Florida adds UCFC midfielder Nate Bourdeau for remainder of 2021 MASL season

LAKELAND, Fla. – The Florida Tropics have signed midfielder Nate Bourdeau for the remainder of the 2021 Major Arena Soccer League season.

Bourdeau is on loan from the Utica City FC, who has elected to sit out the current indoor soccer season because of restrictions related to the ongoing national pandemic. His rights will be retained by Utica following the conclusion of the current season. Per league and team guidelines, no further details of the deal are being released. 

A native of Syracuse, who played his college soccer at Boston College and Rutgers University, Bourdeau has appeared in 159 career games, first entering the league in the 2012-13 season with the Syracuse Silver Knights. He played six seasons there, before suiting up for Utica City where the Silver Knights moved to for the 2018-19 season.

In his career, he has 77 goals and 59 assists. A fine two-way player, in the last four seasons of MASL play he also has 40 blocked shots.

“Nate is a savvy midfielder who provides us with leadership, skill and playoff experience,” Florida Coach Clay Roberts said. “Midfield is such a crucial spot, especially as you get deep into the season, and you look at the talented teams we will be facing going forward, so this is a very important addition to our lineup.”

Florida, the defending Eastern Conference champions, currently sits in second place the MASL standings with a  7-1 mark. Because teams will not being playing the same number of games, standings are determined by winning percentage. The Ontario Fury are currently atop the table with two wins in two starts. Only seven of the league teams are playing this season because of the pandemic, with only four teams – the Tropics, St. Louis, Kansas City and Dallas – actually able to stage home games so far

The Tropics  will return home to host three teams who will play a total of six games in four days at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland starting Thursday, Feb. 18, when Florida hosts the Tacoma Starts in a 3 p.m. start. Florida will then meet the San Diego Sockers on Friday at 7 p.m. and host the Ontario Fury on Sunday at 3 p.m. It is the first ever visits to Florida by Tacoma and Ontario, who along with the Sockers, will all play each other during the event as well.

For ticket and pay-per-view information for the event, continue to monitor www.fltropics.com and the team’s social media sites.