MLS draft: Fire picks Louisville’s Berry; Mokena’s Andrew Duran goes to Seattle

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Louisville defender Austin Berry, the Chicago Fire's first pick in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft, chosen ninth in the first round Thursday, Jan.12, 2012, in Kansas City, Mo.

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Updated: January 12, 2012 4:44PM

The Chicago Fire went for defense with its first pick in Thursday’s Major League Soccer SuperDraft, picking Austin Berry, a defender who played for Louisville, after the top of the draft went largely as expected, with the expansion Montreal Impact getting Duke forward Andrew Wenger at No. 1 and the Vancouver Whitecaps taking Akron forward Darren Mattocks at No. 2.

Creighton defender Andrew Duran — who is from Mokena and played for the Fire’s Premier Development League team last summer — went No. 15 to Seattle. He graduated from Lincoln-Way East High School in Frankfort and also played in the Chicago Magic youth soccer program.

At Lincoln-Way East, Duran, now 22, was the Illinois player of the year and the National Soccer Coaches Association of America’s national high school player of the year.

In the second round, the Fire picked Lucky Mkosana, a 5-foot-9, 169-pound forward who played for Dartmouth, is from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and attended high school in New Hampshire.

The Fire also picked Virginia defender Hunter Jumper in the second round.

The Fire chose Berry with the ninth pick in the draft. Berry, 23, who’s 6-2 and weights 180 pounds and is known as a top player in the air, is from Cincinnati but played for the Fire’s Premier Development League team in 2010.

“I’m real excited,” Berry said of being picked by the Fire. “I love the city, love the organization. I can’t be excited enough.”

Berry helped lead Louisville to 11 shutouts this past season and had one goal and one assist en route to being named a first team All-Big East selection for the second straight year. For his career with the Cardinals, he scored 11 goals and had five assists.

The former midfielder helped Louisville to its best finish ever in the NCAA College Cup when they lost in the final in 2010 to Akron.

With the first overall pick in the draft held in Kansas City, Mo., Montreal got Wenger, who won the Hermann Trophy as the top NCAA player and was seen by many the most complete player in the draft. He was the ACC offensive player of the year this season and defensive player of the year last season. The 6-foot forward had 17 goals and eight assists in 22 games for the Blue Devils in 2011.

“It’s an honor, but it’s exciting,” said Wenger, who plans to join the new MLS club in a couple of weeks, once he completes his responsibilities with the U.S. men’s national under-23 team.

Montreal club officials had wavered on who to pick between Wenger and Mattocks, who many believe has greater long-term potential, ultimately choosing Wenger’s versatility over Mattocks’ scoring punch.

“It’s going to be awesome,” Wenger said. “I’ve never lived in a big city. I’ve been watching a lot of the Travel Channel lately, so at least I know of some nice places to eat.”

Montreal coach Jesse Marsch, a longtime MLS star who played at one point for the Fire, said of Wenger: “We just felt he had the best future, short-term and long-term.”

Mattocks is a speedy Jamaican who wound up at powerhouse Akron because he wanted to acclimate himself to playing in colder weather. He’ll certainly get that opportunity in Vancouver.

“I knew from the get-go that it would be between me and Wenger,” said Mattocks, a Hermann Trophy semifinalist and Mid-American Conference player of the year, who scored 39 goals in 47 games during his two years with the Zips.

After Vancouver took Mattocks, UCLA midfielder Kelyn Rowe went at No. 3 to New England.

UC Santa Barbara’s Luis Silva was picked fourth by Toronto FC.

Maryland forward Casey Townsend — who scored 43 goals for Maryland, third most in school history — was picked fifth by Chivas USA.

San Jose picked UCSB forward Sam Garza sixth. Garza began his college career at Denver before scoring 17 goals in two seasons for the Gauchos, helping them to a 15-7-1 record and the third round of the NCAA tournament this season. Garza’s grandfather, Bill Cross, was a running back for the old Chicago Cardinals in the NFL.

Garza was followed by Louisville midfielder Nick DeLeon to DC United at No. 7, Connecticut defender Andrew Jean-Baptiste at No. 8 to Portland and Creighton forward Ethan Finlay to Columbus at No. 10.

Then came North Carolina defender Matt Hedges at No. 11 to FC Dallas; Notre Dame defender Aaron Maund at No.12 to Toronto; UCLA forward Chandler Hoffman at No. 13 to .Philadelphia; and Connecticut midfielder Tony Cascio at No. 14 to Colorado.

Next picked were: South Florida forward Dom Dwyer at No. 16 to Sporting Kansas City; North Carolina midfielder Enzo Martinez, picked much lower than expected, at No. 17 by Real Salt Lake; Louisville forward Colin Rolfe at No. 18 to the Houston Dynamo; and Indiana defender Tommy Meyer at No. 19 to the Los Angeles Galaxy, ending the first round of the draft.

In the second round, Marquette midfielder Calum Mallace was picked at No. 20 by Vancouver; Indiana defender Chris Estridge went at No. 21 to Montreal and Creighton forward Tyler Polak to New England before the Fire took Mkosana.

Southern Methodist defender Diogo de Almeida went to Real Salt Lake with the 24th pick.

He was followed by Washington midfielder Jacob Hustedt at No. 25 to San Jose; South Florida defender Aubrey Perry at No. 26 to Columbus; and Notre Dame midfielder Brendan King to Portland at No. 27.

After the Fire took Jumper at No. 28, Columbus went for Central Florida midfielder Kevan George with the 29th pick, followed by Sporting Kansas City picking Coastal Carolina defender Cyprian Hedrick at No. 30, New York getting Fordham goalkeeper Ryan Meara at No. 31, Philadelphia picking Creighton midfielder Greg Jordan at No. 32, San Jose getting South Florida goalkeeper Chris Blais at No. 33, Seattle taking Alabama-Birmingham forward Babayele Sodade at No. 34, Philadelphia getting West Virginia defender Raymon Gaddis at No. 35.

Then, Real Salt Lake took Spartanburg Methodist midfielder Sebastian Velasquez at No. 36, Houston got Central Florida midfielder Warren Creavalle at No. 37 and Los Angeles took Louisville midfielder Kenney Walker at No. 38 with the last pick of the draft.

Among those who went undrafted: North Carolina midfielder Kirk Urso of Lombard, who was captain of the Tar Heels team that won the NCAA College Cup national championship last month and who took part in the MLS combine held earlier this month in South Florida so potential draft picks could be evaluated against each other.

Contributing: Paul Saltzman