D.C. United Drafts Midfielder Van Sicklen, Defender Merritt

BALTIMORE, Jan. 14 -- D.C. United had to wait nearly two hours before making its first selection in Friday's MLS draft, but when the club's turn finally arrived midway through the second round, it was able to fill one of its most pressing needs.

United grabbed midfielder Nick Van Sicklen, a flank player from Wisconsin, with the seventh pick in the second round (19th overall). D.C. waited another two hours before making its only other pick, North Carolina defender Tim Merritt, with the last selection in the draft, 48th overall.

Van Sicklen, a native of Madison, Wis., who will turn 22 on Feb. 1, is fourth in Wisconsin program history with 76 career points. He led the Big Ten in scoring last fall with 12 goals and seven assists for 31 points and was a first-team all-conference selection.

"I'm excited to go to D.C.," he said in a telephone interview. "I think I can help the team by running at people with the ball and getting up and down the field. It's a great opportunity to play for the defending champions. I'm looking forward to getting there."

Van Sicklen said he would join United in a couple weeks when training camp opens instead of finishing his schoolwork. He will help fill the void left by veteran Earnie Stewart, an outside midfielder who decided to return to the Netherlands after two seasons in MLS.

"We felt like this was our primary need," said Coach Peter Nowak, who watched Van Sicklen at the MLS scouting combine this past week at Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. "It's only a matter of time what we can do with him. This is our job."

Nowak said Van Sicklen is similar to outside midfielder Josh Gros, who as a rookie last year made an immediate impact for United.

"He's very versatile," Nowak said. "He can play on the left, on the right, up front. He's got great speed, he scored a bunch of goals in college."

United's biggest priority, however, is finding a central defender to replace team captain Ryan Nelsen, who signed with the English club Blackburn Rovers this month. Club president Kevin Payne said the club has targeted one particular foreigner, whom he declined to identify, but has several others on the wish list.

"We're looking at a whole bunch of guys, but there's one player we're really interested in, and we're waiting to get some more tapes on him and to talk to him," Payne said. "We're hoping he's the one."

The team is also pursuing an unidentified foreign midfielder to provide depth on the wings.

Expansion Salt Lake City used the first overall pick to select midfielder Nikolas Besagno, from Washington state, who at 16 years 60 days became the second youngest player drafted in MLS's 10-year history. Freddy Adu was 14 when he was chosen by United last year.

Virginia's Hunter Freeman, an outside defender who starts for the U.S. under-20 national team, was chosen seventh overall by Colorado. He left school a year early after leading the nation in assists this past season.

Maryland midfielder Domenic Mediate went to Columbus in the second round, 23rd overall. District native Amir Lowery, from Wilson High and Wake Forest, went to Colorado in the fourth round.

The league will conduct a supplemental draft in a few weeks to allow teams to fill out their rosters, which have been expanded from 24 to 28.

Among the trades announced Friday, San Jose sent star midfielder Richard Mulrooney, promising midfielder Arturo Alvarez and two draft picks to Dallas for midfielder Brad Davis, a player allocation and the fourth overall pick, which the Earthquakes used to select Indiana midfielder Danny O'Rourke, the Hermann Trophy winner as the nation's top college player.