Professional
Following his graduation from Williams in 1989, Masters signed with the Albany Capitals of the American Soccer League (ASL). In 1990, the ASL merged with the Western Soccer League to form the American Professional Soccer League (APSL). Masters and the Capitals then played the 1990 and 1991 APSL seasons. In 1990, he was the third leading scorer in the APSL with 14 goals. In 1991, Masters scored seven goals as the Capitals went to the APSL title game only to lose to the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks. Despite this success, the Capitals folded during the off-season and Masters moved west to join the Blackhawks for the 1992 season. He played sixteen games, scoring four goals as the team finished 8-8. At the end of the APSL season, Masters traveled to England for a trial with Colchester United which, after relegation the previous year, played in the GM Vauxhall Conference. The Conference is the fifth tier of English football and, while classified as 'non-league', still receives significant media coverage and support from fans. Masters quickly attained cult status amongst Colchester supporters, scoring many vital goals in the clubs promotion winning 1991-92 season, including a hat-trick in the final game — a 5–0 win against Barrow FC that saw the 'U's' promoted back to The Football League. A few days later, Masters headed the first goal in Colchester’s 3-1 victory over Witton Albion in the FA Trophy final, sealing the so-called 'non-league' double for his side. That was the first goal scored by an American in a Wembley Stadium cup competition. Despite his productive time with Colchester, the British Home Office denied Colchester a work permit for Masters and he returned to the United States. In 1994, the Boston Storm traded Masters to the Long Island Rough Riders during the season. He played for the Roughriders through the 1997 season.
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Famous quotes containing the word professional:
“Men seem more bound to the wheel of success than women do. That women are trained to get satisfaction from affiliation rather than achievement has tended to keep them from great achievement. But it has also freed them from unreasonable expectations about the satisfactions that professional achievement brings.”
—Phyllis Rose (b. 1942)
“Smoking ... is downright dangerous. Most people who smoke will eventually contract a fatal disease and die. But they don’t brag about it, do they? Most people who ski, play professional football or drive race cars, will not die—at least not in the act—and yet they are the ones with the glamorous images, the expensive equipment and the mythic proportions. Why this should be I cannot say, unless it is simply that the average American does not know a daredevil when he sees one.”
—Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950)
“I sometimes wonder whether, in the still, sleepless hours of the night, the consciences of ... professional gossips do not stalk them. I myself believe in a final reckoning, when we shall be held accountable for our misdeeds. Do they? If so, they have cause to worry over many scoops that brought them a day’s dubious laurels and perhaps destroyed someone’s peace forever.”
—Mary Pickford (1893–1979)