Los Angeles Sol - The Offseason So Far

When Last We Left Them...

Los Angeles won the WPS regular season title with a 12-3-5 record and 41 points, well ahead of the rest of the league. By early June, they had opened up a double digit lead on the field, posting shutouts in 8 of their first 9 games. They were led by three great international players on offense, Marta, Camille Abily, and Aya Miyama. These three combined for 18 goals and 10 assists for the season. Karina LeBlanc was unbeatable in goal and a strong defense led by veteran Shannon Boxx at defensive mid kept opponents in check.

However, with not much to play for, they struggled down the stretch. A loss to Athletica in early July put their championship celebration on hold for two weeks. A scoreless tie against Gold Pride on July 23rd clinched it for them, but they appeared to be losing momentum. The Sol managed only a 1-2-1 record over their last 4 matches and then had a two week layoff before hosting the WPS Championship. They just never looked sharp in that match, surrendering an early goal to Sky Blue, followed quickly by a red card to Allison Falk. The 1-0 loss was a disappointing ending to a great season for Los Angeles.

Roster Moves

Los Angeles retained several great players from their 2009 roster, but little beyond that. At the present time, they have only 9 players signed for the 2010 season. Those players are Marta, Abily, Miyama, Boxx, LeBlanc, Brittany Bock, Stephanie Cox, Johanna Frisk, and Manya Makoski. It remains to be seen if they will re-sign any of their own free agents such as Aly Wagner or McCall Zerboni.

The Sol lost defender Sharolta Nonen and all-purpose player Katie Larkin to Atlanta in the expansion draft. Nonen, a veteran of the Canadian National Team and the WUSA Atlanta Beat, was a late season signing for Los Angeles after their defensive ranks were depleted for various reasons. She appeared in only two matches for the Sol. Larkin was a 3rd round draft choice for LA in 2009 and showed a lot of potential, but she rarely cracked the starting lineup of the talented Sol. She proved to be very versatile, even filling in at defense when needed. Larkin didn't score, but played in 14 matches and started 5.

In early October, Los Angeles traded defender Allison Falk and backup keeper Val Henderson to the Philadelphia Independence, for a 1st and a 3rd round draft pick. Falk, the Sol's 2nd round pick from 2009, started 16 games for Los Angeles and was considered to be one of the best young defenders in the league. Her absence will leave a pretty big hole in the Sol's back line. Henderson got very little chance to play because of LeBlanc's brilliance. But when she did, she sparkled with a shutout against Gold Pride in her only match. Additionally, free agent Lyndsey Patterson, who saw action in one match for LA, was signed by Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles has been very quiet, making no major acquisitions. They are in good position to make a lot of noise at the draft. They have possession of the 5th, 8th, and 9th overall picks.

Current Roster

Goalkeepers (1)-Karina LeBlanc.
Defenders (4)-Brittany Bock, Stephanie Cox, Johanna Frisk, Manya Makoski.
Midfielders (3)-Camille Abily, Shannon Boxx, Aya Miyama.
Forwards (1)-Marta.

Additions- None
Subtractions- Sharolta Nonen (drafted by Atlanta), Katie Larkin (drafted by Atlanta), Allison Falk (traded to Philadelphia), Valerie Henderson (traded to Philadelphia), Lyndsey Patterson (signed by Philadelphia).

Other Free Agents from 2009 roster-Liz Bogus, Brittany Cameron, Martina Franko, Han Duan, Keri Sanchez, Lisa Sari, Julia Schnugg, Christie Shaner, Aly Wagner, and McCall Zerboni.
Internationals-Abily, Frisk, Marta, and Miyama with 1 slot open.
Draft Choices (in first 3 rounds)-Nos. 5, 8, 9, 20, and 22.

Needs to Address

Los Angeles has three things going for them. They have a lot of talent, a lot of draft picks, and some versatility. Brittany Bock can play any position on the field and Manya Makoski can play defender or midfielder. But there are still holes to fill. I would think that their first need would be defender. With Franko, Falk, and Nonen gone, they really need a center back. I'm guessing that LA will use their final international opening for a scorer, leaving the draft as the means to fill their defensive needs. Would LA possibly package a couple of their draft picks to move up to the top spot in the draft?

Los Angeles also needs a scorer and probably more than one. Brittany Bock could move up to forward. Bock and Marta seemed to have pretty good chemistry when they paired together up front, but their 5th international player will probably be the key here. Will Laura Del Rio be the missing piece of the puzzle or do they have someone else in mind?

The other needs for the Sol could probably be filled by re-signing some of their own players. Brittany Cameron, last year's developmental keeper for the Sol, could move into the backup position, although the Sol could opt for one of the top college keepers instead. And then at midfield, there is the question as to whether Aly Wagner and/or McCall Zerboni might be back to complement the already strong group of Boxx, Abily, and Miyama.

