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Clint Irwin

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Clint Irwin
Personal information
Full name Clinton Robert Irwin
Date of birth (1989-04-01) April 1, 1989 (age 35)
Place of birth Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)[1]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team
 Minnesota United
Number 1
Youth career
Charlotte United
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007–2010 Elon Phoenix 54 (0)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2008–2009 Carolina Dynamo 8 (0)
2011 Capital City 18 (1)
2012 Charlotte Eagles 3 (0)
2013–2015 Colorado Rapids 89 (0)
2016–2018 Toronto FC 32 (0)
2016 Toronto FC II 2 (0)
2019–2022 Colorado Rapids 16 (0)
2019 → Colorado Springs Switchbacks (loan) 3 (0)
2022 Colorado Rapids 2 3 (0)
2023– Minnesota United 9 (0)
2024 Minnesota United 2 5 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of October 20, 2024

Clinton Robert Irwin (born April 1, 1989) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for Major League Soccer club Minnesota United FC.

Early life

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Irwin attended high school at Charlotte Christian School. As a student, he played basketball, where he was a teammate of future NBA player Stephen Curry.[2]

Irwin attended Elon University, where he made 54 appearances for the Elon Phoenix over four seasons.[3]

Club career

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Early career

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While attending university, Irwin played two seasons with USL Premier Development Division club Carolina Dynamo.[4]

After his time at Elon, Irwin joined Capital City of the Canadian Soccer League for the 2011 season and was named the team captain.[5][6] Irwin made 22 appearances for Capital City and scored a goal for the club in a 2–2 draw with Windsor Stars.[7] He would help the Ottawa-based club secure a playoff berth by finishing third in the league's first division.[8] Ottawa defeated Montreal Impact's academy team in the quarterfinal round.[9] In the next round, Ottawa defeated the Serbian White Eagles to advance to the championship final.[10] Ottawa would face Toronto Croatia in the championship final and were defeated by Toronto.[11] After the conclusion of the season, Irwin was nominated for the league's best goalkeeper award.[12]

United States

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Following his stint with Capital City, Irwin joined his hometown club, the Charlotte Eagles in the USL Professional Division. On July 6, 2012, Irwin made his debut in a 2–0 win over the Charleston Battery[13]

In February 2013, Irwin signed with Major League Soccer club Colorado Rapids after a successful trial in preseason.[14] He made his debut for the club on March 16 in 1–1 draw against Real Salt Lake, coming on as a 7th-minute substitute for Matt Pickens.[15]

Toronto FC

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Following the 2015 season, in February 2016, Irwin was traded to Toronto FC in exchange for targeted allocation money, a third-round pick in the 2016 MLS SuperDraft and a conditional first-round pick in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft.[16] After featuring as the club's starting goalkeeper for the first part of the season, Irwin sustained in injury in July, and as a result, he was replaced by his deputy Alex Bono in the starting line-up by manager Greg Vanney;[17] Upon his return to action, Irwin later regained the starting spot for the remainder of the regular season and the Playoffs,[18] as Toronto went on to reach the 2016 MLS Cup Final. In the final, held at BMO Field on December 10, Toronto were defeated by Seattle Sounders FC 5–4 on penalties, following a 0–0 draw after extra time; Irwin was able to stop Álvaro Fernández's spot kick during the shootout, but misses from teammates Michael Bradley and Justin Morrow ultimately proved to be decisive.[19] On December 13, 2016, Irwin was selected by Atlanta United FC in the third round of the 2016 MLS Expansion Draft, but was immediately traded back to Toronto for Mark Bloom and allocation money.[20]

The following season, Irwin suffered a hamstring injury in Toronto FC's home opener, a 0–0 draw against Sporting Kansas City; as a result, Bono was once again promoted to the starting line-up in Irwin's absence,[21] and eventually established himself as the team's outright first-choice shot-stopper by September 2017, due to his performances, even after Irwin's return from injury.[22][23][24][25] In a rematch of the previous season's MLS Cup Final, on December 9, Toronto defeated Seattle 2–0 at home to capture the 2017 MLS Cup and complete an unprecedented treble of the MLS Cup, the Supporters' Shield, and the Canadian Championship.[26][27]

MLS

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On December 14, 2018, Irwin was traded back to the Colorado Rapids in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft.[28] He spent the 2019 season as the backup to former United States international Tim Howard.[29] Irwin's contract with Colorado expired following the 2022 season.[30]

On December 6, 2022, Minnesota United FC announced it had signed Irwin to a two-year contract, beginning in 2023, in support of starting goalkeeper, Dayne St. Clair.[31]

Career statistics

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Club

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As of match played October 9, 2022[32][33][4]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Playoffs National cup Continental Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Carolina Dynamo 2008 Premier Development League 4 0 — — — 4 0
2009 Premier Development League 4 0 — — — 4 0
Total 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0
Capital City 2011 Canadian Soccer League 18 1 4[a] 0 — — 22 1
Charlotte Eagles 2012 USL Pro 3 0 — 3 0 — 6 0
Colorado Rapids 2013 Major League Soccer 32 0 1[b] 0 1 0 — 34 0
2014 Major League Soccer 26 0 — 2 0 — 28 0
2015 Major League Soccer 31 0 — 0 0 — 31 0
Total 89 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 93 0
Toronto FC 2016 Major League Soccer 19 0 6[b] 0 3 0 — 28 0
2017 Major League Soccer 6 0 — 4 0 — 10 0
2018 Major League Soccer 7 0 — 4 0 0 0 11 0
Total 32 0 6 0 11 0 0 0 49 0
Toronto FC II (loan) 2016 United Soccer League 2 0 — — — 2 0
Colorado Rapids 2019 Major League Soccer 11 0 — 1 0 — 12 0
2020 Major League Soccer 4 0 — — — 4 0
2021 Major League Soccer 1 0 — — — 1 0
2022 Major League Soccer 0 0 — 1 0 — 1 0
Total 16 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 18 0
Colorado Springs Switchbacks (loan) 2019 USL Championship 3 0 — — — 3 0
Career total 171 1 11 0 19 0 0 0 201 1
  1. ^ Appearances in CSL Championship
  2. ^ a b Appearances in MLS Cup playoffs

