Gyasi Zardes

How Acquired: Signed by the Galaxy as a Homegrown player on December 20, 2012.

A native of Hawthorne, Calif., Zardes scored 38 goals during a three-year college career at CSU Bakersfield, finishing as one of the top goal scorers in the NCAA in each of the last two years when he tallied 33 goals in 37 games.

College Highlights

Zardes sat out the 2009 season at CSU Bakersfield as a redshirt before debuting for the Roadrunners in 2010. After tallying five goals and a team-best seven assists in his first season of college soccer, Zardes burst onto the scene as a sophomore in 2011, scoring 18 times in 20 games while helping lead Bakersfield to a berth in the NCAA Division I Tournament for the first time in school history. His 18 goals that season were the fourth most in Division I college soccer that year and he was selected the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Year and a semifinalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy, which is awarded annually to the top player in college soccer.

In 2012, Zardes followed up his breakout season by scoring 15 goals and adding nine assists, each of which were team-highs, in 17 games, while helping the Roadrunners record a winning record for the fourth consecutive season. He had two or more goals in four of his 17 games, including seven goals in a two-game stretch in mid-October.

Academy Highlights

Prior to heading to Bakersfield, Zardes played for the Galaxy Academy U-18’s during the 2008-09 and 2009-10 Development Academy seasons, as well as with the Galaxy U-20’s in the 2009 and 2010 USL Super-20 campaigns.