Shane Battelle (born October 5, 1971) is a retired American soccer player who played with the

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 cha ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

College

After capping off his senior year at Hazelwood Central High School with a state championship, Missouri Player of the Year honors, and being named a Parade Magazine All-American, Battalle spent one season (1990) playing soccer at

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

. He was named to the

Soccer America Magazine ''Soccer America'', the oldest soccer-specific media publisher in the United States, was founded in 1971 by Clay Berling in Albany, California. The magazine is headquartered in Oakland, California. History The magazine was founded by Clay Ber ...

Freshman All-American Team as one of the best 11 freshmen in the entire country that year. In 1991, he transferred to St. Louis University, where he played for the men's soccer team. SLU finished the 1991 season ranked second in the nation. Battelle was team captain his senior year. The Billikens went to the quarterfinals of the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

post-season tournament that season, and Battelle was selected as a 1993 first-team All-American. Battelle was also nominated for the MAC Award and

Hermann Trophy The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the United States's top men's and women's college soccer players. History In 1967, Bob Hermann, the president of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and th ...

as the best player in college soccer but finished behind

Claudio Reyna Claudio Alejandro Reyna (born July 20, 1973) is an American former professional soccer player and former executive. He most recently served as sporting director of Austin FC. A former midfielder, he spent most of his professional career in Eur ...

in the voting. He was inducted to the Saint Louis University Hall of Fame in 1999 with teammate and longtime friend

Brian McBride Brian Robert McBride (born June 19, 1972) is an American former association football, soccer player who played as a forward (association football), forward for Columbus Crew, Fulham F.C., Fulham and Chicago Fire SC, Chicago Fire. He is the sixt ...

Professional

In January 1994, the St. Louis Ambush selected Battelle in the first round of the National Professional Soccer League draft. The Ambush went on to win the NPSL Championship that season. In the summer of 1995, he played for the St. Louis Knights in the

USISL The United States Interregional Soccer League (USISL) was a semi-professional men's outdoor soccer league that played six seasons from 1989 to 1994. It was the first outdoor league to be operated by the organization known today as the United ...

In February 1996, the

selected Battelle in the

1996 MLS Inaugural Player Draft The MLS Inaugural Player Draft, held before Major League Soccer's initial 1996 season, distributed players to the league's ten inaugural teams. The Inaugural Player Draft occurred on February 6 and 7, 1996 after each team was allocated four marqu ...

. Battelle spent one season playing for Columbus, starting at defensive center midfield. A knee injury suffered that season ended his career.

International

In 1990, Battelle played with the United States U-20 National Soccer Team ( US U-20) in its bid to qualify for the

1991 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship was the eighth staging of the FIFA World Youth Championship, an international football competition organized by FIFA for men's youth national teams, and the eighth since it was established in 1977 as the FIF ...

. Battelle also played with the U.S. National B Team, a group of the best college players in the country who were seen as prospects for the full U.S. National Team, from 1992 to 1994. The full National Team, at that time, was composed only of players who had graduated from college.BILLS HIT FOES WITH 1-2 ALL-AMERICA COMBO
/ref> This period included a win over Trinidad & Tobago in Trinidad. He was co-captain of the U.S. at the 1993 World University Games along with

, scoring key goals in wins against Ireland and Australia, and notching two goals and an assist in a victory over Nigeria. Battelle also played in the 1990 U.S. Olympic Festival, captaining the North team to the gold medal.

References

External links

St. Louis University Player Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Battelle, Shane 1971 births American men's soccer players Columbus Crew players National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) players Saint Louis Billikens men's soccer players SMU Mustangs men's soccer players St. Louis Ambush (1992–2000) players St. Louis Knights players USL Second Division players Living people Major League Soccer players United States men's under-20 international soccer players All-American college men's soccer players Men's association football defenders Columbus Crew draft picks 20th-century American sportsmen