I would like to apologize for Matthew Stevens’ column printed Wednesday.

In the column, Stevens questioned the decision of former Eastern standout soccer player Jason Thompson to forego his senior year of collegiate eligibility to play professionally in Major League Soccer.

Thompson signed a contract with Nike Project-40, a program for high school and college-aged soccer players that guarantees a roster spot for the players and saves money toward education for the players. Thompson was drafted in the second round of the MLS Super Draft by the Dallas Burn Jan. 19.

Two weeks after the draft, Thompson tore his anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his right knee while playing with the U.S. National Team in Portugal.

After looking for results from the Burn’s preseason games, Stevens noticed Thompson had not played in any of the games. Stevens checked the injury report for the Dallas Burn on the MLS Web site, but Thompson’s injury was not mentioned.

This led Stevens to believe Thompson would not be playing for the Burn this season.

Thompson said Wednesday he was cleared last month to start jogging, and he is expected to return by July or early August.

Thompson also said he thinks he is still a part of the Burn’s plans for the future.

“They (Dallas) have the second-leading scorer in MLS history,” Thompson said. “But I had been led to believe that the other starting spot was still open, and I had as much of a chance as anyone. Right now it still seems that way.”

Thompson is still on the Burn’s 24-man roster despite his injury and by his Project-40 contract and is guaranteed to be on the Burn’s roster for the next four years.

Journalists need to check their facts – multiple times if necessary. They need to confirm information with reliable sources for accuracy. Reporting should have gone further than it did in the case of this column. The Daily Eastern News should have contacted Eastern men’s soccer coach Adam Howarth, who has been readily and willingly accessible to the News’ staff in the past.

Not contacting Howarth was an oversight the News made because of time constraints and not wanting to disturb Howarth outside of the office for something the News deemed short of breaking news.

Stevens has proven himself to be an extremely talented and knowledgeable reporter who researches his articles and columns to great extent.

This was an instance of a lapse in judgment on both his and my part, and we are both willing to take responsibility for the oversight.

Stevens has expressed to me his apologies for his negligence, and I hope to convey his apologies to the News’ readers.

I will continue to stand by Stevens’ work in the future and hope the readers will accept our apologies and forgive us for our mistake.

Failing to research the situation any farther than the Web site was erroneous, and it resulted in making false assumptions that could have been prevented and hopefully will be prevented in the future.