Scurry, Freedom Add Five Players in WPS Draft

Briana Scurry got her first cap, so to speak, as a general manager at the 2011 WPS Draft. It was just two years ago that she was selected in the 5th round of the 2009 WPS Draft. Her first venture into the general manager's seat yielded several fine draft choices for the Washington Freedom.

Washington entered the draft with about enough players for a bridge game and had a lot of holes to fill. The first trade on draft day proved to be quite a shocker. Washington was able to obtain the number three overall pick and a player to be named later from Atlanta, for the Freedom's 2012 first round pick. The player to be named later is widely reported to be talented Johanna Rasmussen, although that has yet to be confirmed by either team as far as I can tell.

So now armed with two consecutive first round picks, the Freedom were able to scoop up Meghan Klingenberg and Christen Press back-to-back, and presumably add Rasmussen on top of it all. Talk about a productive start to the draft!

Klingenberg, who just received her first cap for the USWNT at the Four Nations Tournament, is a highly regarded midfielder out of North Carolina. She played several positions in college, but excelled at left midfield for the Tar Heels. She had six goals and eleven assists in her senior year and earned 24 assists over her career.

In many respects, both in size and skill set, she reminds me of Tina DiMartino, although Klingenberg generally plays a wider position. She is fast, very good with the ball at her feet, and manoeuvers well in traffic. She usually gives good service from the wing and can be a real pest when defensively pressuring the opponent's back line.

With the 4th overall selection, Washington chose high scoring Christen Press out of Stanford. Press scored 71 goals at Stanford, including 26 her senior season. She was recently awarded the MAC Hermann Award as the best college player of 2010. She can also set up others, assisting on 41 goals at Stanford. Press has good speed and obvious finishing ability, but can she take it to the next level? I believe so.

At the 10th selection, they tapped into their own Washington Freedom Futures to draft midfielder Omolyn Davis out of George Mason. For the Futures, she had seven goals and three assists in 12 games last year. She hit double-digits in goals in both 2009 and 2010 with the Patriots.

Considered to be one of the most creative players in college soccer, Davis is sure to be a crowd pleaser if she put that talent to work in the pro ranks. She has also spent some time with the Jamaican National Team.

At number 17, Washington got perhaps the steal of the draft in Amanda DaCosta. Many people tabbed her as a first round selection and it was surprising that she fell all the way down to this position, but it was the Freedom's good fortune. DaCosta follows other Florida State talents like Becky Edwards, India Trotter, Mami Yamaguchi, and Sarah Wagenfuhr into the WPS. Very quick and an excellent passer, DaCosta should prove to be a welcome addition to the Freedom midfield.

With their final selection at number 22, the Freedom drafted Katie Fraine, goalkeeper out of the Florida. Fraine earned 10 shutouts in each of her final two seasons at Florida, with a goals against average of just over 0.70 each season. Like Press, Fraine played for Pali Blues of the W-League last season. At 5-10, she has good height and with Erin McLeod likely to be with her Canadian teammates at the World Cup, Fraine could see playing time fairly quickly.

All in all, the Freedom have to get very high grades in this draft.

WPS Midweek Notes - Scurry Retires

Briana Scurry, long time goalkeeper of the US Women's National Team and member of the WPS Washington Freedom has retired from professional soccer.

Scurry was the number one keeper for the US for well over a decade. She is best remembered for her penalty shot save in the 1999 Women's World Cup in the championship match against China. In addition to that championship, she also earned gold medals in the 1996 and 2004 Olympic Games. She capped 173 times for the USWNT with the United States winning nearly 85% of those matches.

The University of Massachusetts grad was one of the most athletic goalkeepers of her era. Scurry was a member of the Atlanta Beat of the WUSA and the Washington Freedom of WPS. She started in the Freedom's first match against the Los Angeles Sol in March, 2009. However, injuries have plagued her over the past two seasons and she saw very little playing time for the Freedom. She played only 45 minutes for the Freedom this season.

Scurry is also known for her considerable work with various charitable organizations. She will go down in history as one of the best goalkeepers ever in the women's game. Best wishes on all future endeavors to Briana!

