Carl Howard "CJ" Cochran Jr. (born September 27, 1991) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper.

CJ Cochran
Cochran with Nashville SC in 2018
Personal information
Full name Carl Howard Cochran, Jr.
Date of birth (1991-09-27) September 27, 1991 (age 33)
Place of birth Alpharetta, Georgia, United States
Height 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2011–2014 Georgia State Panthers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015 Atlanta Silverbacks 8 (0)
2016–2017 Oklahoma City Energy 11 (0)
2018 Nashville SC 3 (0)
2018Fresno FC (loan) 5 (0)
2019 Fresno FC 34 (0)
2020–2022 Oklahoma City Energy 44 (0)
2020Nashville SC (loan) 0 (0)
2022Tampa Bay Rowdies (loan) 25 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of October 19, 2022

Cochran was born in Alpharetta, Georgia and played his earlier career with Georgia State Panthers before starting his professional career with Atlanta Silverbacks in 2015.[1] After a year with Atlanta, he joined United Soccer League club Oklahoma City Energy.[2]

Playing career

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Youth career

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Cochran started his career with a successful four years at Georgia State University, where he achieved such records as posting the season's all-time record goals-against average of 1.33. Cochran also ended his National Collegiate Athletic Association career with the competition's third-most clean sheets of 11 and with the third-best single-season goals-against average of 1.47 in 2014. While at Georgia State, Cochran also won numerous awards during his time there which included the Sun Belt and College Sports Madness Independent Defensive Player of the Week awards and two Colonial Athletic Association Rookie of the Week awards.[1]

In total, Cochran played 4,345 minutes of action with Georgia State which involved 48 starts. With 188 saves during his time there, Cochran comes in the top-10 for most career saves with the Panthers.[1]

Professional career

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In 2015, Atlanta Silverbacks offered Cochran a trial at the club. After starting pre-season as a trialist, Cochran signed a professional contract with the club.[3] On April 4, 2015, Cochran made his debut for the Atlanta Silverbacks against Indy Eleven in a match that ended 1–1.[4] On July 7, Cochran was nominated for the NASL Play of the Week award for his save against Martin Nuñez of the Tampa Bay Rowdies.[5] In 2016, Cochran left Atlanta after the club was suspended by the league after it was not successful in finding new ownership for the club, the franchise was suspended on January 11, 2016.[6][7] Cochran made a total of 9 appearances for Atlanta. After departing Atlanta, Cochran joined United Soccer League club Oklahoma City Energy.[2]

On December 7, 2017, Nashville SC announced Cochran as a new signing.[8] He was loaned to Fresno FC in June 2018.[2] On November 14, 2018, Nashville announced that they had not re-signed Cochran for the 2019 season.[9] Cochran subsequently rejoined Fresno FC at the end of November on a permanent one-year contract.[10]

On December 20, 2019, it was announced that Cochran would return to Oklahoma City Energy.[11]

On October 12, 2020, Cochran returned to Nashville SC on loan for the remainder of the 2020 Major League Soccer season.[12]

OKC Energy announced that the team would be suspending play for the 2022 USL Championship season.[13] On January 21, 2022, it was announced that Cochran would spend the 2022 season on loan from OKC to the Tampa Bay Rowdies.[14] He left Tampa following their 2022 season.[15]

Career statistics

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As of match played August 16, 2019.[2]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup[a] Continental Other[b] Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Atlanta Silverbacks 2015 NASL 8 0 1 0 0 0 9 0
Oklahoma City Energy 2016 USL 4 0 1 0 0 0 5 0
2017 USL 7 0 3 0 3[c] 0 13 0
Total 11 0 4 0 3 0 18 0
Nashville SC 2018 USL 3 0 2 0 0 0 5 0
Fresno FC (loan) 2018 USL 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
Fresno FC 2019 USL 23 0 0 0 0 0 23 0
Career total 50 0 7 0 3 0 60 0
  1. ^ Includes the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
  2. ^ Includes the USL Playoffs
  3. ^ Appearance(s) in USL Cup

Honors

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Georgia State Panthers[16]
  • Athletic Director's Honor Roll (4): 2010 Fall Semester, 2011 Spring Semester, 2011 Fall Semester, 2014 Spring Semester
  • TopDrawerSoccer.com Midseason Top 100 Freshmen to Watch: 2011
  • CAA Rookie of the Week (2): October 3, 2011, October 10, 2011
  • College Sports Madness Independent Defensive Player of the Week: 2013
  • Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week: September 2014

References

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  1. ^ a b c [1] Archived September 5, 2015, at the Wayback Machine Atlanta Silverbacks. October 8, 2015. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d [2] Soccerway. October 8, 2015. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
  3. ^ [3] Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Atlanta Silverbacks. March 12, 2015. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
  4. ^ [4] Archived September 5, 2015, at the Wayback Machine Atlanta Silverbacks. April 4, 2015. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
  5. ^ [5] Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Atlanta Silverbacks. July 7, 2015. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
  6. ^ "Atlanta Silverbacks set to play in 2015". North American Soccer League (NASL). December 2, 2014. Archived from the original on February 13, 2015. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
  7. ^ "NASL Suspends Operation of Atlanta Silverbacks". North American Soccer League (NASL). January 11, 2016. Retrieved January 11, 2016.
  8. ^ "Nashville SC Signs Another MLS Cup Champion, Defender Kosuke Kimura". Archived from the original on December 8, 2017. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  9. ^ "Nashville SC Announces 14 Players Returning for 2019 Season". Archived from the original on November 15, 2018. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
  10. ^ Fc, Fresno (November 30, 2018). "Fresno FC signs goalkeeper CJ Cochran". Fresno FC. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  11. ^ "Energy FC Welcomes Back Goalkeeper CJ Cochran". December 20, 2019.
  12. ^ "CJ Cochran to Nashville SC loan". Nashville SC (Twitter).
  13. ^ "ENERGY FC TO SUSPEND PLAY IN 2022, RESUME IN 2023". EnergyFC.com. December 3, 2021. Archived from the original on January 27, 2022. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
  14. ^ "ROWDIES SECURE KEEPER CJ COCHRAN ON LOAN". Tampa Bay Rowdies. January 21, 2022. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
  15. ^ USLChampionship com Staff (December 2, 2022). "Tampa Bay Rowdies announce initial 2023 roster decisions". USL Championship.
  16. ^ [6] Georgia State Sports. October 8, 2015. Retrieved October 8, 2015.