It's almost as though Los Angeles is banking on this year's draft being stronger than last year's. They've lost three talented young players from that 2009 draft in Falk, Henderson, and Larkin. In addition, they got Bock, Zerboni, Cameron, and Sari in the draft. Will their 2010 draft class be as talented as the 2009 class was? The Sol will definitely be a team to watch on draft day.

WPS Weekend Matches-June 13 & 14

Chicago Red Stars at Washington Freedom

The Red Stars, fresh off two ties on the west coast, invade RFK Stadium to face the Washington Freedom in another WPS/MLS doubleheader on Saturday. The Freedom lost their big showdown in LA, although they temporarily were level at 1-1 in the 2nd half of that game. After that loss, they will be trying to hold on to 2nd place in the standings against Chicago.

Sonia Bompastor continues to lead Washington. After winning Player of the Month honors in May, she started off June with the Freedom's only goal in the loss to the Sol. She now has three goals added to her league leading assist total of four. Washington has now scored 16 goals, more than any other team.

The Freedom welcomed a new, but familiar, face to their camp this week. Ali Krieger, who had been competing for FFC Frankfurt in the German Women's Bundesliga, is returning to the states to finish the season with Washington. Krieger has spent time with the USWNT and was allocated to the Freedom last year, but she still had to finish up her contract in Germany. She should help bolster the Freedom's defense that is giving up 2 goals a game and has yet to post a shutout. Claire Zimmeck was waived to make room for Krieger on the active roster.

Meanwhile, Chicago has found a go-to player of their own. Brazilian striker Cristiane scored both of their goals last week, her first goals of the season. Megan Rapinoe, Lindsay Tarpley, and Karen Carney join Cristiane in a talented offense that has yet to get untracked for the most part. Unfortunately, it was bad news for another of their forwards. Former University of Illinois star, Ella Masar, suffered four torn muscles in her hip against Gold Pride and will be out 4-6 weeks.

On defense, Coach Emma Hayes has been shaking up the lineup, choosing to go with veteran players Natalie Spilger and Jill Oakes over Nikki Krzysik, who was a starting center back for much of the season. Several Red Stars are recovering from injuries and as of this post, it is unknown whether Ifeoma Dieke or Carli Lloyd will be available for the game in Washington.

Last weekend's loss to the Sol had to be disappointing, but it is the only loss that the Freedom have suffered since the middle of April, so it's hardly time to panic and the addition of Krieger should help their beleaguered defense. On the other hand, Chicago took two draws on the road and need to build on those positives. If they can find some offense, they can be a dangerous team. Kickoff is at 4:30 eastern time on Saturday.

Los Angeles Sol at Sky Blue FC

Los Angeles takes their 12 point lead on the road to New Jersey where they will square off against Sky Blue FC this Saturday. Sky Blue is at the bottom of the table, but they are a mere 4 points out of 2nd place. This will be the third and final meeting of the regular season between these two teams.

Sky Blue has to be kicking themselves because they couldn't kick it in the net last week. They squandered chance after chance, including a near whiff by Collette McCallum, right in front of the Saint Louis goal. This week, they face another tough goalie in Karina LeBlanc. Having scored just 6 goals in 9 games, Sky Blue has got to find some offense. They have been missing Sarah Walsh, who has been bothered by a hamstring injury. Natasha Kai has been coming on with two goals and an assist in May and only a nice save by Hope Solo kept her from adding another. Heather O'Reilly was literally all over the field against Athletica, firing five shots for the game.

Kelly Lindsey went back to Karen Bardsley in goal against Athletica after Jen Branam had started five straight. Apparently, the keeper battle isn't over yet. Anita Asante, Meghan Schnur, and Christie Rampone lead a veteran defense that has been one of Jersey's strengths.

Los Angeles just continues to sail along. Camille Abily has been on a tear lately, scoring 5 goals in the last four games and winning Player of the Week honors. As if the Sol didn't have enough offensive weapons with Abily, Marta, and company, Brittany Bock scored her 2nd goal of the season on a nifty give and go play with Marta. At this point in the season, it appears that Los Angeles is just too fast and has too much firepower to be stopped. Just when you think you can relax against them, they quickly spring a counterattack. On Bock's goal, it took just a few seconds for a long pass from LA's own end to find her feet and the ball was in the back of the net before you could blink.

The Sol's defense is finally looking human, giving up a goal in each of the last two games. Still, they have posted 8 shutouts in 11 games, so I don't think it's anything to worry about. LeBlanc has 7 of those shutouts. The back line is solid, although they will be without the services of sometimes defender, sometimes midfielder, Manya Makoski again this week. 36 year old Keri Sanchez started her first game last weekend.

