2011 WPS Draft

The 2011 Draft was today, and it was a success!


The WPS Draft was today, and I have to say, by the looks of it, 2011 is going to be an exciting year. Let's get right down to business and name the picks!

Western NY Flash- Alex Morgan, Reed, Augustin

Washington Freedom- Klingenberg, Press, Davis, Da Costa, Fraine

Breakers- Winters, Palmer, Sheeleigh,

Beat- Wright, Lencyzk, Bowers, Taylor

Philly- Farrely, Stoltenberg, Barnes, D'Agostino, Rynier

Sky Bluey- Mautz, Alkek

Apologies if I butchered anyone's name! I'm not very familiar with the youth and college players, however I recognize some from the USWNT and some from the Final Four which took place a little while ago. There are some good players out there, and the season will be exciting! In the Draft, I think the Flash and the Freedom walked away with some top players, in Morgan, Augustin, Klingenberg and Press. Great players picked up by them! The Flash is looking even stronger, and they picked up some really excellent youth players. The Flash hasn't even seen a minute of action of their inaugural season mind you, and they are already looking to be a huge threat. The Freedom has some key players re-signed (Wambach, McLeod) but they mentioned at the Draft that they will be announcing more Free Agents they have re-signed very soon. It was nice to see Brianna Scurry as the GM for the Freedom, and its now official that Mike Lyons, who worked with Christie Rampone in 2009 when Sky Blue won the Championship, will be the head coach of the Freedom. That's all folks, the 2011 WPS draft was a success! Also, almost forgot to mention, the WPS ball was unveiled as well! It looks great and its decription sounds very promising, its a traditional 24 patch ball that is said to brave all elements. Here's a picture of it:


Pretty nice design, huh? Can't wait to see the players kicking that around! The ball is supposed to have a smoother flight pattern and is said to be able to withstand all the elements.

That concludes our post on the 2011 WPS Draft! In other news, the USWNT has headed to China before the Four Nations tournament! Sundhage recently released her roster of 23 players that she will be taking with her. Here's the list (borrowed from ussoccer.com as always!):

GOALKEEPERS (2): Nicole Barnhart (out of contract), Ashlyn Harris (Western New York Flash)

DEFENDERS (7): Rachel Buehler (Boston Breakers), Stephanie Cox (Boston Breakers), Amy LePeilbet (Boston Breakers), Heather Mitts (out of contract), Christie Rampone (out of contract) Becky Sauerbrunn (Washington Freedom), Brittany Taylor (Sky Blue FC)

MIDFIELDERS (10): Yael Averbuch (Western New York Flash), Shannon Boxx (out of contract), Tobin Heath (Sky Blue FC), Meghan Klingenberg (North Carolina), Lori Lindsey (Philadelphia Independence), Carli Lloyd (Atlanta Beat), Kelley O’Hara (Boston Breakers), Heather O’Reilly (Sky Blue FC), Megan Rapinoe (Philadelphia Independence), Lindsay Tarpley (out of contract)

FORWARDS (4): Lauren Cheney (Boston Breakers), Sydney Leroux (UCLA), Alex Morgan (California), Amy Rodriguez (Philadelphia Independence)

Now, these games will not be on TV, but there might be a place where we can watch the games. You might be able to catch matches here:

http://www.sopcast.com/download/

A friend of mine sent me that link. She was able to catch matches played in China through that website, which is a free downloadable site which features online broadcasts of channels. Since the games are frequently televised in China, we might be able to catch them on an online broadcast. Hoping for all the best on this one! The games are very early. I know the schedule for the USWNT's matches. Here it is:

USA vs. Sweden- 2:35am ET
USA vs. Canada- 6:05am ET
USA vs. China- 5:35am ET

Hopefully we can watch those! If not, you can always follow via matchtracker or twitter. If I find anything the day of, I'll post it here. See you all soon!

Denise