Petter Villegas

Personal information
Full name	Petter Enrique Villegas España
Date of birth	November 15, 1975 (1975-11-15) (age 33)
Place of birth	Esmeraldas, Ecuador
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Playing position	Midfielder/Forward
Club information
Current club	Puerto Rico Islanders
Number	10
Youth career
1995	Kean Cougars
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1996–1999	NY/NJ Stallions
1996	→ NY/NJ MetroStars (loan)	3	(0)
1999–2002	MetroStars	88	(15)
2002–2003	D.C. United	18	(2)
2003–2005	Aucas	26	(0)
2004	→ Barcelona SC (loan)	1	(0)
2004	→ Manta (loan)	13	(0)
2005	→ Deportivo Cuenca (loan)	6	(0)
2005–	Puerto Rico Islanders	99	(11)
National team‡
2008–	Puerto Rico	3	(2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20 October, 2009. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 23 July, 2008

Petter Villegas (born November 15, 1975 in Esmeraldas) is an Ecuadorian-born Puerto Rican soccer player who currently plays for Puerto Rico Islanders in the USL First Division.

[edit] Career

[edit] Youth and college

Villegas came to the United States with his family as a child, settling in Newark, New Jersey. He attended Saint Benedict's Preparatory School, where he was a three-time New Jersey All State high school player, scoring 34 goals, assisted on 18 more in 1993. In 1999, he was named by The Star-Ledger as one of the top ten New Jersey high school soccer players of the 1990s.^[1]

He played one year of college soccer at Kean College, earning first team All-NJAC honors in 1995, before turning professional.

[edit] Professional

Villegas' first taste of Major League Soccer action came in 1996, when he played three games for the MetroStars on loan from the New Jersey Stallions of the USISL. Three years in the minors followed, until the Metros drafted Villegas in the first round of the 1999 MLS Supplemental Draft.^[2] He played the next four and a half seasons for the Metros, mostly as a right midfielder, but also as a forward and defender. Villegas' erratic play matched his versatility - brilliant one moment, awful the next - earning him the sarcastic nickname The Greatest Metro Ever. Despite his inconsistency, he scored a number of key goals, including an overtime game winner in a comeback against the Tampa Bay Mutiny in 2000. Overall, Villegas scored 13 goals and 21 assists in his Metro career, adding two goals and two assists in the playoffs.

On May 10, 2002, the MetroStars traded Villegas and defender Orlando Perez to D.C. United for Craig Ziadie and Mark Lisi. At the time of the trade, Villegas had started all seven MetroStars' games that season. He spent the rest of the year with D.C., scoring two goals and adding five assists. Villegas left MLS afterwards, going back to his native Ecuador to play for Aucas, Barcelona SC, Manta and Deportivo Cuenca. In 2005, he came back to the United States, signing with the Puerto Rico Islanders of the USL First Division.

[edit] International

In 2008, having been a resident of Puerto Rico for three years, Villegas made his debut with the Puerto Rican national team, scoring a goal against the Dominican Republic, which enabled Puerto Rico to advance to the next stage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification.

[edit] Honors

[edit] Puerto Rico Islanders

• USL First Division Commissioner's Cup (1): 2008

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Puerto Rico Islanders bio

This biographical article related to Puerto Rican football is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e