Galaxy Deal Makes Room for Caligiuri

What had been a rumor Sunday became a fact Monday when the Galaxy traded defender Mark Semioli to the New York/New Jersey MetroStars for a second-round pick in next year’s supplemental draft.

The move provided the team enough room under its salary cap to activate defender Paul Caligiuri, a 33-year-old former UCLA player who earlier this year won his lawsuit against Major League Soccer for the right to play for the Galaxy, but who has been on the team’s inactive list for several months.

The former U.S. national team left back will be eligible to play Saturday when the Galaxy faces the Colorado Rapids at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

Semioli, 29, a former Stanford All-American, was a fifth-round draft pick by the Galaxy in 1996 and started 32 regular-season and playoff games for the Western Conference champion in its first season. He is originally from Hauppauge, N.Y.

“I’ve seen Mark play on video, and he is a very tough defender [with] an aggressive style,” said MetroStar Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, who led Brazil to the 1994 World Cup championship.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy announced Monday that midfielder Steve Jolley will undergo surgery this week to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee sustained in Sunday’s 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Mutiny.

The injury will cause Jolley, 23, a first-round draft pick this spring from William & Mary, to miss the rest of the season.

He had only recently broken into the starting lineup and was playing better with each game.

“It’s one of those things you can’t really do anything about,” he said Sunday while explaining how the injury occurred. “It’s part of the game, I guess.

“The ball came across, I pivoted and my knee went the other way. It’s my first injury, so I’m naive and optimistic at the same time. Naive because I don’t know what to expect, and optimistic because I’m one of those people who expects the best and knows everything is going to be OK in the long run.”