It's really hard to see the Sol slipping at this point. Their worst enemy could be over-confidence and complacency. Sky Blue played LA very tough in their last meeting, losing 1-0 in the waning moments of that match. SBFC is home for the next four matches and they need to take advantage to make progress up the table. They'll need to finish a lot better than last week for that to happen.

Saint Louis Athletica at Boston Breakers

Athletica, 3-1-2 over their last six matches, travels to Harvard Field to meet the Boston Breakers on an FSC televised match on Sunday. The two teams are tied for 3rd place in the standings with 11 points apiece. This game could be a matchup of the two talented English strikers, Kelly Smith and Eniola Aluko, that is if they are both healthy enough to play.

My curious stat of the week involves the Breakers. They are 3-0-2 against the top teams in the league...Los Angeles, Washington, and Saint Louis. They are 0-3 against Gold Pride, Chicago, and Sky Blue. It just doesn't make a lot of sense, except that one thing in common in two of those losses was an injured Kelly Smith. It is not a certainty that she will be able to go on Sunday, although the damage to her knee was reportedly not as bad as first thought. Having scored half of the Breakers' 10 goals, she is an essential part of their offense. Kristine Lilly is the other essential ingredient in Boston's offense and she has scored twice this season. The Breakers will also be missing Christine Latham, who will be serving the 2nd of her two game suspension.

Boston has a very good back line with Alex Scott, Amy LePeilbet, Sue Weber, and Heather Mitts. Kristin Luckenbill has started all eight games in goal for the Breakers. The team is at a strange stretch in their schedule where they have played just one match since mid-May.

Athletica has been very stingy on defense lately, shutting out three of their last four opponents, the exception being the Sol. Hope Solo will be in goal for Saint Louis, but the lineup in front of her may feature as many as five different starters from their first meeting with Boston. This includes former LA players Kendall Fletcher and Christie Welsh, as well as Amanda Cinalli and Stephanie Logterman, both of whom saw their first action last week against Sky Blue. Cinalli scored just 15 minutes into her first match and she is a welcome addition to an Athletica offense that has struggled much of the season.

Saint Louis' top offensive threat, though, is Eniola Aluko who picked up an assist on Cinalli's goal. She came out of last week's game with hamstring problems and her status for Sunday's game is not yet known. Melissa Tancredi and Daniela will be missing because of injuries. On defense, Logterman played outside back on the left side and performed well in her first match. If Smith does play for Boston, Athletica's back line will have their hands full.

Saint Louis will get to see just how much they've improved from that first game with Boston, which might have been the low point of their season. The Breakers need to find someone else to contribute on the offensive end and find consistency on the defensive end. The winner will have 3rd place all to themselves with a possibility of 2nd, pending the outcome of the Freedom game.

WPS Draft Revisited-Los Angeles Sol

On January 16, 2009, a few friends and I found our way to Room 276 at America's Center in St. Louis, Missouri to watch the first ever WPS draft. I remember it being one of the coldest days of the year, but there was still an overflow crowd on hand that spilled out into the hallway. The futures of 70 players would begin that day. The league had previously completed a WNT player allocation, a 4-round international draft, and a 4-round general draft that didn't include any of the college seniors playing in 2008. The 70 players chosen that day were of different ages, many still in college, some just out of college, some veterans of the W-League and WPSL, a few with international experience, and even a few WUSA veterans.

Now five months later, nearly halfway through the inaugural WPS season, I thought it would be a good time to look back and analyze how the seven teams fared in that draft. For this installment, I'll start with the Los Angeles Sol since they are the first team to play half of their games. Over the next 3 weeks, I will go through the other six WPS teams.

Los Angeles Sol

Who They Drafted
1st round (#5)-Brittany Bock, Notre Dame; 2nd round (#10)-Allison Falk, Stanford; 3rd round (#19) Katie Larkin, Brigham Young; 4th round (#24) Greer Barnes, West Virginia; 5th round (#33) Val Henderson, UCLA; 6th round (#38) Katie Hooker, Denver; 7th round (#47) McCall Zerboni, UCLA; 8th round (#52) Brittany Cameron, San Diego; 9th round (#61) Erica Janke, Cal State-Fullerton; 10th round (#66) Lisa Sari, Portland.

Strategy
By the time Los Angeles made their first pick, they already had a number of talented USWNT and international players, especially on the offensive end. With that in mind, they concentrated on defensive players early on. They also went young...very young. Six of their 10 picks had just completed their college eligibility less than two months earlier. They selected more players from the senior class than any other team. Three more of their picks concluded their college careers in 2006 or 2007. Only Katie Hooker was older than 25. The Sol also seemed to have a preference for players who played their college soccer on the west coast. Only two of their picks, Brittany Bock and Greer Barnes, were from eastern schools.

