The Brazos Valley Cavalry FC are excited to announce today that the first three players have been signed to the inaugural 2017 PDL roster. The Cavalry FC also launched a contest to name the mascot for our new team in the Brazos Valley.

The contest will take place from Wednesday, March 29th to Monday, April 10th. Fans will be able to submit their submissions on bvcavalryfc.com.

Following the fans submission the team will collect fan votes on the top three names to decide what the name of the Cavalry FC mascot will be. The winner of the contest will be selected randomly from the fans who submitted the winning mascot name. The winner will get an autographed team soccer ball, two tickets to the inaugural game on June 5th, a special meet and greet with the newly named mascot, and participation in the pregame ceremony.

Quayyum Murana, Kevin Rodriguez and Louis Thomas are the first members of the Cavalry but they are no strangers to the Houston Dynamo organization as all three are alumni to the Dynamo Academy. The Dynamo Academy aims to produce MLS standard players. Their road to the Dynamo will start in the Brazos Valley with the Cavalry FC.

Murana is a native of Ibadan, Nigeria and is currently a center back for the University of St. Louis. He started in 13 games as a freshman for the Bilikens and scored a goal. Murana has natural leadership skills and has proven to be one of the top defenders from the Dynamo Academy.

Rodriguez is a sophomore midfielder for the Huskies of Northern Illinois. The Pasadena, Texas native was named the 2015 Mid-American Conference Freshman of the Year after starting 11 games and tallying two goals. Last season, Rodriguez started nine games and scored two goals and added an assist for the Huskies.

Louis Thomas comes to the Brazos Valley from West Virginia University. The center back was named to the Academic All-MAC Team in 2015, when he logged 1,547 minutes in his sophomore season for the Mountaineers. In his freshman year, Thomas ranked third on the team in minutes played and ranked third on the team with eight assists. The eight assists placed him 5th in that category in the MAC. He started 13 games last season and registered three assists.