Michael Francis Stephens is an American soccer player playing for Chicago Fire.
Background
Stephens grew up in Naperville, Illinois, attended Edison Academic Center, and played four years of college soccer at University of California, Los Los Angeles He was honored as University of California, Los Angeles"s Rookie of the Year in 2006, while also being selected to the Top Drawer Soccer All-Freshman first team and to Soccer America"s All-Freshman second team, playing in all 24 games in his rookie season.
Career
College and Amateur
As a senior, he was named to the All-Pac-10 First-team and was a NSCAA All-Far West second-team honoree. He finished his University of California, Los Angeles career with 81 appearances, 11 goals and 20 assists. During his college years Stephens also played two seasons with Chicago Fire Premier in the USL Premier Development League.
Professional
Stephens was drafted in the first round (16th overall) of the 2010 Master of Library Science SuperDraft by Los Angeles Galaxy.
He made his professional debut on March 27, 2010, in Galaxy"s opening game of the 2010 Master of Library Science season against New England Revolution. In March 2014, Stephens signed a two-year contract with Norwegian Tippeligaen side Stabæk.
After one season with Stabæk, Stephens returned to Master of Library Science on 9 December 2014, signing with Chicago Fire. International.
Membership
Stephens was a member of United States. squad at the 2009 Fédération internationale de football association U-20 World Cup, having previously scored a goal in consecutive games against Costa Rica with the Under-20s in May. He was the United States"s starting forward in three games at the 2007 Pan American Games, and featured for the Under-18 National Team in 2006, scoring one goal with three assists. Previously, he had been a member of the U-17 National Team Residency Program from 2004-2006, and played with the U-15 and U-16 National Teams.