Philadelphia Union sign Jake McGuire as third goalkeeper

The Philadelphia Union signed a third goalkeeper on Friday, inking a deal with former University of Tulsa standout Jake McGuire.

McGuire was drafted in the second round, 30th overall, by the Houston Dynamo in January’s MLS SuperDraft but was released by the club to trial with the Union earlier this month. He started for Bethlehem Steel FC in their friendly against Temple on Saturday.

“We were eager to take a look at Jake in training when we found out that he had become available, and we are excited to bring him aboard officially,” Philadelphia Union Sporting Director Earnie Stewart said in a news release. “Jake is a tall, athletic goalkeeper who excelled in college with Tulsa. We look forward to having him on the squad and anticipate him getting good experience with Bethlehem Steel FC this season.”

McGuire was a second team American Athletic Conference performer in his senior season at Tulsa while playing all 1,905 minutes and registering six clean sheets for the Golden Hurricane. He had 17 career shutouts, most in school history. The Chino Hills, California native played in the Premier Development for Portland Timbers U23 last summer. Prior to college, McGuire spent time in the United States U17 residency program and was part of the Chivas USA Academy.

His signing brings the Union’s first team roster to 31 players, but the club has an option to do a season-long loan for one of its players to Bethlehem to meet league rules.

McGuire is the sixth player drafted in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft to sign with the organization – Santi Moar and Chris Nanco have both signed USL deals – and is the ninth player to sign with the organization straight out of college (Charlie Reymann and Matt Mahoney both recently signed Steel contracts and Adam Najem had his homegrown rights acquired from New York Red Bulls).