By Sebastien Angel
Sports Editor
angelsd@sas.upenn.edu
For history majors, there are a few ways to put off getting a job after college.
Law school and graduate school are the more common paths. Professional soccer? Not so much.
But the pros have thrown goalkeeper Dan Cepero a line, and he's only too happy to grab at it. In the final round of Thursday's Major League Soccer supplemental draft, the New York Red Bulls used the 46th pick on the unanimous first-team all-Ivy selection.
"Going into this season, I was hoping to play pro," Cepero said. "It just kind of built up throughout this season."
The senior endeared himself to scouts and Penn soccer fans alike with his performances this year. In the Ivy League, he sported a stingy 0.43 goals against average and shut out his opponents in five out of the seven games.
And with the Quakers in the thick of the league championship race, Cepero stepped up his game - in the last three contests, he didn't concede a goal in 300 minutes of play.
As his heroics helped drive Penn to its best league finish in four years, the pros started to take notice.
"Nowadays in college soccer, particularly with the MLS guys, they're pretty familiar with who the better players are," Penn coach Rudy Fuller said. "And when you look at how we did in the league, it doesn't surprise me that people were aware of Danny."
Still, the good news has been a culmination of a few months of hard work and uncertainty for Cepero. Despite his impressive showing on the field, he was far from guaranteed to hear his name called.
Optimists had compared Cepero to Matt Haefner, a 2004 graduate and another former Penn goalkeeper. Haefner was picked in the sixth round of the 2004 MLS Superdraft, which precedes the supplemental draft. But Haefner's resume included a junior year with the best goals against average in the country and a spot on the prestigious Hermann Trophy watch list.
Cepero's, though impressive, doesn't compare. So he had to do a little self-marketing.
"I had a slew of tryouts beginning in December and ending last week," Cepero said. In the past month, he's attended draft combines in Columbus, Ohio, Tampa, Fla., Orlando, Fla. and Washington.
"It's been pretty hectic, a lot of traveling, plus I've needed to continue to stay in shape," he said.
Still, on the day of the draft, he wasn't expecting miracles.
"I had met with Coach Fuller about an hour before the draft . and just tried to find out what my options were," he said. "He was kind of like 'yeah, it's a possibility', and it was either D.C. or New York."
Fuller had talked to coaches from D.C. United and the Red Bulls, and knew that there was interest in Cepero. But with only a few picks left in the draft, it was a welcome surprise when Cepero got a call - from Fuller.
"They called Rudy, and then he called me, and that's how I found out. I guess for some reason, they had trouble tracking down my contact info. I didn't hear from them until the next morning."
What's left for Cepero to do now, of course, is go to training camp and make the team. It won't be easy, athletically or logistically.
Red Bulls training camp starts February 2 in Bradenton, Fla. and ends with Opening Day on April 7 in Columbus. In between, there are stops in Orlando, Carson, Calif. and Charleston, S.C. Cepero will have to balance all of that with the second semester of his senior year at Penn.
"Whether I can miss class, or if I can work something out, I'm in the process of doing that," Cepero said.
"Also, it helps that [the team is] in New York," the Baldwin, N.Y. native explained. "I have resources and people I know to defray all that grind and the stress involved with traveling and all of that."
New York is expected to have four goalkeepers and isn't likely to keep any fewer than three, so his chances are favorable on paper.
But even if Cepero makes it, he's likely to be looking at a developmental contract, which carries no financial guarantee and the possibility to be cut at any time.
"I'm confident that if I can get there, I can make a name for myself," he said. "Even if I do get a developmental contract, which I think is the route they're going to take. I don't think I'm going to become a starter or anything like that."
That's fine for Cepero, who says he'd be looking to go pro even if he hadn't heard his name called on Thursday.
"I was just looking to get my foot in the door . and I'd be looking to explore any avenues my coaches opened to me.
"I'm looking to pursue it as far as I can go."
