UNH’s Yannick Bright to join Lionel Messi n Miami after MLS draft
NEW YORK – University of New Hampshire senior midfielder Yannick Bright was drafted in the first round by Inter Miami CF with the 15th overall pick in the Major League Soccer SuperDraft on Tuesday.
Bright, who had three goals and eight assists in his career at UNH, will become teammates in Miami with Lionel Messi, widely considered the world’s greatest player.
Messi, 36, just completed his first year with Inter Miami, finishing with 11 goals in 14 matches. The team went 8-2-4 in those games. He won his eighth Ballon d’Or trophy as the world’s top player this year after leading Argentina to the 2022 World Cup title.
Bright, who had two assists this season, is the first player in UNH history to be a three-time All-American. He was named to the first team in both 2021 and 2023, and was on the third team in 2022.
Bright helped UNH advance to the third round of the NCAA Tournament this season, falling to Clemson, 1-0 at Wildcat Stadium.
It is the second straight year that UNH had a player selected in the first round of the MLS SuperDraft. Moise Bombito was drafted in the first round by the Colorado Rapids as the third overall pick in last year’s draft.
Bright was one of 15 semifinalists this season for the MAC Hermann Trophy given to the nation’s top college soccer player. Bright, who was also a semifinalist in 2021, is the first player in program history to be named a semifinalist twice.
Bright won his third straight America East Midfielder of the Year Award this season as he is only the second student-athlete to win the award three times. He was also named to the All-Conference first team for the third straight season and to the All-Academic team for the second straight year. He just recently was named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team for the second consecutive season and earned Scholar All-America first team honors.
Tyrese Spicer, a forward out of Lipscomb University, was the first pick of this year’s draft.
The Wildcats have now had seven players selected in the MLS SuperDraft. UNH, including Bombito, had three players selected last year. Jassem Koleilat was selected by Los Angeles FC in the second round with the 58th overall pick and Rory O’Driscoll was drafted by Nashville SC in the third round with the 78th overall selection.
Two years ago, Tola Showunmi was drafted by Atlanta United FC in the third round as the 88th overall pick, while Josh Bauer was selected by Atlanta three years ago in the second round as the 31st overall pick. Chris Wingate was picked by New York City Football Club in the third round as the 54th overall pick in 2017.
