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For the first few weeks of the season, the San Jose Earthquakes have carried only two goalkeepers on their roster. According to head coach Dominic Kinnear, that number is about to rise to three.
Former Georgetown University goalkeeper Tomas Gomez, who has been on trial with the Quakes for a few weeks, has impressed the coaching staff sufficiently and is expected to be added to the roster in the coming days.
"We are the process of hopefully keeping Tomas here," said Kinnear to reporters following Tuesday's training session. "He's been here long enough, and we like him, so we would like to add him to the mix."
Gomez was drafted by the Columbus Crew with the #60 overall pick in the 2015 MLS SuperDraft. He was the sixth goalkeeper selected in the draft overall, but with competition to make the Crew roster fierce, was cut from their preseason camp just a couple of weeks in. From Columbus, Gomez went on trial with the New England Revolution, but that lasted for only a short time.
When Earthquakes draft pick Keasel Broome, who was selected at #46 and was the fifth overall goalkeeper to be picked in the MLS SuperDraft, suffered an injury in preseason training camp, he had to leave the team, opening the door for Gomez. The Quakes had other trialists in mind, but Gomez did enough to earn his way onto the team.
Gomez stands 6'2" tall and weighs a solid 190 lbs -- similar in size and shape to the two goalkeepers already on the Earthquakes roster: David Bingham and Bryan Meredith -- and plays a wide-ranging style. In four years at Georgetown, Gomez set all sorts of school records. He started 81 matches for the Hoyas, collecting 36 clean sheets during his tenure -- 22 combined over the last two seasons. He was named to the all-Big East team three times.
Gomez did not have the best of MLS Combines by some accounts, and he dropped to the end of the third round of the MLS SuperDraft despite a resume that includes a Big East Goalkeeper of the Year honor and times spent with the U.S. Soccer youth national teams. In addition to his four years at Georgetown, Gomez also played goalkeeper with the Orlando City U-23s.
While the rookie is not expected to supplant either Bingham or Meredith on the match-day roster any time soon, Gomez does provide a good insurance policy if one of those two gets injured or suspended. When the paperwork is completed with MLS and he is officially an Earthquakes, the team's roster will stand at 27 players.
2015 San Jose Earthquakes Roster (updated 3/25/2015)
Goalkeeper (3): David Bingham, Tomas Gomez, Bryan Meredith.
Defender (7): Victor Bernardez, Shaun Francis, Clarence Goodson, Ty Harden, Paulo Renato, Jordan Stewart, Marvell Wynne.
Midfielder (9): Fatai Alashe, Leandro Barrera, Cordell Cato, JJ Koval, Sanna Nyassi, Matias Perez Garcia, Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi, Shea Salinas, Khari Stephenson.
Forward (7): Innocent Emeghara, Mike Fucito, Adam Jahn, Steven Lenhart, Mark Sherrod, Tommy Thompson, Chris Wondolowski.