UC Santa Barbara freshman midfielder Manu Duah was selected first overall in the MLS SuperDraft by expansion team San Diego FC on Friday.
Duah played a prominent role on a UC Santa Barbara men’s soccer team that reached the NCAA tournament and won a thrilling first round game at UCLA before dropping its second round match at Stanford on penalty kicks..
In his single season with UC Santa Barbara, Duah played 14 games, with the Gauchos going 8-3-3 in those matches, including six clean sheets. His ability to defend, effortlessly dribble past defenders and execute pinpoint passes were apparent in his first season of college soccer.
Duah is the only UC Santa Barbara student athlete to be selected first overall by a major sports league. Previously, the highest position any UC Santa Barbara student-athlete had been drafted was fourth overall, with men’s soccer’s Luis Silva being picked by Toronto FC in 2012 and baseball’s Dillon Tate being selected fourth overall by the Texas Rangers in the 2015 Major League Baseball Draft.
Duah is the fifth UC Santa Barbara men’s soccer player to be drafted in the last 10 years and the 32nd overall.
Originally from Ghana, Duah played high school soccer at Dunn school in Los Olivos where he was a standout player and instrumental in leading the Earwigs to multiple CIF playoff berths.