Chris Leitch

Chris Leitch

Personal information
Full name	Chris Leitch
Date of birth	April 1, 1979 (1979-04-01) (age 30)
Place of birth	Columbus, Ohio, United States
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	San Jose Earthquakes
Number	4
Youth career
1998–2001	North Carolina Tar Heels
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)2
2002	Columbus Crew	13 (0)
2003–2005	MetroStars	72 (0)
2006	Columbus Crew	24 (0)
2007–2008	New York Red Bulls	29 (0)
2009–	San Jose Earthquakes	12 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20 June, 2009. 2 Appearances (Goals)

Chris Leitch (born April 1, 1979 in Columbus, Ohio) is an American soccer player who currently plays for San Jose Earthquakes in Major League Soccer.

Career

College

Leitch played college soccer at the University of North Carolina, leading them to the NCAA Championship in 2001, setting a school record for games played (88) and starts (87).

Professional

Leitch was drafted by the Columbus Crew in the fourth round of the 2002 MLS SuperDraft, but only played 13 games for his hometown team in his first professional season.

Leitch was traded to the MetroStars with Jeff Matteo for Ross Paule prior to the 2003 season. He became a regular in the Metro lineup late in the year, playing in 15 games. He then became an automatic starter in 2004, playing every minute of all but a single game. Originally a right back, Leitch acquitted himself well on the left flank when the Metros needed help at that position. He switched back to the right flank in 2005. Despite being named the team's Defender of the Year, he was waived by the club in the offseason and then came back to Columbus. He appeared in 24 matches in the 2006 season for his hometown club.

In the 2007 pre-season, Leitch was waived again, this time by the Crew as they sought to clear roster spots. He would return to the now-rebranded MetroStars, now Red Bull New York, in July. The versatile defender appeared in 12 league matches for the club, starting 11. In 2008 Leitch appeared in 17 regular season matches. He helped the club reach the 2008 Western Conference Final, starting in both matches of the Red Bulls historic upset over defending champion Houston Dynamo (4-1 on aggregate). The following week he helped shut out Real Salt Lake 1-0 to help the Red Bulls reach the MLS Cup Final for the first time in club history.

Just prior to the start of the 2009 season on March 2, the San Jose Earthquakes acquired Leitch in a trade with New York for an undisclosed sum of allocation money and one of the Earthquakes' eight international slots.^[1][2]

Titles

Season	Team	Title
2002	Columbus Crew	US Open Cup
2008	Red Bull New York	MLS Western Conference (Playoffs)

Career statistics

See also

• List of current MLS players

References