The 2014 Major League Soccer SuperDraft continued on Tuesday with the third and fourth rounds, after holding the first two round last Thursday. With the 18th pick of the fourth round, the Chicago Fire selected former Marquette midfielder Bryan Ciesiulka.
Ciesiulka becomes the second player in Marquette history to be selected in the SuperDraft, following in the footsteps of midfielder Calum Mallace in 2012. Ciesiulka was named Big East Co-Midfielder of the Year in 2013, as well as being named to the All-Big East First Team.
Ciesiulka was the third of three players taken by the Fire in the fourth round, along with midfielders Zach Bolden from the University of Denver and Kadeem Dacres from UMBC. "We have selected three players in Zach, Kadeem and Bryan that we feel can come in and compete for a place on our roster," said Fire head coach Frank Yallop. "They performed well in their collegiate careers and display qualities that we feel can fit in our system and we’re looking forward to having all three players join us for preseason."
Ciesiulka is a familiar name to the Fire, having captained their academy team, along with playing for their Super-20 team and their Premier Development League team. In fact, they had the option of signing Ciesiulka as a Homegrown Player due to his previous affiliation, but because that contract would immediately put him on their 30 man roster, they elected to select him in the SuperDraft instead. The Fire currently list 26 players on their active roster.
Best of luck to Bryan as he works towards earning a roster spot with the Fire!
(h/t to @cswearngin for assisting on the Homegrown Player issue)