Minnesota United is proud to announce that it has signed 11 players to make up the first official Minnesota United Unified Team. Launched by Special Olympics this year, the Unified program brings together athletes both with and without intellectual disabilities on a single team. Together, athletes and partners improve their physical fitness, sharpen their skills, challenge the competition and help overcome prejudices.
In a signing ceremony on Wednesday afternoon, the players from Edina High School’s Unified Team inked two-match contracts, flanked at the signing table by MNUFC Sporting Director Manny Lagos and sideline reporter Jamie Watson. After signing their contracts, the players were interviewed by local media, had a chance to meet and hang out with first team players and had official headshots taken.
“We want to help this community grow through being positive and through the sport of soccer,” said Lagos. “I certainly believe we’ve got a great group of guys who understand that the more value we can add to the community, the more we all grow and we all succeed. All of us used to be kids and have those moments where you dream about things. I would not be here today if I hadn’t had sports to help me dream and eventually give me a career. I think Minnesota United does a great job of embracing this community, and we ask the community to embrace us, so we have to do the same.”
Full Roster:
GK — Matthew Glavan, 18
GK/M — Henry Gustafson, 17
D — Andrew Olson, 18
D — Libby Thompson, 16
D — Emily Klippenstein, 17
M — Will Moore, 18
M — Ryan Hunt, 16
F — Mikhail Pearthree, 17
F — Patrick Rzepecki, 19
F — Harry Tuttle, 17
F — Matt McGuire, 16
Join MNUFC for Pride Night as Minnesota United takes on Orlando City SC on Saturday, May 27 at TCF Bank Stadium. Kickoff is at 7:00 p.m. and single match tickets are still available. It’s not too late to join the Itasca Society. Fewer than 500 spots remain in this exclusive club as we rapidly approach the inaugural season limit of 11,842 members — one for every lake in Minnesota. A portion of all proceeds from these season tickets are donated to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ Loon Monitoring program. Both season and single match tickets are available now at MNUFC.COM or by calling 763.4SOCCER.
