SEATTLE — The Seattle Sounders announced Thursday the signing of midfielder Jordan Schweitzer as a homegrown player. Schweitzer, 21, attended Jackson High School, Sounders FC Academy and the University of Denver.
“He is a central midfielder who understands the importance to the team effort through his distribution, positional play and passing,” coach Sigi Schmid said in a club press release.
At Jackson, Schweitzer was team captain as a junior and earned a First-Team All-Wesco selection.
Schweitzer started 70 matches across four seasons from 2012-2015 at Denver. As a senior in 2015, he was honored with a First-Team All-West Region selection after co-captaining the Pioneers to their second-straight Summit League Championship.
“I grew up watching Osvaldo Alonso, and he’s someone I look to emulate,” Schweitzer told SoundersFC.com. “I’m someone who will work hard each and every day. If I get the chance to show myself in games and be someone in there who can break up plays and connect the back four to the midfield. … I’m going to wear the crest with pride.”
Schedule released
The Sounders will begin and end their 2016 Major League Soccer season at home.
Seattle’s eighth MLS regular season starts March 6 when Sporting Kansas City visits CenturyLink Field, and ends Oct. 23 with a visit from Real Salt Lake.
In all, the Sounders and the other 19 MLS teams will play 34 regular-season games, same as last season.
Seattle will begin Cascadia Cup play March 19, when the Vancouver Whitecaps make the first of two visits. The Sounders will make two visits to defending MLS Cup champion Portland: July 17 and Aug. 28. The Timbers will make their lone trip to Seattle on Aug. 21.
New York City FC will make its first visit to Seattle on June 25, while the Sounders will travel to Orlando City for the first time on Aug. 7.
Fourteen Sounders games will be shown on national television: seven on ESPN, six on Fox Sports 1 and one on Fox. Regional broadcast details are yet to be announced.
Added time
Sounders midfielder Gonzalo Pineda, 33, announced Thursday that he is ending his playing career after 13 professional seasons.
Pineda spent two of those seasons — 2014 and 2015 — in Seattle, appearing in 56 regular-season games while recording four goals and nine assists.
Last month the Sounders declined its option on Pineda’s contact.
Pineda also has 44 appearances with the Mexican national team.
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