The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

A MEMBER of the men’s national select soccer team completed his high school career on a high note and will now look to make a successful transition on the NCAA Division I soccer pitch.

Dylan Lightbourne was announced as one of five members of the incoming Fall 2015 freshman class for the George Washington Colonials men’s soccer programme.

At the high school level, the 6’3” 190-pound Lightbourn was a team captain at the Avon Old Farms School in Avon, Connecticut.

The skilled forward was a two-time Western New England Prep Scholar Soccer Association (WNEPSSA) all-star and Select Team honourable mention.

Avon Old Farms is a private boarding school which opened in 1927.

According to its website, “the varsity team has enjoyed extraordinary success qualifying for the playoffs several times while winning the New England Championships twice (2005 and 2007). 

Equally impressive, Avon has won the WNEPSSA Sportsmanship Award several times – most recently in 2008.  Finally, Avon has established a strong record of sending boys to play at the top collegiate programmes in the country and Avon currently has several graduates playing at the Division 1 and Division 3 level.”

At the national team level, Lightbourne was a member of the Bahamas’ select team that took on the US men’s Olympic team last August at the Thomas A Robinson Stadium.

Colonials head coach Craig Jones expressed his optimism on what Lightbourn will bring to the programme.

“Dylan is a strong, powerful forward who has good speed to get himself into goal-scoring positions and create for others,” he said.

He is one of three international players in the class which also includes Alastair Berry of Scotland, Thor Arne Höfs of Germany  and American prospects Jack Houston of Miami, Florida and Kevin Hwang of Gaithersburg, Maryland.

“Our goal was to replace our outgoing seniors with players who we believe can contribute immediately to the programme and improve the depth and competition for starting positions for the fall,” Jones said.

“Our incoming class certainly does this, and we look forward to seeing them playing as Colonials next fall. We have five guys who are totally different players and they all bring their own qualities to the programme. I am very excited about the class as a whole and the potential it has.”

Lightbourn will be the second Bahamian student athlete to compete for a Colonials team, joining women’s basketball star Jonquel Jones who is highly touted as one of the top players in the Atlantic 10 Conference.