Current WPS Status
For Los Angeles, 8 of their 10 picks are still on the roster, 2 were released.

Full time starters (2)-Bock, Falk
Part time starters & other full roster players (3)-Larkin, Henderson, Sari
Developmental players (3)-Barnes, Zerboni, Cameron
Released (2)-Hooker, Janke

What They've Done
Bock-9 G, 9 GS, 801 Min, 1 goal, 2 points, 7 shots, 2 SOG
Falk-9 G, 9 GS, 810 Min, 1 goal, 2 points, 3 shots, 2 SOG
Larkin-8 G, 2 GS, 308 Min, 1 shot
Sari-3 G, 1 GS, 116 Min
Zerboni-3 G, 10 Min

Henderson-1 G, 1 GS, 90 Min, 4 Saves, 1 Shutout, 0.00 GA

Barnes and Cameron have not played.

Total Offensive Output-32 G, 21 GS, 2045 Min, 2 goals, 0 assists, 4 points, 11 shots, 4 SOG.
Total Goalkeeper Output-1 G, 1 GS, 90 Min, 4 Saves, 1 Shutout, 0.00 GA.

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

The Players
Brittany Bock-Bock may have been the best all-around player in the draft. She is certainly one of the most versatile. After spending most of her Notre Dame career as a forward/midfielder, she started the season at center back for the Sol. She is capable of playing anywhere on the field. Bock isn't the type of player that is going to wow you with any one play, but if you watch her over the course of a game, you will begin to appreciate her talent. She plays physical when necessary and isn't afraid to go up strong for a header. She scored a goal against the Boston Breakers in a losing cause. She is a solid starter for the best team in the league and good enough for Pia Sundhage to take a look at her for the US National Team.

Allison Falk-Falk will forever be remembered as the player that scored the first goal in WPS history. But it has been solid defense which has earned Falk her starting position on LA's league-leading defense. For a tall player, Falk is surprisingly agile. Her height makes her a force on corner kicks and set pieces at both ends of the field. In the games I've seen her, I've lost count of how many times she headed a dangerous cross out of trouble. As she gains strength, she will get even better. She will make an occasional mistake, the hand ball in Saint Louis and an errant header late in the 2nd Sky Blue game, but she is almost always in good position. When pressured, she generally makes the safe play. Falk could be a solid center back for years to come.

Katie Larkin-Larkin started the season as an attacking mid/wing/forward type of player, basically the position she played at Brigham Young. However, she recently showed versatility, moving to outside defender and handled the assignment quite well. Larkin could probably be starting for some teams on a regular basis, but the Sol are loaded with talented midfielders and forwards, so the fact that she is getting serious playing time indicates that she has talent.

Val Henderson-She finally got a chance to start against FC Gold Pride and looked very good. She made a couple of very nice saves and picked up right where LeBlanc left off. Henderson spent a season with Pali Blues of the W-League and has extensive international experience with the US U-23 team and her experience showed in her start for the Sol. It will be interesting to see how many players each team is allowed to protect for next year's expansion draft. If not protected, she will surely be on Philadelphia or Atlanta's radar.

Lisa Sari-Considering she was the 66th pick in the draft, Sari has contributed quite well. She started and played the full 90 as a holding midfielder against Gold Pride and also saw playing time against Saint Louis and in the first Gold Pride game.

McCall Zerboni-The former UCLA midfielder is listed as a developmental player and has seen brief action in three games, but is gradually seeing more playing time.

Greer Barnes-Barnes has yet to see any action. I honestly thought she might go in the 2nd or 3rd round. I was surprised when she didn't go until the 4th round and equally surprised when she was listed as a developmental player.

Brittany Cameron-Cameron is a developmental player and will find it hard to get playing time behind LeBlanc and Henderson. Her best chance is probably the expansion draft if Philly or Atlanta drafts her or if they would draft Henderson, thus opening up the backup spot behind LeBlanc. She had a great career at San Diego, showing improvement each season.

Summary
Los Angeles did very well at the top of the draft. Their first two picks are already solid starters and their 3rd pick, Larkin, is a key contributor. Consider this, in their opener against Washington and Abby Wambach, the Sol started two not quite 22-year-old center backs. Bock and Falk were those two players. Val Henderson was an excellent 5th round pick for a backup keeper. Sari, Zerboni, and Cameron were good picks for depth and Barnes may eventually develop. Los Angeles is among the bottom of the league in offensive output out of their draft picks, but that speaks more to the extraordinary talent they already had, rather than to the quality of the players they drafted. Overall, this was a strong draft.