The Colorado Rapids are looking to make history this weekend at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park by winning their first two games of the season in the team’s 15-year history. It’ll be a tough shot against a good Chicago Fire team, but the Rapids feel good about their chances. A good part of that confidence is attributed to their newest defender, Marvell Wynne, who came to the team from Toronto FC a day before the season opener.

Twenty-three-year-old Wynne tells The Denver Post his pride has taken a slight hit: He’s been on three teams in Major League Soccer since being the first overall draft pick in 2006 out of UCLA, but he’s happy to be somewhere he’s wanted. Wynne was “beyond good” in the team’s major 1-0 season opener against Chivas USA in Los Angeles last week, the first season-opening road win in franchise history.

Wynne’s blazing speed was on display as he broke up several key Chivas scoring situations, reports ESPN, which writes that Wynne was “mostly magnificent” in his Rapids debut. Wynne has always been an exceptional athlete, a gift he received from his father, who played professional baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, and San Diego Padres.

The younger Wynne was a standout All-American at UCLA, a 2008 Olympian, and a three-time U.S. national team member. He also holds a slight chance of making the trip to South Africa with the U.S. for the World Cup this summer. For his part, Wynne says he’s happy playing in Colorado and hopes to help the team end its three-year playoff skid to make a championship run.

“I want to give this team something extra in the back,” he says. “I want to give them my strength, I want to give them my speed, and I want to give them solid play and my ability.”