The Seattle Sounders have started making moves to solidify and strengthen the squad ahead of the 2026 season. There are still some holes to fill, though, so we’re back for the final entry in this series and this time we’re looking at some possible options the Sounders could turn to from college soccer.
Tim Ostlund-Foss
Tim Ostlund-Foss
The image is a little clearer when it comes to the players coming through Division 1 now that the College Cup Final has been played and UW men are champions, and Paul Harvey has published this true gem of a resource over at American Soccer Analysis. It’s very much worth your time to browse if you’ve got the time and interest, and I’ll be using it as we go through this piece.
Rather than breaking things into parts of the field, I’m going to primarily divide the players here into the mechanism by which Seattle might be able to bring them in. It’s likely that these players, more so than the guys mentioned in the previous entries, will at least start with Tacoma Defiance. That doesn’t mean that there can't or won't be first-team players, but I just want to set expectations here. Defiance have a lot of spots to fill, and this is a great opportunity to fill some of them.
Already drafted
This section is a short one, and almost certainly these guys would be Defiance players if they were to join the organization. First and most likely is Bowling Green forward Trace Terry. Terry was selected in the third round of last year’s draft by Seattle but returned to Bowling Green, where he had 10 goals and 2 assists in 1,519 minutes. The 6’2” forward turned 22 in October had a total of 28 goals and 13 assists in 4,942 minutes during his college career. Terry looks like he’d be an excellent addition for Defiance while retaining his MLS rights for another year. Although Harvey’s dashboard doesn’t rate him particularly highly, he still offers a lot as a physical presence in the box and as a defensive forward. He doesn’t give up possession easily, gets off shots at a decent rate (2.45 per 90) and has good xG (0.48/90) and xG/shot (0.196), while averaging 14.66 ground and aerial duels per 90.
The other player that fits this bill, albeit quite differently, would be Buba Fofanah out of UC Santa Barbara. The Sounders selected Fofanah from the University of Portland in the 3rd round of the 2024 SuperDraft, but he returned to UP for 2024 and suffered a season-ending injury early in the season. During his time at UP, Fofanah put up 18 goals and 12 assists in 60 appearances (2,850 minutes). After 2024 he moved to UCSB as a grad student and contributed 6 goals and 2 assists in 902 minutes, making 11 starts in 18 appearances.
Fofanah is now 24, but still has something to offer as a forward or wide player. At 5’9” he’s not the physical presence of Terry, and his defense is easily the weakest part of his game, but his finishing is solid and he’s an absolute problem with the ball at his feet and a defender in front of him. Per Harvey’s dashboard, Fofanah averaged 8.464 progressive actions/90, including 3.65 progressive runs. Although the Sounders' hold on his MLS rights have effectively run out, he's expected to join the Defiance in preseason.
Academy connections
These are the guys who made their way through the Sounders Academy before going off to college. We’ll start with the players who have the most direct and most recent connections, guys who could be potential Homegrown Players, and move down to more tangential connections.
Alex Hall is the first name on this list. Hall won the U17 Generation Adidas Cup with the academy in 2022, and just added the College Cup to his career honors. The 20-year-old sophomore took a big jump this year, being named All-Big Ten First Team as he put up 5 goals and 8 assists in 1,905 minutes, making 17 starts in 24 appearances in 2025. As a freshman, he only had 1 start, 1 goal and 1 assist, playing 472 minutes in 14 appearances. Hall is an attacking midfielder who rates pretty well in just about every category. His progression and creation numbers are fantastic, really only lagging in terms of long ball receptions and what percentage of his passes are played long (5.9%). He wins his duels on both sides of the ball, averaged 0.32 xG+xA/90, and averages 2.91 passes into the box per 90.
Earlier this year Wade Webber mentioned Hall as one of the current crop of college players who could be the next academy graduate to go from college to the Sounders, along with our next player, Gabe Fernandez.
Gabe Fernandez is a sophomore left back at UW who broke into the starting lineup for head coach Jamie Clark late in the season and went on to start every game of the Huskies' NCAA tournament run. Fernandez made 13 starts in 16 appearances, playing 942 minutes and contributing 1 assist. His lone assist came in a 1-0 win over Stanford in the Round of 16. Fernandez’s ratings in Harvey’s dashboard reflect a particular strength in “control”, but those ratings don’t include data from the NCAA tournament. Fernandez may still benefit from another year of college, but Tacoma Defiance have a distinct lack of left back options at the moment. The Sounders have plenty of supplemental roster spots open, and it wouldn’t be the worst idea to sign a promising fullback and let him grow in MLS Next Pro.
Heading down I-5 from UW to the University of Portland, Angel Martinez is the next player in this bunch. Martinez is a redshirt sophomore CB who was a highly-touted prospect during his time in the Sounders Academy. After only playing 88 minutes last year at Portland, he became a foundational piece for the Pilots this year, starting and playing in 19 games – all but one for the season – as his team made a run to the NCAA tournament quarterfinals where they fell to Furman on something of a fluke goal in a 1-0 loss. Martinez’s game could use some refining, but stylistically he’s a bit of a right-sided Jackson Ragen, although he’s listed at 5’11”. Playing for a soccer program with a great pedigree and having made himself a crucial part of the back line at Portland, Martinez is probably also well-served to stay for another year to continue growing his game unless he’s going to play a ton for Defiance.
Staying in purple but popping back up to the national champions, the last player for this section is UW’s right back Asher Hestad. Hestad played in Seattle’s academy before moving to Seattle United and eventually heading off to college. The 6’1” redshirt freshman is a Seattle native and scored for the second time this season when he put in the final goal of UW’s 3-1 semifinal win over Furman. He was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman First Team as he made 15 starts in 18 appearances, playing 1,136 minutes. His duel win rates are all strong and more than a quarter of his passes are progressive, but he’s tended not to be heavily involved in possession, and despite his goal against Furman he hasn’t had much end product.
Backyard scouting
The Sounders have good relationships with the programs at Seattle University and UW, and have often been happy to look in their own backyard when it comes draft time. There are plenty of good options coming through both schools, but getting them may require a move into the first round – and possibly early in the first round with UW having just won College Cup.
Maybe the biggest name coming from either program right now is Richie Aman, UW’s star attacking midfielder. The senior midfielder was named Big Ten Midfielder of the Year, All-Big Ten First Team, United Soccer Coaches First Team All-American, and a MAC Hermann Trophy finalist in 2025 after making 24 starts in 24 appearances, scoring 4 goals and adding 14 assists in 1,957 minutes over the course of the season. Now he’s also a national champion. Aman played with Ballard FC in 2024 and 2025, winning the USL2 title in 2024. Although he’s from Hanover, New Hampshire and came up with the Seacoast United academy, he’s grown roots in Seattle and would be an intriguing draft target if the Sounders can get in range to grab him.
