Feb. 8, 2016
San Jose, Calif. - San Jose State men's soccer head coach Simon Tobin announced his program has signed three players to National Letters of Intent and added a four-year transfer who will all begin competing for the Spartans in the 2016-17 school year.
Kris Donaldson, Jeffrey Dukes and Leonardo Silva signed NLIs and Nedin Tucakovic is a transfer student with three years of eligibility.
Donaldson is a 6'0 goalkeeper out of the Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago. He attended Saint Mary's College (Coaches Jean Lilywhite and Jason Edwards) where he was honored as the 2014 & 2015 Goalkeeper of the Year as well as inclusion in the Team of the Week seven times. Donaldson joins former teammate and Trinidad & Tobago native, sophomore Dillon Abraham on the Spartans 2016 roster. He plans to major in business administration.
"Kris is a very athletic goalkeeper who is excellent with his feet. He will become a perfect fit for the way in which we want to play," Tobin said.
Dukes, a 6'1 midfielder, comes to the Spartans from Vacaville (Calif.) High School. Most recently he has been a member of the Sacramento Republic U18 academy team and previously played for San Juan Soccer Club. He plans on majoring in either communication studies or business.
"Jeffrey is an academy product and we are confident that he will battle for a starting spot on either the defense of in the midfield," Tobin commented.
Silva is a midfielder who transfers from West Valley Junior College in Saratoga, Calif., where he played under Coach Gaspar Silveira. In 2013, he received first-team All-Coast Conference honors. In 2015, his second season competing, he was recognized as an All-American. Silva will major in kinesiology at San José State.
"With Leo, we have a powerful midfielder who will provide immediate maturity and experience to the team," Tobin said.
Transferring from San Diego State and returning home, Tucakovic is a graduate of San Jose's Lincoln High School. The 6-3 goalkeeper was member of the residency program for the United States U-17 National Team and utilized his dual citizenship while competing with the Bosnian U-17 National Team. CollegeSoccerNews.com ranked Tucakovic as high as 50th in and TopDrawerSoccer.com had him 55th the country coming out of high school. He played his club soccer for U.S. Soccer Development Academy (USSDA) De Anza Force U-17/18.