Kelly Smith - Player of the Month

Boston Breaker striker Kelly Smith has won Player of the Month honors for the month of August. Smith scored four goals and added one assist in August, while leading the Breakers to a 3-1-1 record. She scored the game winning goals in victories over Atlanta and Philadelphia, plus a game-tying goal in another match with the Independence.

It is the second consecutive month that a Breakers has won the award. Jordan Angeli won the award in July.

Boquete Earns Player of the Week

In her first week of WPS action, Veronica Boquete has won the WPS Player of the Week award. The Red Star forward scored a goal just minutes into her first match against Philadelphia, helping Chicago to a 2-0 win last Wednesday. Then she assisted on both goals in Chicago's 2-1 victory over the Freedom on Sunday.

Boquete had helped the Buffalo Flash win the W-League championship just a few weeks earlier, after which she signed with Chicago, only to have her eligibility held up for visa problems. "Vero", as she is known, is a member of the Spanish Women's National Team.

Around the League

Atlanta Beat - Eniola Aluko could end up leading two different teams in goals this season. She leads the Beat with five goals and led the now defunct Saint Louis Athletica with four.....Only Leigh Ann Robinson has played in all 23 games for Atlanta this season.....The Beat have scored more than one goal only four times this season, but they also gave up more than one goal in each of those games, with a 2-1-1 record.

Boston Breakers -During their 13 game scoring streak, ten different players scored goals for the Breakers.....Kelly Smith is the only two-time winner of the Player of the Month award. She also won in April, 2009.....The Breakers are 0-4 against Gold Pride and 10-4-5 against the rest of the league.

Chicago Red Stars - Sunday's 2-1 victory over Washington marked the first time that the Red Stars had ever scored in three consecutive matches.....Marian Dalmy completed the 2010 season having played every minute. The Red Star defender scored a goal and four assists for the year.....Formiga currently leads WPS in fouls committed with 42, seven more than Jen Buczkowski.

FC Gold Pride - Camille Abily has apparently transitioned from one the league's best goal scorers to one of the best passers. Last year, she scored 8 goals and had one assist for the Sol. This season, she has only one goal, but has added six assists for Gold Pride.....Marta has not missed a minute of action since April 25, 2009 when she was with the Brazilian National Team in Europe.....Gold Pride holds 8-0-4 record in their 12 game unbeaten streak, which is a WPS record.

Philadelphia Independence - Amy Rodriguez is second in WPS in shots on goal with 35 and third in shots with 63.....In addition to Rodriguez's three braces, Frida Magnusdottir and Tina DiMartino have one each for the Independence.....Philadelphia has scored just one goal in their last three matches, all losses.

Sky Blue FC - Rookie Brittany Taylor is Sky Blue's ironwoman having played all 2070 minutes for the team this season.....Tasha Kai and Laura Kalmari are currently tied for the team best in goals with five each.....Sky Blue has had four different starting goalkeepers this season.

Washington Freedom - Becky Sauerbrunn's consecutive minutes streak continues at 3870 minutes in regular season matches. Rookie Nikki Marshall has also not missed a minute for the Freedom this season.....Abby Wambach has scored nine of her 12 goals at the Maryland SoccerPlex and has scored in seven of the eleven games played there this season. The Freedom host Atlanta at the SoccerPlex this weekend with a chance at a playoff berth.....The Freedom have won their last three home games and are 6-2-3 for the season at home.

Correction: Abby Wambach has actually scored in seven of the ten games played at the Maryland SoccerPlex this season. The eleventh home game to be played there will be this weekend's match against Atlanta. One other home game was played at RFK Stadium.

WPS Draft Revisited-Washington Freedom

For the fifth installment on the WPS Draft, we'll take a look at the Washington Freedom.

