WPS USA WNT draft

Today the WPS (Women's Professional Soccer) allocation (draft) of the USA WNT took place. There are 7 citys,(Boston, St. Louis, L.A., Bay Area, Chicago, Washington D.C., and the New Jersey Area) so only 3 players are selected to each team.
Unfortunately, you must be out of college to play in the league, so Amy Rodriguez, Tobin Heath, and Lauren Cheney, are not included in the draft.
Abby Wambach, Leslie Osborne, Cat Whitehill, Tina Ellertson, Kristine Lilly and Ali Kriger are included in the draft even though they didn't participate in the Olympics.

Well, here are the results:

Boston Breakers: Angela Hucles, Kristine Lilly, and Heather Mitts
St. Louis: Hope Solo, Lori Chalupny, and Tina Ellerston
Los Angeles: Shannon Boxx, Stephanie Cox, and Aly Wagner
Bay Area: Nicole Barnhart, Rachel Buehler, and Leslie Osborne
Chicago Red Stars: Carli Lloyd, Lindsay Tarpley, and Kate Markgraf
Washington Freedom: Abby Wambach, Cat Whitehill, and Ali Kriger
Sky Blue FC(New Jersey): Natasha Kai, Heather O'Reilly, Christie Rampone.

I think that the two strongest teams would be Sky Blue FC and Chicago Red Stars. Sky Blue FC have a fantastic central defender in Christie Rampone. She's a great leader and will be able to control the back. Natasha Kai is a great forward and Heather O'Reilly is a fantastic right midfielder who can create a lot of chances for her team.
Chicago also has a great team. They also have a great central defender in Kate Markgraf. She too is a great leader and can control the game. Carli Lloyd is a fantastic midfielder who will probably score a lot of goals for the team. Lindsay Tarpley is a versitle player who played as a midfielder in the Olympics, but also played as a forward in the 2007 World Cup.

The Boston Breakers have a great team as well. Angela Hucles has been playing better then ever and will be a great forward for the team. Kristine Lilly has a lot of experience and will be a leader for this team. Also, Heather Mitts is a very good defender and will be a huge asset for the team.

St. Louis I think will do pretty well. Hope Solo is probably the best goalkeeper in the world and will do a good job of controlling the back. Lori Chalupny played as a left back in the Olympics, but has also played as a midfielder in the World Cup. She is very capable of playing any position on the field. Tina Ellertson was defender in the World Cup, but she has also played forward.

Los Angeles looks pretty good. Unfortunatly they don't have a strong leader in the back, but I'm sure Stephanie Cox will step up. Shannon Boxx will be a leader in the middle and Aly Wagner can play up top or in the midfield. They don't have a dominate scorer, but they should be pretty good.

The Bay Area seems like the weakest team to me. Nicole Barnhart was the backup goal keeper in the Olympics and hasn't had that much game experience in the goal. Rachel Buehler is a good central defender, but also hasn't had that much experience. Leslie Osbore is a strong defensive midfielder, but hasn't played for awhile. This team doesn't have a someone that can really score goals, but hopefully they will get some.

Washington Freedom looks pretty good. Abby Wambach is probably the best scorer in the league, and they will probably draw a lot of fans to watch her play. Ali Kriger played in Germany for the past few years, and her team actually won the UEFA Women's Cup last year. Cat Whitehill is a strong defender and I think that she will come out stronger than ever.


I'm really excited to see which international players will be drafted to the teams and to have the league start!

I'm not sure which team I'm going to cheer for yet, but I'm excited that the league is up and running again!!