Craig Alexander Nitti (born January 19, 1992) is a retired American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player.

Career

College & Youth

Nitti played most of his youth soccer with the North Valley Fusion, an age group team in the Southern California Coast Soccer League. He competed for Crespi High School in Encino, CA where he was Mission League Defender of the Year, First Team All CIF Southern Section and NSCAA/adidas High School Boys All-Region VIII. In 2010, he competed on the BU18 Real SoCal Academy Team which took third in the National Championships at the Home Depot Center. Nitti played five years of

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...

(LMU) between 2010 and 2014, including a red-shirted year in 2010. For his career at LMU, he made 59 starts, appeared in 70 total matches and logged 5720 minutes. The 6'5" 215 pound center back finished with 11 goals (4 game winners) and four assists. Among his honors: Mac Hermann Trophy Watch List 2014, two time NSCAA/Continental Tire All Far West Second Team, College Soccer Madness 4th Team All American and WCC Defender of the Year, three time ALL WCC (First Team 2013 and 2014), three time WCC All Academic Honorable Mention, three time Team Captain, LMU MVP/Most Valuable Defender/Most Inspirational/Goal of the Year 2014 and LMU Outstanding Male Scholar Athlete 2015.

Professional

On January 20, 2015, Nitti was selected 72nd overall in the

2015 MLS SuperDraft The 2015 MLS SuperDraft was the sixteenth SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The SuperDraft is held each year in conjunction with the annual National Soccer Coaches Association of America convention. The 2015 convention was held Janua ...

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Vancouver. The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The MLS ite ...

. On March 17, 2015, he signed with Vancouver's

USL USL may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Underground Sound of Lisbon, a Portuguese dance music project * Urban Strawberry Lunch, a band from Liverpool Companies * United Spirits Limited, India * Former United States Lines shipping company C ...

side

Whitecaps FC 2 Whitecaps FC 2 is a professional association football, soccer team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada that serves as the reserve team of the Vancouver Whitecaps FC of Major League Soccer. History Prior to the MLS Next Pro iteratio ...

. Nitti played 18 games with 15 starts and logged 1457 minutes. He was named to the USL Team of the Week 4/3/15 and appeared in 7 of the 8 Whitecaps season wins. After a season with Whitecaps 2, Nitti signed with USL's

Orlando City B Orlando City B (or OCB for short) is an American soccer club that began play in 2016 and currently plays in MLS Next Pro. Owned by Orlando City SC and based at the Orlando City training facility in Kissimmee, the club plays its home games at ...

on January 13, 2016. He started 14 games logging 1243 minutes and scored one goal.

References

1992 births Living people American men's soccer players American expatriate men's soccer players Men's association football defenders Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Loyola Marymount Lions men's soccer players Orlando City B players Sportspeople from Calabasas, California People from Van Nuys, Los Angeles Capital FC players Soccer players from Los Angeles USL Championship players USL League Two players Vancouver Whitecaps FC draft picks Whitecaps FC 2 players 21st-century American sportsmen American expatriate sportspeople in Canada {{US-footy-defender-1990s-stub