University Park, Pa. — Former Penn State midfielder Drew Cost (West Chester, Pa.) was selected by Real Salt Lake in the Major League Soccer Supplemental Draft on Tuesday afternoon. The two-time All-Big Ten honoree was chosen with the No. 14 pick (32nd overall) in the second round.
A 2010 team co-captain, Cost was a major factor in the success of the Penn State attack this season from his central midfield spot. Starting all 21 games in which he played, missing two games only due to a foot injury, he helped the Nittany Lions emerge as one of the nation’s top offenses, totaling 45 goals and a Big Ten-best 54 assists for 144 points. Cost finished 2010 ranked fourth on the team with a single season career-high five assists and fourth in points with 11. One of his three goals was a game winner, lifting Penn State to a key 1-0 victory over Villanova on Oct. 6.
A starter of 70 games of the 79 in which he appeared, the 2009 and 2010 Second Team All-Big Ten selection compiled 30 career points on 10 goals and 10 assists.
The 2009 MLS Champions, Real Salt Lake posted a 15-4-11 record in 2010, placing second in the Western Conference with 56 points, but was ousted by FC Dallas in the semifinals of the playoffs. Leading the MLS in goal differential (+25) last season, RSL featured a potent offense, scoring a league-high 45 goals, and a stifling defense, allowing a league-low 20 goals. Real Salt Lake is helmed by head coach Jeff Kreis, the first American-born player to earn league MVP honors and the youngest coach to win an MLS Championship. Opened in 2008 with a seating capacity of 20,000, the club plays its home games at Rio Tinto Stadium, a state-of-the-art, world-class facility located in Sandy, Utah.
Cost is the third Penn State player to be drafted into the MLS in program history. Last week, Corey Hertzog was selected by the New York Red Bulls in the first round of the 2011 MLS SuperDraft with the 13th overall pick. Jason Yeisley, the 2009 Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, became the first last year when he was taken by FC Dallas with the sixth pick in the third round of the 2010 MLS SuperDraft