Honors

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Toronto FC

References

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  1. ^ "Clint Irwin". Colorado Rapids. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
  2. ^ John Molinaro (February 12, 2016). "TFC's Irwin: Curry 'unbelievably skilled' as high schooler". Sportsnet.ca.
  3. ^ "Clint Irwin - 2010 Men's Soccer". Elon University. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  4. ^ a b "Clint Irwin at SoccerStats.us". SoccerStats.us. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  5. ^ "Sports Flashes - Capital City Net Players". Ottawa Sun. April 29, 2011.
  6. ^ Starnes, Richard (May 20, 2011). "Capital City success will come by committee; Team kicks off CSL season tonight". Ottawa Citizen. pp. B5.
  7. ^ "July 16, 2011 CSL--details of Saturday games (from CSL website)". rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  8. ^ "Capital City wins out". Nepean Barrhaven EMC. October 6, 2011. p. 27.
  9. ^ Desaulniers, Darren (October 17, 2011). "Surviving the Impact; Capital City FC advances into CSL semifinals". Ottawa Citizen. pp. B6.
  10. ^ Desaulniers, Darren (October 24, 2011). "Headed for the final; Capital City FC advances to Canadian Soccer League title game". Ottawa Citizen. pp. C5.
  11. ^ Barrs, Rory (October 30, 2011). "Just one goal short for Capital City FC; First-year team loses CSL final". Ottawa Citizen. pp. C1.
  12. ^ "City FC Rookie Nets Award". Ottawa Citizen. November 16, 2011.
  13. ^ "Eagles Get Past Battery". uslsoccer.com. United Soccer Leagues. July 6, 2012. Archived from the original on April 12, 2013. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
  14. ^ "Rapids sign goalkeeper Clint Irwin and defender Kory Kindle". coloradorapids.com. Colorado Rapids Media Relations. February 21, 2013. Archived from the original on February 3, 2014. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
  15. ^ "Real Salt Lake 1-1 Colorado Rapids". Soccerway.
  16. ^ Nicholas Rosano (January 18, 2016). "Toronto FC acquire goalkeeper Clint Irwin from Colorado Rapids for targeted allocation money, draft picks". mlssoccer.com. Major League Soccer.
  17. ^ James Grossi (July 2, 2016). "Alex Bono takes the reins in net as Toronto deal with Clint Irwin's injury". mlssoccer.com. Major League Soccer. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  18. ^ Laura Armstrong (August 10, 2017). "Alex Bono has grabbed his chance as TFC's keeper". thestar.com. The Toronto Star. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  19. ^ "Seattle Sounders beat Toronto FC on penalties to win 2016 MLS Cup". espnfc.com. ESPN FC. December 10, 2016. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  20. ^ "Atlanta United, Minnesota United FC add five players in MLS Expansion Draft". mlssoccer.com. Major League Soccer. December 12, 2016.
  21. ^ Neil Davidson (April 2, 2017). "Toronto FC goalkeeper Irwin out 4-5 weeks with hamstring injury". cbc.ca. CBC Sports. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  22. ^ Chicco Nacion (November 28, 2017). "TFC's Alex Bono unfazed by challenges on and off the pitch". cbc.ca. CBC Sports. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  23. ^ James Grossi (December 4, 2017). "Character, confidence propel TFC's Alex Bono to No. 1 job, MLS Cup start". mlssoccer.com. Major League Soccer. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  24. ^ Laura Armstrong (December 6, 2017). "MLS Cup features two of the league's best goalkeepers". thestar.com. The Toronto Star. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  25. ^ Chicco Nacion (December 9, 2017). "Tale of the tape: Toronto FC seeks redemption in MLS Cup rematch". cbc.ca. CBC Sports. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  26. ^ a b "Recap: Toronto FC vs Seattle Sounders". mlssoccer.com. Major League Soccer. December 9, 2017. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  27. ^ Laura Armstrong (December 9, 2017). "Toronto FC captures MLS Cup". thestar.com. The Toronto Star. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  28. ^ Boniface, Daniel (December 14, 2018). "Clint Irwin returns to Colorado Rapids via trade". The Denver Post. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
  29. ^ Hopkins, Liam (May 12, 2020). "Why Clint Irwin deserves to be the Rapids' starting goalkeeper". Burgundy Wave. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
  30. ^ "Who's in, who's out? Gyasi Zardes' future uncertain at Colorado Rapids | MLSSoccer.com". mlssoccer.
  31. ^ "Minnesota United sign goalkeeper Clint Irwin in free agency | MLSSoccer.com". mlssoccer.
  32. ^ Clint Irwin at Soccerway. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  33. ^ Clint Irwin at Major League Soccer
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