Who They Drafted
1st round (#7)-Allie Long, North Carolina; 2nd round (#8)-Alex Singer, Virginia; 4th round (#22)-Jill Gilbeau, Texas; 4th round (#23)-Parrissa Eyorokon, Purdue; 5th round (#35)-Briana Scurry, Massachusetts; 6th round (#36)-Rebecca Moros, Duke; 7th round (#49)-Sarah Senty, Virginia; 8th round (#50)-Kati Jo Spisak, Texas A & M; 9th round (#63)-Claire Zimmeck, William & Mary; 10th round (#64)-Christen Karniski, Illinois

Strategy
Well, let's see now. Alex Singer, Rebecca Moros, Sarah Senty, Kati Jo Spisak...all Washington Freedom 2007-08. Jill Gilbeau and Christen Karniski...both Washington Freedom 2008. Do we detect a pattern here? Yes, Jim Gabarra is definitely loyal to his former W-League players. Most of the draftees were young with five of them playing college soccer in 2008. The Freedom also seemed partial to ACC players, choosing four. They were one of the two teams to choose two goalkeepers in the draft, which turned out to be a good idea, given McLeod's visa problems. The Freedom also made a minor trade.

Trade
Washington traded their 3rd round pick (#21) to Saint Louis for Joanna Lohman and Athletica's 4th round pick (#23). The trade ended up being Elise Weber for Lohman and Parrissa Eyorokon. Eyorokon started the season injured and Lohman has seen minimal action, while Weber is now starting for Saint Louis. Lohman has strong ties to the Washington area, so it almost seemed like a trade of convenience for both teams.

Current WPS Status
For the Washington Freedom, 9 of their 10 draft picks are still on the roster, with the 10th, Claire Zimmeck making the squad and playing, but recently being waived.

Full time starters (3)-Long, Singer, Gilbeau.
Part time starters & other full roster players (5)-Eyorokon, Scurry, Moros, Senty, Spisak.
Developmental (1)-Karniski.
Released (1)-Zimmeck.

Note that Gilbeau will likely be a sub for the rest of the season, now that Ali Krieger has joined the team. Moros has been starting more lately. Scurry and Spisak shared the starting position in goal before the arrival of McLeod. Technically, Spisak is a developmental player, but she has either been the starter or the backup for most of the season.

What They've Done (through 11 games)
Long-11 G, 11 GS, 844 Min, 1 goal, 2 points, 23 shots, 8 SOG
Singer-10 G, 9 GS, 793 Min, 1 shot, 1 SOG
Gilbeau-11 G, 6 GS, 661 Min, 2 assists, 2 points, 4 shots, 2 SOG
Eyorokon-2 G, 21 Min
Moros-10 G, 5 GS, 560 Min, 2 goals, 4 points, 11 shots, 6 SOG
Senty-1 G, 26 Min
Zimmeck-4 G, 1 GS, 63 Min
Karniski has not played.

Scurry-3 G, 3 GS, 270 Min, 11 saves, 2.00 GA
Spisak-2 G, 2 GS, 180 Min, 9 saves, 3.00 GA

Total Offensive Output-49 G, 32 GS, 2968 Min, 3 goals, 2 assists, 8 points, 39 shots, 17 SOG.
Total Goalkeeper Output-5 G, 5 GS, 450 Min, 20 saves, 2.40 GA.

G=Games; GS=Games Started; Min=Minutes; SOG=Shots on Goal; GA=Goals Against Average.

The Players

Allie Long-The former UNC star was probably the closest thing to a surprise pick in the 1st round and even she wasn't much of a surprise. I had her going early in the 2nd round. Long has started every game for the Washington Freedom, playing both as an attacking midfielder and a forward. Early in the season, it didn't seem to me that she had a high work rate or that she was particularly aggressive, perhaps because she seems to run effortlessly. However, in recent games, she's been far more active and I thought she played one of her best matches against Athletica last weekend. Her lone goal of the season came against FC Gold Pride, but she has taken 23 shots which is among the highest shot totals of anyone in the draft. She has good height and with a little aggressiveness and experience, could become a good target forward. If she continues to improve and works hard, she can become a versatile attacking player.

