Freedom Insider

The Washington Freedom announced its 28-woman preseason roster yesterday along with the preseason schedule, so while the team is getting ready for 2010 down in Dodgertown, I figured it was a good time to look at who is on the roster. If you want a complete list of rosters, WPS web guru Amanda Vandervort has a full list of links on her personal blog.

Also, I want to apologize for the state of the Roster Tracker but the Sol disbanding really screwed things up. I am trying to find a way to display all of the rosters, along with the way each player was acquired by its current team without making it look like a fourth grader took a highlighter to my spreadsheet, highlighting everything but the conjuctions like “and” and “but.”

Ok, here’s the roster (from the Freedom’s site, most of which we already knew):

2010 28-Player Preseason Roster

(Players with numbers listed after their name are in attendance at the Florida Preseason Camp)

1. Marisa Abegg – 27

2. Brittany Bock – 5

3. Sonia Bompastor – 8

4. Mary Casey

5. Kristi Eveland – 23

6. Jill Gilbeau – 3

7. Beverly Goebel – 6

8. Sarah Huffman – 14

9. Christen Karniski

10. Madison Keller – 26

11. Allie Long – 9

12. Nikki Marshall – 17

13. Meagan McCray – 0

14. Erin McLeod – 18

15. Caitlin Miskel – 12

16. Rebeca Moros – 19

17. Mara Osher – 24

18. Lauren Robertson

19. Becky Sauerbrunn – 22

20. Homare Sawa

21. Briana Scurry – 1

22. Alex Singer – 21

23. Brittany Tegeler

24. Lisa De Vanna – 11

25. Abby Wambach – 20

26. Christie Welsh – 13

27. Cat Whitehill – 4

28. Jaimel Johnson – 2

I can’t say I’m terribly surprised by any of the names on the list and it’s good to see that some of our homegrown players such as Christen Karniski, Brittany Tegeler and Madison Keller are getting another chance to stick with the team. Karniski and Keller were both developmental players last year while Tegeler was among the final roster cuts from preseason last year.

Looking at some of the other rosters I can’t helped but feel that the Freedom failed to improve as much as every other team this offseason. The unexpected addition of Bock certainly offsets what was a quiet offseason for the Freedom but with teams FC Gold Pride adding Marta and Camille Abily, Saint Louis adding Aya Miyama, Shannon Boxx and Lindsey Tarpley and the Independence acquiring Karina LeBlanc, Heather Mitts, Lori Lindsey and Amy Rodriguez, I can’t help but think how much tougher the league will be this year and I am already questioning if this roster will be strong enough to hang with these revamped squads.

New faces popping up on the roster this preseason include Marisa Abegg (drafted by FC Gold Pride in 2009) and goalkeepers Mary Casey (former GK for Maryland who was drafted by LA one week before the team disbanded), Meagan McCray (another FC Gold Pride castoff) and Jamiel Johnson (formerly of the Breakers and Red Stars). I have no idea what the team needs so many goalkeepers for in camp but I bet at least one of this group makes the team as the developmental keeper unless 5th round pick Lauren Robertson can outplay them all.

Names that are noticeably absent? Freedom Futures GM Joanna Lohman (in camp with Philly, don’t know what that’s about), goalkeeper KJ Spisak (in camp in her hometown of St. Louis) and midfielder Kristin DeDycker.

One final roster note of interest for former WUSA Washington Freedom fans – midfielder Jen Grubb is in camp with Sky Blue FC.

To keep up with the Freedom while the players are away, make sure you are checking out the team’s official blog. Here is a quick recap of Day 1. And for those of you looking for WPS Fantasy Soccer, apparently that is on the way as well.

Now that you’ve heard what I think about the preseason roster, tell me your thoughts. Is there anyone your surprised to see isn’t back? Do you have any concerns about having six goalkeepers in camp? Let me know in the comments section below.

Bookmark to:

Between blowing through the typical offseason banter in about a week and the fact that Washington is really doing nothing, it should be no surprise that there hasn’t been a whole lot to talk about.

So, in typical standby fashion here are some links – even though there aren’t many of those either. But before that, make sure you don’t forget about the conference call with Abby Wambach and Cat Whitehill tonight at 7 p.m. It looks like it should run about 45 minutes.

