODP team that won the Region 3 ODP Regional Championship and placed third in the ODP Nationals.
Molasoko, a highly decorated defender, joins West Virginia after spending two seasons at Université du Québec à Montréal playing for Christophe Dutarte. Molasoko was one of the top defenders in Québec from 2008-09, playing in 40 games and helping the team win the 2009 Indoor Québec Championship with a game-winning penalty kick. He was also a two-time member of the all-Québec team.
“Francis is a very good defender. We tracked him and got out and watched him,” LeBlanc said. “Certainly he’s been looking to get to the United States and he comes from a very well educated background. His family is well educated and Francis is going to be a tremendous defender at this level.”
In France, Molasoko was a starter for AS Saint Ouen I’Aumone and played for the ASSOA U13 team in the honor division, the biggest league in Paris. Molasoko also played against players such as Gabriel Obertan (Manchester United), David N’Gog (Liverpool) and Armand Traore (Juventus).
“I’m excited to be a part of one of the best soccer programs in the country,” Molasoko said. “I can’t wait to wear the gold and blue jersey.”
Eavenson and Molasoko will be juniors athletically next fall, while Judge will be a sophomore.
West Virginia finished the season 11-8-2 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament before falling to eventual national champion, Akron. The Mountaineers return 10 regular starters and 17 letterwinners in 2011. All of the team’s 34 goals in 2010 return and WVU only lose seven of its 116 points.
“We’re real pleased to have the three of them join the program. Losing Zach Johnson and Dan Hagey, in particular as defenders and goalkeepers, we needed to add some depth at those positions,” LeBlanc said. “With Patrick, Francis and Greg, we think we’ve added three good players that are going to help us going down the road here.”
Eavenson joins the Mountaineers after spending the previous two seasons a goalkeeper at UNC Charlotte. With the 49ers, Eavenson played in eight games, making three starts in 2010. This past season he allowed three goals in 315 minutes of play and made 10 saves with a 0.86 goals-against average. The team earned an NCAA tournament berth in 2009 and won its first Atlantic-10 regular season title in 2010.
“His experience in a good program under a good coach in Jeremy Gunn has prepared him for what he’s going to face here in the BIG EAST Conference. Certainly the job is up for grabs, but it just got that much tougher with Yale Tiley, Paul Killian and Travis Ives all retuning. Patrick really steps into a position where he will be able to compete with those three right away for the job.”
As a varsity starter at Charlotte Catholic High, Eavenson helped the school to the state championship his senior season. He also played on three NCYSA State Champion teams and participated in the 2004 ODP Region III and 2007 USL Super Y National Team Camps while a member of North Meck Academy.
“I’m really excited about joining the Mountaineer family and taking on the challenge of the BIG EAST,” Eavenson said.
Judge comes to Morgantown after captaining the Wakefield High soccer club as a defender. With Wakefield, Judge led the team to a sixth-place ranking in the state, the highest ranking for Wakefield in school history, while also being named first team 4A all-region.
“Greg came through one of the best clubs in the United States,” LeBlanc said. “He’s an athletic, raw, but very talented young defender and he’s someone we think we can help develop. That athleticism and speed will certainly help him at the BIG EAST level and we think we’ve done a good job developing players here, in particular defenders.”
As a member of 92 CASL Elite, Judge helped the squad reach rankings as high as fourth in the nation, placed fifth in the National League and won the North Carolina State Cup. He also played for the ODP team that won the Region 3 ODP Regional Championship and placed third in the ODP Nationals.
Molasoko, a highly decorated defender, joins West Virginia after spending two seasons at Université du Québec à Montréal playing for Christophe Dutarte. Molasoko was one of the top defenders in Québec from 2008-09, playing in 40 games and helping the team win the 2009 Indoor Québec Championship with a game-winning penalty kick. He was also a two-time member of the all-Québec team.
“Francis is a very good defender. We tracked him and got out and watched him,” LeBlanc said. “Certainly he’s been looking to get to the United States and he comes from a very well educated background. His family is well educated and Francis is going to be a tremendous defender at this level.”
In France, Molasoko was a starter for AS Saint Ouen I’Aumone and played for the ASSOA U13 team in the honor division, the biggest league in Paris. Molasoko also played against players such as Gabriel Obertan (Manchester United), David N’Gog (Liverpool) and Armand Traore (Juventus).
“I’m excited to be a part of one of the best soccer programs in the country,” Molasoko said. “I can’t wait to wear the gold and blue jersey.”
Eavenson and Molasoko will be juniors athletically next fall, while Judge will be a sophomore.
West Virginia finished the season 11-8-2 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament before falling to eventual national champion, Akron. The Mountaineers return 10 regular starters and 17 letterwinners in 2011. All of the team’s 34 goals in 2010 return and WVU only lose seven of its 116 points.
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