Alex Singer-20 seconds into the opening game, Singer had the ball at her feet, with Marta on her back. About two seconds later, she was frantically racing after Marta after being dispossessed. Welcome to the WPS, Alex Singer. Actually, Singer recovered on that play and went on to play a fairly decent game. Later in the season, she has taken a couple of knocks, a hard elbow to the head courtesy of Christine Latham and a collision with Ally Wagner that left her with a concussion. Overall, Singer has played a solid outside back, playing the first game on the right side, but she has spent most of the time on the left. She has excellent speed, although she did get beat by Alex Scott in a game against Boston. Her ball skills are good. Comparing her to fellow Freedom draft pick, Jill Gilbeau, I would say that Singer is better defensively, while Gilbeau is better going forward. Singer is a steady performer, a good pick and would have started every game so far if it had not been for the injury.

Jill Gilbeau-Gilbeau was drafted early in the 4th round, shortly after her former Longhorn teammate, Stephanie Logterman. Gilbeau has started just over half of the Freedom's games, playing outside right back for the most part, although she actually subbed in as a forward recently. As a defender, she is very good going forward on overlapping runs and she has hit several nice, accurate serves from the right wing. She has a couple of assists for the season. Defensively, she has played pretty well, but had a tough game against Gold Pride, getting beat by runs to the back post twice in that game. Gilbeau is certainly a nice weapon to have on the back line and if she continues to improve her defense, she could be a very good player in this league.

Parrissa Eyorokon-She missed several games early on with an injury and has seen just 21 minutes of action so far. At Purdue, Eyorokon was a terrific offensive player, scoring 27 career goals for the Boilermakers and being named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year in 2007.

Briana Scurry-When the Freedom made this pick, I thought it was a smart choice. However, Scurry did not get off to a good start for Washington and hasn't started since early in the season. In her case, it was probably a combination of bad luck (the Allison Falk goal in the opener) and below par play. She is certainly not the keeper she was 10 years ago. Her leg strength is not very good and her kicks rarely make it near the midfield line. In Scurry's defense, she had not seen a lot of action leading up to camp. I still think she could make a good backup keeper, but her days as a starter may be over.

Rebecca Moros-If there is one player who symbolizes the Freedom, it would be Moros. She is an overachiever, who works hard all the time. Moros isn't going to beat you with her one-on-one skills, but she's darn sure going to make you work your butt off to beat her. It was that work ethic that led to her scoring the winning goal in the Freedom's 1-0 victory over Saint Louis, blocking a clearing effort, collecting the ball, and putting it over the keeper's head. She can play both midfield and forward. Moros distributes well and is a very accurate passer. She will chase defenders ceaselessly, attempting to force them into a mistake. She has two goals for the year. This was a great 6th round pick by the Freedom.

Sarah Senty-Senty recently joined the team after finishing up her studies at the University of Virginia. She has played in just one game to this point.

Kati Jo Spisak-Spisak is the tallest player in the league at 6-2. She started two games for the Freedom, winning one and tying one, but she has a lackluster goals against of 3.00. This was certainly not all her fault, however. She moves well side to side, but will occasionally give up a rebound that she probably shouldn't. Her height is a definite advantage on balls in the air.

Claire Zimmeck-She started the season opener against the Sol, but got very few touches in that game and saw only 20 more minutes of action in 3 matches after that. She was recently waived by Washington. The former William & Mary captain scored 57 goals in her college career.

Christen Karniski-The former University of Illinois defender made the Freedom as a developmental player and has yet to see any action.

Summary
Any time all ten of your draft picks have made the squad at one time or another, you've had a pretty good draft. Long, Singer, and Gilbeau were solid picks and have contributed quite well to the Freedom. Moros was a gem in the 6th round. Scurry and Spisak haven't quite panned out as well as the Freedom would have hoped, but McLeod was probably going to be their number one keeper anyhow and either of those two could make a decent backup. It's really too early to know about their other picks since we haven't seen much of them, Eyorokon because of injury, Senty because of school, and Karniski being developmental. Zimmeck was cut, but she wasn't a bad pick and she accomplished more than most of the other 9th round picks.

This was a pretty good draft and could be a very good one, if the players at the top continue to improve and the later round selections get some playing time. They are the only team in the league that all ten are either still on the roster or contributed to the team at some point. There are good points and bad points to being so single minded with respect to drafting so many players from the W-League version of the Freedom. But there is certainly something to be said for bringing in players that you are confident of their work ethic and that already know the system. Over the next couple of years, we'll find out if this was just a good draft or even better.