Chris Seitz

Youth and college

Chris Seitz was awarded Gatorade's California High School Soccer Player of the Year award in 2004 while playing for San Luis Obispo High School under the tutelage of coach Bob Galarneau. He also scored four goals in his junior season, all on penalty kicks.

Seitz played college soccer at the University of Maryland for the 2005 and 2006 seasons. As a freshman at Maryland, Seitz won the NCAA national championship by posting a 13–1–2 record with a 0.89 goals against average. He was named College Cup Defensive MVP. During Seitz's two-year career at Maryland he registered a 28–5–3 record with a 0.77 GAA. He was the ACC Defensive Player of the Year in 2006.

Professional

Seitz was drafted in the 2007 MLS SuperDraft where he was selected fourth overall by Real Salt Lake. In his first two starts, he had a 0–1–1 record and a 2.5 GAA. In 2009 Seitz played one game on loan for Cleveland City Stars of the USL First Division, a 3–1 loss to Miami FC, and two games on loan with the Portland Timbers, also of the USL First Division, both against the Carolina RailHawks. He was the first goalkeeper to face five penalties in one match. In three seasons in Salt Lake, Seitz was never able to un-seat veteran Nick Rimando as RSL's first-choice keeper. On November 25, 2009, he was traded to MLS expansion franchise Philadelphia Union.

Seitz spent the first 22 games of Philadelphia's inaugural season as the Union's starter, before being dropped to the bench behind Brad Knighton. He posted a 1.80 goals against average, worst in the league for players with more than one start in goal. The Union did not choose to extend his contract, making him available for the two stages of the 2010 MLS Re-Entry Draft after the 2010 season.

Seitz was selected by Seattle Sounders FC in the second stage of the Re-Entry Draft. A contract was agreed with Seattle, and he was immediately traded to FC Dallas in exchange for a fourth-round pick in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft.

Seitz started one game for FC Dallas in 2011, allowing four goals in a 4–2 loss to the San Jose Earthquakes. In 2012, due to an injury to Kevin Hartman, who was dealing with back spasms, Seitz started against Vancouver Whitecaps FC in a 0–1 loss for Dallas. Seitz would go on to start the next two games until Hartman was able to play again.

Seitz put his soccer career on hold for a brief time in September 2012, despite having no guaranteed contract for the upcoming 2013 season, when he elected to donate bone marrow to save the life of a random stranger for whose bone marrow he was a match. Because of this act, he was later named the 2012 MLS Humanitarian of the Year.

Seitz continued to be primarily a backup goalkeeper for Dallas until the 2016 season, when he would start a career-high 28 MLS matches. He would contribute to the team winning two major trophies, the Supporters' Shield and the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

International

Seitz earned his first full international call up for the game against Brazil on September 9, 2007, but did not see any playing time. He previously started games for the U-23 squad in the CONCACAF Pre-Olympic qualification tournament prior to the 2008 Olympic Games and was on the roster for the 2008 Summer Olympic soccer tournament.

Real Salt Lake

FC Dallas

Individual

Career statistics

Updated January 11, 2017