US Soccer will be closing the doors on their U17 residency program after 18 years. The program is noted for their first class that featured multiple future World Cup players, but has been a polarizing institution since. The program boasts 33 of their 450+ residency players to later earn a cap for the USMNT, unfortunately none of them being goalkeepers.

The residency program produced 43 goalkeepers of 18 years. Despite being the premier academy in the US, only a handful of goalkeepers have become moderately successful throughout the residency's history. Of the first twenty to go through the program, only four have earned 30 starts in a first division. Perhaps Slyvestre will join the crew but a 20-25% rate of turning goalkeepers into a one year starter in MLS is far too low for the elite developmental program in the US.

There are some promising goalkeepers that are still playing and I would expect around another eight to become a starter in MLS at some point, but ultimately that's not the goal of the residency. Youth national teams are about producing a pipeline for getting goalkeepers to the senior national team, which doesn't appear to be changing any time soon. There's still a lot of time left for a number of these goalkeepers, but if history has anything to say, expect outside sources to be producing our top goalkeepers, not the residency program.

History of Residency Goalkeepers

1. DJ Countess (s99 - f99)
2. Steve Cronin (s99 - f99)
3. Adam Schuerman (s00 - f01)
4. Zachary Riffett (s00)
5. Ford Williams (f00 - s01)
6. Phil Marfuggi (f01 - s03)
7. Adam Hahn (s02)
8. Steve Sandbo (f02 - s04)
9. Marcus Rein (f02 - s04)
10. Bryant Rueckner (f03 - f05)

11. Evan Newton (s04 - s05) *
12. Brian Perk (f04 - s06)
13. Joe Bendik (s05) *
14. Diego Restrepo (f05) *
15. Brandyn Bumpas (f05 - s06)
16. Josh Lambo (f05 - f07)
17. Larry Jackson (s06 - s07) *
18. David Meves (f06 - s07)
19. Zac MacMath (f06 - s08) *
20. Brian Sylvestre (f07 - s08) *

21. Earl Edwards (f07 - f09) *
22. Samir Badr (f07 - s09) *
23. Spencer Richey (s08 - f09) *
24. Jon Kempin (f08 - s09) *
25. Keith Cardona (f09) *
26. Fernando Pina (f09 - s11)
27. Kendall McIntosh (s10 - s11) *
28. Wade Hamilton (s10 - s11) *
29. Santiago Castano (s10)
30. Alek Gogic (f11 - s12) *

31. Evan Louro (f11 - s13) *
32. Paul Christensen (f11 - s13) *
33. Marius Heislitz (s12)
34. Jeff Caldwell (f12 - s13) *
35. Carter Richardson (s13) *
36. Will Pulisic (f13 - f15) *
37. Kevin Silva (f13 - f15) *
38. Abraham Romero (f13) *#
39. Eric Lopez (s14 - f15) *
40. Alex Budnik (s16) *

41. Justin Garces (s16) *
42. Quantrell Jones (s16) *
43. Hunter Pinho (s16) *

bold - reached 30 appearances in first division (MLS or abroad)
* - active
# - played for Mexico's U17s in the 2015 World Cup