WPS Award Winners

Last week, WPS announced their annual award winners. There were several good candidates in each category and no clear cut choice in any. However, the winning candidate was certainly deserving in each case.

Michelle Akers Player of the Year - Veronica Boquete, Philadelphia Independence

Boquete scored five goals and four assists after joining the Independence in June. She scored the only goal in three 1-0 victories over a four game stretch in late July. The Independence had a 9-1 regular season record with her in the starting lineup. Boquete was definitely a major factor on Philly's strong challenge for first place.

My choice would have Boquete as well, but with Christine Sinclair almost even with her.

WPS Defender of the Year - Whitney Engen, Western New York Flash

Engen played the full 90 minutes in 17 of the Flashes' 18 matches. She was able to shut down many of the league's top forwards and helped Western New York to becoming the best defensive team in the league with a 1.00 goals against average.

My choice would have been Engen, but there were several good candidates including Engen's teammate Ali Riley and Nikki Krzysik from Philadelphia. I thought that Jen Buczkowski was overlooked in the nominating process and should have been given top consideration as well.

US Coast Guard Goalkeeper of the Year - Ashlyn Harris, Western New York Flash

Harris led the league in goals against average with 1.00 average per match. She also tied for the league lead in shutouts with five, while playing every minute of every match for the Flash. Her quick reflexes enabled her to make many great saves during the season.

My choice would probably have been Jen Branam. While her goals against was quite a bit higher than Harris', her defense was often a patchwork with players being injured or away with national team duty. However, I can't really argue with Harris, who was a deserving choice.

US Soccer Federation Rookie of the Year - Christen Press, magicJack

Press scored eight goals in her rookie season, the fifth best total in WPS. The Stanford alum is one of only four players ever to score a hat trick in league play, doing so in 4-0 victory over Boston on July 30. She uses her great speed to get behind defenses and is becoming more adept at timing her runs to greatest advantage.

Press would have been my choice as well. Keelin Winters, Sinead Farrelly, and Alex Morgan all had great rookie seasons, but to me, Press had the biggest impact on her team's performance.

WPS Coach of the Year - Paul Riley, Philadelphia Independence

Riley wins the award for the second consecutive year and deservedly so. He is one of the game's best strategists and gets the most out of his roster, one that has far fewer national team players than either Western New York or magicJack.

Riley was definitely my choice, but consideration must also go to Aaran Lines who did a fine job with the expansion Flash.

Citi Sportswoman of the Year - Nikki Krzysik, Philadelphia Independence

On the field, Krzysik was as solid as a rock, playing all 1620 minutes of the regular season in helping the Independence to finish second in WPS. Off the field, Krzysik has helped lead international philanthropic efforts that took her overseas with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes where she led clinics and shared her experience and love of the game with the participants of the women’s soccer league in Honduras. She has proven to be a leader both on and off the field.

This award was voted on by players and coaches only. But even though we could not vote on this award, I believe Krzysik was an outstanding choice.

PUMA Golden Boot Award - Marta, Western New York Flash

Marta wins this award for the third consecutive year. She scored 10 goals for the season, with seven coming in the last six matches, when the Flash were battling the Independence for first place. She edged out teammate Christine Sinclair, who played in one more match than Marta did. Interestingly, although Sinclair played in one more match, Marta actually saw one more minute of action than Sinclair.

WPS Award Winners Announced

WPS has announced the winners of their year-end awards. Five of the awards are voted on by media, fans, players, and coaches. The Golden Boot goes to the leading goal scorer. Finally, the Citi Sportswoman of the Year is voted on by only players and coaches. Here are the winners of those awards:

Michelle Akers Player of the Year - Marta, FC Gold Pride

MedImmune Defender of the Year - Amy LePeilbet, Boston Breakers

Coast Guard Goalkeeper of the Year - Nicole Barnhart, FC Gold Pride

WPS Rookie of the Year - Ali Riley, FC Gold Pride

WPS Coach of the Year - Paul Riley, Philadelphia Independence.

Citi Sportswoman of the Year - Natalie Spilger, Chicago Red Stars

PUMA Golden Boot - Marta, FC Gold Pride

Congratulations to all of the awardees!

WPS Awards - Who I Voted For and Why.....Part 1

The WPS Year-End Awards will be announced soon, so I thought I would do a two-part series on who I voted for and why. Every category had a number of good candidates and a couple of the awards were exceedingly hard to decide. So, without further ado, this is who I voted for in each category:

WPS Coach of the Year - Paul Riley, Philadelphia Indpendence

Nothing against Jim Gabarra, but to me, this came down to Riley, Tony DiCicco, and Albertin Montoya. I thought that both DiCicco and Montoya had more talent to work with than Riley. I also think that heading into the season, both Boston and Gold Pride had superstars in Kelly Smith and Marta, where Philadelphia really did not.

