It finally happened; the Washington Freedom made their first addition to the roster this offseason when the team announced Wednesday it has signed Norwegian forward Lene Mykjaland.
The last team in WPS to add a player to the roster this offseason, the Freedom were finally able to close a deal over one year in the making.
You may remember that Mykjaland was a post-draft discovery claim of the Freedom last year and it seemed like she would be coming to join the Freedom until setbacks in the ability to offer her a contract pushed her to stay with her Norwegian club, Roa IL, for one more season. With that contract set to expire, apparently she is now ready to move to WPS.
Even though she is only the second Norwegian to sign with a WPS club, Mykjaland won’t be a complete stranger to the Freedom as both defender Becky Sauerbrunn and midfielder Sarah Huffman have played with her in the past.
It should be fun to see how Mykjaland improves the top scoring team from last year. This signing may have been a long time coming but it’s nice to see it finally happening.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
I am warning you now that there may not be much posting here until January. So to add a little more to this post, here is a link worth checking out.
Economy does not affect SoccerPlex (Gazette.net) – Nice to see the home of the Freedom is doing well and will be adding a video screen this year.
As always, feel free to discuss anything WPS related below and I hope everyone has a safe holiday season. And don’t forget, you can get more frequent updates from me on Twitter (@FreedomInsider). See you in 2010.
In case you haven’t heard, the Freedom will once again kick off the WPS season, this time as the host in a match against the Boston Breakers on April 10 at the Maryland SoccerPlex. If you are not into the season ticket thing, today (Friday, Dec. 18) will be the only day before February to purchase single game tickets for this contest. Make sure you call before 5 p.m. ET.
The Freedom struggled against the Breakers last year, finishing with a record of 1-2-1, the only win coming at the end of the season. Boston has undergone a number of significant changes though so it will be interesting to see how that plays against a Freedom squad that should return mainly intact.
Links
A couple of articles Freedom fans should check out (I apologize for how old these are).
First, the Post’s Dan Steinberg interviews Freedom Futures GM Jo Lohman about her aspirations to become GM of a more prominent local team. It’s too bad they hired someone else for the job yesterday.
Second, speaking of the Futures, many of them are in camp with different national teams this month. It’s good to see that the future of the club has some of top stars of tomorrow.
Third, WPS has asked some experts to rank the best draft prospects by position. I am sorely lacking in my knowledge of women’s collegiate soccer so if you are looking for news on the players that should be contributing to the league in 2010, the league breakdown seems like a good place to start. And if you want to have your own debate or post your own rankings, do so below and help educate me in the process.
Finally, the Roster Tracker is back up to date and I didn’t wait a month this time to do it.
That’s it for now. As always, feel free to use this post as a place to discuss anything Freedom related.
I didn’t realize it had been a month since I posted the last update to the Roster Tracker, but I guess when there are less than 5 moves in that span it is easy to let things go for so long.
Anyway, the file is again up to date, including the recent signings of Jessica Landstrom (Sky Blue FC) and Katie Chapman (Chicago Red Stars). If I have missed anything, let me know.
[UPDATE: Even though Sky Blue FC posted another player signing to Twitter just minutes after I posted the updated Roster Tracker, I have updated it to include the signing of Laura Kalmari]
Also, in case you haven’t seen this yet, the Atlanta Beat are partnering with Kennesaw State University to build the world’s first women’s soccer specific stadium. Hopefully this is a huge step towards establishing WPS in the U.S. and is a signal that this league will last longer than 3 years.
Finally, if you are looking for quick news and info regarding the Freedom make sure you check out this site’s Twitter feed. I post quick updates and re-tweet interesting info there that does not warrant a full blog post. So jump on the social media bandwagon and keep up with what’s going on.
Loading ...