(WFXR) — Northside High School and Virginia Tech mid-fielder Daniel Pereira was selected first overall to Austin FC in Thursday’s 2021 Major League Soccer SuperDraft.
This comes after Pereira announced on social media in December he was going to forgo his final two years of eligibility at Virginia Tech to enter the MLS SuperDraft.
Austin FC is an expansion team that is set to play its first season in 2021.
Pereira signed a Generation Adidas contract which made him eligible for the draft as an underclassmen. The Caracas, Venezuela-native was one of five underclassmen players in the nation to sign with Generation Adidas this winter. Pereira is only the second Virginia Tech player in program history to sign a Generation Adidas contract.
As a freshman with the Hokies, Pereira played in all 19 games of the 2019 season, scoring five goals and five assists. His achievements helped Virginia Tech make a run to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament and earn a spot on the ACC All-Freshman team.
In a shortened sophomore campaign in 2020, he had a goal and an assist in seven games played for Tech. The fall season was abbreviated because of the pandemic but the Hokies, without Pereira, plan on completing the season in the spring.
At Northside, 2019 he was named the Virginia High School League Class 3 boys soccer Player of the Year after leading the Vikings to the state championship game that year.
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