Probably not a big deal for most people posting here as I don't think the MLS gets followed too closely by anyone, but Taylor Twellman announced his retirement today. Twellman is a member of the MLS Century Club and reached the 100 goals in just 174 matches, giving him easily the highest goals per game average of anyone in the group and the third highest in MLS history. Twellman was a two sport superstar in high school from a great sports family and attended Maryland for two years and was runner up for the Hermann Trophy (soccer's Heisman) in his sophomore season. He left Maryland for 1860 Munich, but did not make a senior appearance in two years there. He did score 29 times in 58 appearances for the reserve side. He joined New England as they took him second in the 2002 SuperDraft. Twellman scored 23 goals (2nd in MLS) as a rookie and finished second in MVP voting as he also had 9 assists. He won MVP in 2005 and lead the league in goals. Twellman was a part of the Revolution squads that made it to four MLS Cup finals in six seasons. The Revs also won a US Open Cup with Twellman. For the national team, Twellman appeared at all levels, including his four goal performance at the 1999 U-20 Championship. Around that time, Eric Wynalda predicted that it would be Twellman who would break his US goal-scoring record. Twellman won 29 caps and scored six goals for the National Team. He never fulfilled the expectations of Wynalda, but he is an MLS legend. While generously listed at 5-11, he played far larger than he was and was a true target man for the immensely talented Revolution teams that also included Sharlie Joseph, Steve Ralston, and Clint Dempsey. His career was cut short by a concussion, the 7th of his career, in 2008 where he took a punch to the face by an on-rushing keeper. Twellman has made two apperances for the Revs since that match.
