Rowdies acquire Akpan on loan from Rapids

Posted Jul 7, 2010 by Nick Murray

Updated Jul 7, 2010 at 05:11 PM

The FC Tampa Bay Rowdies have acquired Colorado Rapids rookie forward Andre Akpan on a one-month loan, the club announced on Wednesday afternoon.

“Andre is a very talented player,” Rowdies coach Paul Dalglish said in a press release. “We look forward to him joining us and adding more depth and offensive firepower to our squad.”

A National Soccer Coaches Association of American first-team All-American in 2009, Akpan was selected with the 22nd pick of this year’s Major League Soccer SuperDraft. Named the Ivy League Player of the Year last fall, he left Harvard as the program’s all-time leading points-scorer with 127.  Akpan finished tied for first in program history with 47 goals and is the all-time leader with 33 assists.

The Rowdies acquired Akpan as cover for Aaron Wheeler, who was diagnosed with a stress reaction in his right shin last week and is expected to miss another 3-5 weeks.

Akpan also competed for the U.S. Under-20 side at the 2007 Under-20 World Cup in Canada.