Matt Van Oekel

Last updated
Matt Van Oekel
Personal information
Full name James Matthew Van Oekel
Date of birth (1986-09-20) September 20, 1986 (age 38)
Place of birth Chesapeake, Virginia, United States
Height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team
 Birmingham Legion
Number 1
College career
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
2004 Longwood Lancers 17 (0)
2005–2007 Rutgers Scarlet Knights 47 (0)
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
2008–2009 Minnesota Thunder 1 (0)
2010–2014 Minnesota United 71 (0)
2015–2016 FC Edmonton 54 (0)
2017 Real Salt Lake 7 (0)
2017 → Real Monarchs (loan) 1 (0)
2018 Oklahoma City Energy 18 (0)
2019– Birmingham Legion 131 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of October 27, 2024

James Matthew "Matt" Van Oekel (born September 20, 1986) is an American professional soccer player who last played as a goalkeeper for USL Championship club Birmingham Legion FC.

Contents

Career

Youth and college

Van Oekel played one year of college soccer at Longwood University before transferring to Rutgers in his sophomore year. With Rutgers, he played in 47 games and earned 20 wins.

Professional

Van Oekel signed with Minnesota out of college in 2008, after impressing staff at the Thunder combine in February 2008. [1]

He made his professional debut on September 13, 2009, in 1–1 draw with Montreal Impact, [2] and was released at the end of the season when the Thunder failed, before being picked up by their successor NSC Minnesota Stars, in April 2010. [3]

Minnesota United FC, now playing in the North American Soccer League, re-signed Van Oekel for the 2011 season on March 11, 2011. [4] Minnesota announced in December 2011 that Van Oekel would return for the 2012 season. [5]

Van Oekel signed with Major League Soccer side Real Salt Lake on December 22, 2016. On March 25, 2017, Van Oekel made his first MLS start with RSL, tallying three saves against New York Red Bulls. [6]

Van Oekel signed with USL side Oklahoma City Energy FC on January 5, 2018. [7]

Van Oekel was acquired by Birmingham Legion FC on December 12, 2018. [8]

Related Research Articles

Manuel "Manny" Lagos is an American former professional soccer player who played as a midfielder. He is the current sporting director and former head coach of Minnesota United FC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andres Arango</span> Canadian soccer player (born 1983)

Andres Arango is a former soccer player who played in the Canadian Professional Soccer League, USL A-League, and the North American Soccer League. Arango is currently a coach with Florida Premier FC in the United Premier Soccer League. Born in Colombia, he represented Canada at youth level as a player.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Carolina FC</span> Soccer team based in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina

North Carolina FC is an American professional soccer team in Cary, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 2006, the team previously was named the Carolina Railhawks.

Brian Kallman is an American retired soccer player who played for Minnesota United FC in the North American Soccer League. He announced his retirement from professional soccer in January 2016.

Kyle Marten Altman is an American former soccer player, who last played for Minnesota United FC in the North American Soccer League. He was the 2003 New Mexico High School Coaches Association's Class 4A boys' soccer player of the year. He played college soccer at Trinity University, where he was a first team All American in 2006 and 2007. He played soccer professionally for the Minnesota Thunder and Minnesota United FC. He won a silver medal with Team USA at the 2005 Maccabiah Games in Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cristiano Dias</span> Brazilian footballer (born 1986)

Cristiano Fagundes Dias, sometimes known as just Cristiano, is a Brazilian footballer who most recently played for Puerto Rico FC in the North American Soccer League.

Andrei Sergeevich Gotsmanov is a Belarusian footballer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neil Hlavaty</span> American soccer player

Neil Hlavaty is an American former professional soccer player who is currently an assistant coach for Forward Madison FC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">USSF Division 2 Professional League</span> Soccer league

The USSF Division 2 Professional League was a temporary professional soccer league created by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) for the 2010 season. The twelve-team league was formed as a compromise between the feuding United Soccer Leagues (USL) and the North American Soccer League (NASL). The D2 Pro League was the second tier of the United States soccer league system below Major League Soccer. The league also included two clubs from Canada and one club from Puerto Rico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justin Davis (soccer)</span> American soccer player

Justin Davis is an American soccer player.

The 2010 FC Tampa Bay season was the first and inaugural season of FC Tampa Bay and only season in the USL Conference of the USSF Division 2 Professional League, the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The USSF D-2 was a temporary professional soccer league created by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) in 2010 to last just one season, as a compromise between the feuding United Soccer Leagues (USL) and the North American Soccer League (NASL).

The 2011 Montreal Impact season was the 18th season of the franchise. It was the club's final season in the NASL before a new Major League Soccer club of the same name, with the same ownership replaces the Impact for the 2012 season.

The 2011 season is the Puerto Rico Islanders 8th season over all and their 1st season in the North American Soccer League. This article shows player statistics and all matches that the club have and will play during the 2011 season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luke Mulholland</span> English footballer

Luke Mulholland is an English former footballer and current scout for Real Salt Lake in Major League Soccer.

2011 FC Tampa Bay season was the second in the club's existence and the first in the NASL.

The 2011 Atlanta Silverback season was the club's fifteenth year of existence, and their first year in the North American Soccer League (NASL). It's the team's first year back after a two-year hiatus from competitive play.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff Attinella</span> American soccer player

Jeff Attinella is an American former professional soccer player who previously played as a goalkeeper for Major League Soccer club Portland Timbers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North American Soccer League (2011–2017)</span> Former soccer league

The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league based in the United States. The league was named for, but had no connection to, the original North American Soccer League. The later NASL was founded in 2009, and began play in 2011 with eight teams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enzo Martínez (footballer, born 1990)</span> Uruguayan footballer

Enzo Agustín Martínez Beltrán is a Uruguayan footballer who plays for Birmingham Legion in the USL Championship.

The 2016 North American Soccer League season is the 49th season of Division II soccer in the United States and Canada, and the 6th season of the modern North American Soccer League.

References

  1. ↑ Thunder Signs Goalkeeper Matt Van Oekel Archived 2008-06-04 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ "Minnesota, Montreal tie 1–1". Archived from the original on 2011-10-02. Retrieved 2009-09-27.
  3. ↑ "NSC Stars Go Up Against Carolina RailHawks – IMS Soccer News". Insidemnsoccer.com.
  4. ↑ "NSC Minnesota Stars Add Two Players and a Coach – OurSports Central". Oursportscentral.com. 11 March 2011.
  5. ↑ "- NASL". Nasl.com.
  6. ↑ "Real Salt Lake sign GK Matt Van Oekel, midfielder Jose Hernandez". MLSSoccer.com. December 22, 2016. Retrieved January 16, 2018.
  7. ↑ "Goalkeeper Matt Van Oekel added to Energy FC roster". EnergyFC.com. January 5, 2018. Retrieved January 16, 2018.
  8. ↑ Hicks, Doug (12 December 2018). "Legion FC acquires goalkeeper Matt Van Oekel". Birmingham Legion FC. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.