I was very impressed with how Riley brought together a group of spare parts (no offense to the Independence players intended) and had them playing competitive soccer from day one, something that is difficult with an expansion team. Players seemed to reach their potential for Philadelphia and I believe Riley needs to be given credit for a lot of that. I know critics are going to cite the four consecutive losses at the end of the season, but the expansion Independence still finished in 3rd place, just a scant two points behind established Boston.

Tony DiCicco did an admirable job in turning around a Breakers team that appeared to be headed nowhere in May. The Breakers made some acquisitions and DiCicco tweaked his lineup and things turned around in a hurry. But Boston entered the season with a strong veteran lineup and didn't have to deal with the handicap of expansion that Riley did.

One comment that I've heard far too much is that any team that has Marta should win, thus discounting Montoya's efforts with Gold Pride. Marta is a big difference maker to be sure, but it shouldn't detract from the job Montoya did, starting three rookies and leading FCGP from last place in 2009 to first this season.

Jim Gabarra has to be given credit for the Freedom's surge at the end of the season, picking up 14 points in the final 7 matches. But the Freedom had a dismal two months in June and July, so it was hard to see picking him over Riley.

MedImmune Defender of the Year - Rachel Buehler, FC Gold Pride

This is always a tough category to vote on. Defense is much more of a team effort than individual effort. There are no statistics to easily quantify a defender's performance and one really needs to watch them over a full schedule to appreciate what they do for a team, game in and game out. All four of the nominees are team leaders and solid defenders, but on my vote, I had Rachel Buehler edging out Amy LePeilbet.

Rachel Buehler is an exceptional defender and is known for her hard tackles. She captained a defense that went from 2nd worst to best in just one year. Of Gold Pride's regular starting back line, only Kandace Wilson had played with Buehler at all last year and then for only part of the season. I think Buehler has to be given a lot of credit for the group's cohesiveness given the small amount of time they had played together. I also rarely saw Buehler make a mistake.

Amy LePeilbet is often called the best defender in the league and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if she won this award. She is talented, consistent, and always gives top effort. It was a very hard decision, but I gave Buehler the nod over LePeilbet by the slightest of margins.

Both Allison Falk and Tina Ellertson are excellent defenders. Both are good in the air, keeping their respective teams out of trouble on set pieces. Falk is a threat at both ends of the field on headers. Ellertson makes many tackles that most defenders wouldn't even attempt and has perhaps the best closing speed of any defender in WPS. I thought both were hurt by the fact that their teams could be very inconsistent defensively. I would love to have them on my team, but I just couldn't vote for either over Buehler for 2010.

Coast Guard Goalkeeper of the Year - Nicole Barnhart, FC Gold Pride

Nicole Barnhart, often overshadowed by her USWNT teammate Hope Solo, had a great season in goal for FC Gold Pride. She led the league in shutouts with eight and in goals against average at 0.77 per game. She only gave up as many as two goals three times this season. I thought her consistency from start to finish of the 2010 season lifted her above the other candidates.

Karen Bardsley, stepping in for the injured Jen Branam, did a phenomenol job early in the season. She earned five shutouts before the All-Star break. Unfortunately, she suffered a season-ending injury in training for that game and missed the rest of the season. In spite of the great half season she had and my very high respect for her accomplishments, I couldn't choose her over Barnhart's season-long excellence.

I still regard Hope Solo as the beat keeper in the league, but again, it was hard to choose her over Barnhart in 2010. Controversy aside, there is no other goalkeeper that I would want in goal for a penalty kick or a breakaway and she kept the Beat in many a game that they had no business being in. But she suffered from Atlanta's inconsistent defensive efforts and there were just too many multi-goal games.

Jill Loyden is a solid young keeper who will only improve as she gains confidence and experience. Like Solo, she posted six shutouts. But again, it was hard to see choosing her over Barnhart in this particular season.

Tomorrow, part two of WPS Awards - Who I Voted For and Why.

Sides Chosen - Abby XI vs. Marta XI

On Monday evening, the All-Star Game captains, Abby Wambach and Marta, chose teams from among 22 players that were selected to be the starters in the 2nd WPS All-Star match. Wambach, with an assist from Philadelphia coach Paul Riley chose one team, while Marta, helped by Gold Pride coach Albertin Montoya, picked the other team.

Abby's XI are GK-Hope Solo; D-Amy LePeilbet, Tina Ellertson, Cat Whitehill; MF-Shannon Boxx, Heather O'Reilly, Lori Lindsey, Lori Chalupny; F-Abby Wambach, Eniola Aluko, Lauren Cheney.

Marta's XI are GK-Karen Bardsley; D-Rachel Buehler, Allison Falk, Brittany Taylor; MF-Kelly Smith, Sonia Bompastor, Aya Miyama, Kristine Lilly; F-Marta, Christine Sinclair, Ramona Bachmann.

The WPS All-Star Game presented by the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve, will be played Wednesday evening at 7:30 eastern on Fox Soccer Channel.