Jan. 15, 2009

DAVIS, Calif. - UC Davis men's soccer player Quincy Amarikwa was taken with the 32nd pick by the San Jose Earthquakes in the third round of the 2009 Major League Soccer SuperDraft Thursday. Amarikwa becomes the first-ever Aggie to be chosen in the SuperDraft and the second player since Ryan Shaw in 2004 to be drafted into the MLS.

"It's a great tribute to Quincy and all the hard work and effort he put into it," said head coach Dwayne Shaffer. "I think he will be a great player for San Jose. He's in a perfect spot being able to play so close to home. It's a great achievement for our program. It shows that we are recruiting the student-athletes who are able to compete at the professional level."

Amarikwa, who participated at the MLS Combine earlier in the week, capped his senior season by earning second-team All-America and first-team All-Far West Region accolades by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). Amarikwa also earned Big West Offensive Player of the Year honors following the best offensive season of his career. He finished as the conference leader in goals scored (15) and was second in points (31). Both are career highs and put him into the top five on the UC Davis career list.

Amarikwa, a native of Bakersfield, also led conference players with two Big West Player of the Week honors and two national team of the week accolades. He also became the first Aggie to receive national player of the week honors on Oct. 13. Amarikwa's list of accolades also includes a spot on the TopDrawerSoccer.com Teams of the Season, which is their equivalent of an All-America team, and Soccer America MVP's second team.

Shaw was taken by the Los Angeles Galaxy in the 2004 Supplemental Draft.

UC Davis earned its second consecutive trip to the NCAA Division I postseason and advanced to the second round following a 4-0 victory over Denver at Aggie Soccer Stadium. All three feats marked firsts for any UC Davis team.