LEXINGTON ? For the third straight season, the Kentucky soccer team has had an outgoing senior invited to participate in the adidas MLS Player Combine as striker Riley O?Neill was chosen to participate in the 2007 edition this January.

O?Neill, who was named first-team All-Conference USA and first-team All-Region, set a school record with 17 goals, including seven game winners. He led UK to a second-place finish in C-USA and a No. 13 national ranking at the end of the regular season.

It is the third straight season and fourth since 2002 that Kentucky has been represented at the combine. Ilkka Jannti started the trend after his All-America campaign in 2001. Two years ago, it was All-American Jamal Shteiwi.

Last season, goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum was called the top goalkeeper at the combine before being selected in the MLS draft by the Columbus Crew. As a rookie with the Crew, Gruenebaum started three games and posted a 0.97 goals-against average.

O?Neill is one of 58 players invited to the combine, to be held at Lockhart Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., from Jan. 5-8. The coaching staffs and general managers from all 13 MLS teams will be in attendance to scout talent, which concludes four days before the 2007 MLS SuperDraft.

The 2007 MLS SuperDraft will be held on Friday, Jan. 12, 2007 in Indianapolis, Ind. in conjunction with the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Convention at the Indiana Convention Center. Of the 48 players selected in the four rounds of last year?s draft, 23 had participated in the 2006 adidas MLS Player Combine.

The 2007 adidas MLS Player Combine will separate all players into four teams and feature doubleheaders at Lockhart Stadium on Jan. 5, 6 and 8. Each team will be coached by one of the following four college coaches: John Trask (University of Illinois at Chicago), John Rennie (Duke University), Mike Noonan (Brown University) and Greg Andrulis (George Mason University).