July 10, 2008

NEW YORK - Former Wake Forest men's soccer All-American Michael Parkhurst was named to the Major League Soccer All-Star First XI, as announced Wednesday by MLS Deputy Commissioner Ivan Gazidis.

Parkhurst, a defender for the New England Revolution, will be making his third career appearance in the MLS All-Star Game. The MLS All-Stars will take on historic English Premier League club West Ham United in the 2008 Pepsi MLS All-Star Game on Thursday, July 24 in Toronto. The game will be carried live on ESPN at 7 p.m. ET.

Parkhurst had the highest percentage of votes among all defenders. The members of the First XI were determined by averaging the percentage of votes from four groups - fans, players, media and coaches/general managers. Parkhurst received 33.9 percent of the vote, including 47.8 percent from members of the media and 47.7 percent from coaches and GMs of the MLS, which both were highs among all defenders.

One of the top defenders in the league, Parkhurst has started all 17 games on the season and has helped guide the Revolution to five shutouts and the best record in the MLS. The 2007 MLS Defender of the Year was joined on the First XI team by two of his teammates, goalkeeper Matt Reis and midfielder Shalrie Joseph.

Even though Parkhurst was named a member of the First XI team, he is not guaranteed a start in the all-star game. New England Revolution head coach Steve Nicol will coach the all-star team and select the starters based on player availability and tactical considerations.

-WakeForestSports.com-