Round 2 of “Meet your new DC United Players”- Milos Kocic and Lyle Adams

By: jon | January 15th, 2009

Alright folks, here we go.

Milos Kocic-GK Loyola:
6′4 Serbian native from Loyola, considered one of the top GK prospects in the class, behind Stefan Frei, who went to TFC.
-Here’s an interview he did with Center Holds It.

-Another big writeup in the Baltimore Sun here. Pull quotes below…

“Milos thrives on challenges. Before big games, you can see his focus and feel his energy in the locker room,” Mettrick said. “He rises to a higher level, and he passes that on to the rest.”

Tension? Bring it on, Kocic said.

“I love pressure,” he said. “My defenders are a huge part of this team, but I want to be the leader. When I make a good save, I feel really cool about myself – and when we win a shutout, I feel good, having survived that.”

“Milos commands his box,” the coach said. “Sometimes big men in the goal can be not as quick as you like, but he is explosive.”

Having Kocic in the net is like giving the job to a linebacker, Mettrick said.

“You really don’t want to [collide] with him,” he said. “Simply put, if I was a forward, I wouldn’t want to run into one of his knees. That would not end well.”

Adios, Zach Wells.

Lyle Adams-D, Wake Forest

WF website- “A powerful defender with solid size and speed who has earned a starting spot in the back line since his freshman season … A key player in helping the squad set back-to-back shut out records with 13 in 2006 and15 in 2007 … Continued to improve on offensive attacking ability and impact. ”

He’s an econ major, so I like him for that. And can write. So there are two positives.

Q&A on Center Holds It.

3rd Degree.Net’s take- “Really tall and lanky outside right runner out of the back. Runs all day and gets behind people to great effect. Second best right back after Alston.

Don’t let the lack of conference honors fool you, immense talent can come through the Atlantic Coast Conference while hardly being noticed. Speed kills and this left sided flank defender has plenty of it. As a four year starter at Wake he plays in as advanced a pro style 4-4-2 as you’ll find in college. Adams was a key part of the 51 shutouts his defense earned in his time there. He’s got good feet and loves to take opposition with pace, eleven goals and six assists show the quality getting forward. Adams is the best wide defender in the senior class”.