Another Bull To Get National Team Experience

TAMPA (July 1, 2009) – For the second consecutive week a member of the University of South Florida men’s soccer team has been invited to join a national team from his respective country. Just a week after senior midfielder Francisco Aristeguieta – from Caracas, Venezuela - was asked to train the Venezuelan National Team prior to its match with Mexico on June 24 at the George Dome in Atlanta, incoming freshman Hasani Sinclair, a forward from Coral Springs, Fla., has been selected to play for the United States National U-18 team that will take part in the Milk Cup in Ballymena, Northern Ireland.

The U.S. team will open the event on July 27 against Denmark and then will face Sudan on July 29.

“This is a tremendous honor for Hasani,” said USF head coach George Kiefer. “We are thrilled that he will have this opportunity to go oversees and play against some quality international competition before he arrives on our campus here at USF.”

A graduate and former soccer standout at American Heritage High School, Sinclair was named the Florida Gatorade Player of the Year in 2009. He recorded 47 goals and 14 assists in his senior season, leading American Heritage to the Class 2A state championship. A three-time South Florida Sun-Sentinel Small School Player of the Year, Sinclair was also named to the U.S. Soccer Developmental Academy League Southeast Starting XI in 2008.

Sinclair was also a member of the U-18 National Team that won a gold medal at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in January 2009. During that tournament in Sydney, Sinclair was one of three players to score two goals in a 14-0 rout of China in the final contest, doing so back-to-back in the 39th and 56th minute.

He also attended the Lisbon International Tournament and competed with the U.S. U-20 National Team in the Copa Chivas Tournament in 2008.

Sinclair will join a USF team that finished this past season as the 2008 BIG EAST Champions, including a perfect 8-0-2 record at home. During the NCAA tournament, the Bulls beat Harvard, 2-1, in the second round, and then defeated UNC Greensboro, 3-1 in penalty kick’s, in the Sweet 16 to advance to the NCAA Elite Eight.