COLORADO RAPIDS BOLSTER SCORING PUNCH WITH SELECTION OF FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL FORWARD TYRONE MARSHALL IN FIRST ROUND OF 1998 MLS COLLEGE DRAFT

DENVER (Saturday, January 31, 1998) - Looking to add another weapon to an already-dangerous arsenal of forwards that includes Paul Bravo and Wolde Harris, the Colorado Rapids selected Florida International University forward Tyrone Marshall as the team's top pick (11th overall) in the 1998 MLS College Entry Draft. The 6'2" Marshall was born in Jamaica, but is currently in the process of becoming a naturalized American citizen, meaning he would not occupy a foreign player slot for the Rapids.

Marshall was a 1997 Soccer America Pre-Season All-American, and then went on to accumulate twelve goals and seven assists in his senior season. That output followed up on his ten goals and eight assists in 1996, when FIU lost in the NCAA Championship to St. John's.

Rapids coach Glenn "Mooch" Myernick said that Marshall will bring some speed and scoring punch to the Rapids, whose 50 goals in 1997 was the lowest total in the Western Conference.

"Marshall has good speed and very good balance, he is an out-and-out goal scorer. We evaluated him over the past few days during the combine games and felt that he was the guy to help our team," said Myernick, who will coach Marshall tonight when the forward plays for the NCAA Elite-16 team that Myernick will lead against a squad of A-League all-stars.

YEAR	G	SHOTS	GOALS	ASSISTS	POINTS 
1997	21	   55	   12     7	    31
1996	23	   52	   10     8	    28

NOTES: Scored on a spectacular bicycle kick in the 1996 Final Four ... Played Two Years at NAIA Lindsey Wilson (KY) College, leading the school to the 1995 NAIA national championship. Named 1995 NAIA tournament MVP and first-team NAIA All-American both seasons ... Scored 34 goals and added 20 assists over three seasons at Boyd Anderson HS (Fla.) ... Architectural design major at FIU ... Father, Cornell, played professional soccer in Mexico and South America in the 1970's ... Hometown is Lauderhill, Fla.

AURORA NATIVE TO DALLAS: Aurora native Matt Jordan, a goalkeeper from Clemson, was selected by the Dallas Burn with its first-round pick (10th overall). Jordan played at Overland High School, where he was named Colorado Player of the Year in 1994.

PICK	TEAM		PLAYER		POS.	COLLEGE

1	Miami		Leo Cullen	D	Maryland

2	Chicago		Rich Kotschau	D	George Mason

3	San Jose	Ben Parry	D	UNC-Charlotte

4	Kansas City-a	Chris Klein	M	Indiana

5	New England	Johnny Torres	M	Creighton

6	Los Angeles	Clint Mathis	M	South Carolina

7	Tampa Bay	Josh Keller	M	UCLA

8	MetroStars-b	Mike Petke	D	So. Conn. State

9	Columbus	Jeff Cunningham	F	South Florida

10	Dallas		Matt Jordan	GK	Clemson	

11	RAPIDS		Tyrone Marshall	F	Florida Int'l	

12	San Jose-c	Wade Barrett	M	William & Mary

NOTES:

1. Pick acquired from MetroStars as part of Mike Sorber transaction.
2. Pick acquired on draft-day trade from Kansas City for Brian Bliss.
3. Pick acquired from D.C. United as part of Ben Iroha transaction. ** Rounds 2 and 3 of the college draft as well as all three rounds of the supplemental draft will commence at 7 am MST Sunday morning.