Sad news (I was too obsessed with John and Liz to pick this up when it first came out) .. the LA Sol have folded. You probably heard it from Boltgirl first! (I heard via an e-mail at work from a friend.)
At first I was horrified on hearing it -- PTSD from old WUSA days. But the model is different (franchises) this time around -- so what happens with the Sol doesn’t drag on the league the way it would have back in the day. And with two new teams we’re still up one from last year … and most teams (other than the Sol) have modest business models.
Breakers’ GM Andy Crossley weighed in on the situation and gave us some good news about the Breakers’ status:
Crossley is confident that WPS will continue to grow. He’s starting to see interest increase from last year.
“We’re up 20 percent in ticket sales,” Crossley said. “I feel, locally, interest is growing here. I would say the league has certainly picked up momentum from last year.”
“I can’t wait. I think we’ve got a really exciting team this year. Tony and Lisa are happy the way the draft turned out. I think now we have an opportunity to add quality players in the dispersal draft. It’s going to be very, very competitive in training camp.
It was actually that training camp that was my first thought when I heard about the Sol folding and the dispersal draft (2/4/10). Feeling kinda bummed for the just-out-of-college players who were picked late in the 1/15 draft and were probably ecstatic to be coming into camp … who now may have to compete against the likes of Boxxy, Marta and Karina LeBlanc. Yikes -- talk about a roller coaster!
Oh, and having just purchased 2 more season tickets from the Breakers, I can attest to the growing interest … as it was pretty slim pickings in the section I was hoping for!
So here’s the dispersal pick order … and the rosters of the Sol and the Breakers … (FA means Free Agent) …
| Round 1 | Sol Roster | Breakers Roster | ||
| 1. Atlanta | Liz Bogus (FA) | M | Abby Crumpton (FA) | F/D |
| 2. Philadelphia | Brittany Cameron (FA) | GK | Fabiana (FA) | F |
| 3. FC Gold Pride | Keri Sanchez (FA) | D | Kristin Luckenbill (FA) | GK |
| 4. Chicago | Lisa Sari (FA) | M | Ashley Phillips (FA) | GK |
| 5. Boston | Julia Schnugg (FA) | F | Jordan Angeli | D |
| 6. Sky Blue | Brittany Bock | D | Casey Brown | D |
| 7. Washington | Shannon Boxx | M | Lauren Cheney | F |
| 8. Saint Louis | Stephanie Cox | D | Gina DiMartino | F |
| Round 2 | Tina DiMartino | M | Christine Latham | F |
| 9. Saint Louis | Johanna Frisk | D | Amy LePeilbet | D |
| 10. Washington | Karina LeBlanc | GK | Kristine Lilly | M/F |
| 11. Sky Blue FC | Manya Makoski | M | Allison Lipsher | GK |
| 12. Boston | Marta | F | Mary-Frances Monroe | M |
| 13. Chicago | Aya Miyama | M | Kasey Moore | D |
| 14. FC Gold Pride | Cynthia Morote-Ariza | F | ||
| 15. Philadelphia | Sol Draft (in draft order) | Alyssa Naeher | GK | |
| 16. Atlanta | Nikki Washington | M/F | Jennifer Nobis | F |
| Round 3 | Casey Nogueira | F | Leslie Osborne | M |
| 17. Atlanta | Kiersten Dallstream | F | Carly Peetz | D |
| 18. Philadelphia | Michelle Enyeart | M/F | Katherine Reynolds | D |
| 19. FC Gold Pride | Kiki Bosio | F | Alex Scott | D |
| 20. Chicago | Estelle Johnson | D | Kelly Smith | F/M |
| 21. Boston | Mary Casey | GK | Erika Sutton | D/M |
| 22. Sky Blue FC | Lindsay Browne | M/F | Maggie Tomecka | M |
| 23. Washington | Tiffany Weimer | F | ||
| 24. Saint Louis |
Who do we want in Boston? And who do we have room for? Will this tip Lil into retirement? (Not yet -- one more year, Lil, okay? We’ll need some warning before you hang up your boots.)
Anyway -- who do I want? We need scoring. Do I want Marta? Oddly enough, I’m not totally enthralled with the idea. She’d be fun to watch, don’t get me wrong … but a part of me would really like to see the Breakers do it without her … leaving a healthy Kelly Smith with the spotlight all to herself. (Do I sound like an eldest child? Worried about dispersal displacement? Yup!)
Here’s the discussion (from the Breakers’ point of view) on BigSoccer.
Apparently Tony likes Dallstream. Hey … we’d like forwards who can work with Tony and vice versa. So, betweem Nikki Washington, Casey Nogueira and Kiersten Dallstream … oh, and Marta … we should be able to pick up something good for the B’s, I’m thinking.
I do wish that Camille Abily were still with the Sol (and therefore being ‘dispersed’). I liked her a lot! Gold Pride lucked out on that one!
Any way you look at it, the 4th should be interesting … and the Breakers will pick up some more talent … and the 2nd WPS season is getting closer and closer!
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Tags: alex scott, alyssa naeher, amy lepeilbet, BigSoccer, Boston, Boxx, Boxxy, Breakers, Cheney, Christine Latham, Edwards, fabiana, Jennifer Nobis, karina leblanc, Kasey Moore, kelly smith, Kristin Luckenbill, Lauren Cheney, Leslie Osborne, Philadelphia, Sky Blue FC, soccer, Tiffany Weimer, Tony, WUSA