• Becky Sauerbrunn checked in from Norway and talked about facing Everton in the Champions League.
• In league news – Boston continues to lose players as USWNT player Angela Hucles retired from pro and international play. Boston has now lost Hucles, Amy Rodriguez and Heather Mitts.
• A team other than Philly added a high profile name this offseason as defending champion Sky Blue FC added local talent and USWNT hero Carli Lloyd today. The news has only come out through Twitter but I imagine a release is coming shortly.

Not a lot to keep you busy but hopefully it is something. Don’t forget the conference call tonight.

Bookmark to:

I saw this on Big Soccer yesterday and felt it was worth reposting here.

Looks like Lene Mykjaland has had a change of heart about coming to WPS.

She has some things to look forward to in the autumn, like a possible professional career in Washington, USA. “It’s exciting and I hope something will come of it. It would be great to try myself out in the USA next year. It looks better now than when Washington were in touch last year”, said Mykjåland, without developing the point.

As well as decisive matches in the Toppserien, the Cup and the Champions League, Mykjåland is waiting for the next discussions with Washington Freedom. Three weeks ago she was ‘drafted’ by the club, which means she can not go to another American club in preference to Washington. Mykjåland’s contract with Røa finishes next season, but has a clause that she can go to a foreign club before that.

http://fotball.adressa.no/eliteserien/article152795.ece

The comment was Mykjaland would have come over last season if the league hadn’t taken so long to allow players to sign, but it looks like Mykjaland is making good on her previous comments. Adding Mykjaland would give the Freedom depth at forward and I would be inclined to believe that she would split time with Lisa De Vanna in Jim Gabarra’s 4-4-2 system.

This move probably limits the amount of time Rebecca Moros will play at forward but that might be a good thing given how shallow the midfield is at this point. Now all we need is for the move to actually be official…

WPS FREE AGENCY

I thought it might be a good idea to recap the free agency action so far. I won’t include either trade in this section, but I will include more info than what is on the league’s transaction page.

FC Gold Pride
Signed M/D Candace Chapman (Boston)

Boston Breakers
Signed F Tiffany Weimer (FC Gold Pride)

Philadelphia Independence
Signed D Heather Mitts (Boston)*

*This move has not officially been announced by the team but if the coach says it’s a done deal then I won’t argue.

Not a whole lot of movement on the free agent front yet but with big names like Leslie Osborne and Carli Lloyd still out there, we can be assured that there still are some moves to be made.

Bookmark to:

While most of the league remains silent, the Philadelphia Independence seem determined to challenge for the WPS title right away.

Just a couple of weeks after trading for last year’s No. 1 overall draft pick, Philly added to its defense by trading for LA Sol defender Allison Falk and backup goalkeeper Val Henderson. And according to The Equalizer, the team expects to announce the signing of Heather Mitts and is in pursuit of Carli Lloyd and Tina DiMartino. The moves leave Philly without any first round picks, but that is another discussion for another blog.

The only thing going on with the Freedom right now is a promise from the GM that the team is in talks with free agents. No one has any idea when/if any announcement will be made but Mark Washo has given Freedom fans something to speculate about now just by making a simple statement on Twitter.

So while we wait to see what will go down with the Freedom at the pro level, check out this article on how the Freedom are impacting the collegiate game (and yes, that was a pretty crappy transition). And once something does happen, we will have a response to it here.

Bookmark to:

WPS opened its version of free agency on Wednesday and while there appears to be plenty of impact names on the open market, everything has been pretty quiet since the opening of the market.

Granted, it took the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL years before their offseasons became just as important as the regular season but you would think with the number of well-known stars out there, something would have happened by now.

For those of you who haven’t checked out the list, some of the big names on the market include Han Duan, Cristiane, Formiga, Daniela, Carli Lloyd, Leslie Osborne, Aly Wagner and Heather Mitts. Apparently Chicago is hoping to bring back Cristiane, but other than that, things have been pretty quiet.

The makeup of the current roster suggests there are about five full roster spots open at this point and I would hope the team would choose to fill those spots between free agency and the draft, and not necessarily through tryouts (although Kristin DeDycker was a great tryout pickup last year).

Given that, I would imagine the team hopes to fill one of those roster spots with either Lene Mykjaland or Louisa Necib, given that the team retained both of their rights again this season. Given the fact that Mykjaland almost came over last year and that Becky Sauerbrunn is playing with her Norwegian club right now, I would say it is more likely we see her.

So with four spots left, the topic becomes who should the Freedom go out and get? Should they go after one of the big USWNT names out on the market? Or should they make a couple of small moves to improve the depth of the squad? One other name I noticed was on the market is Christie Welsh, a former Freedom W-League player. Could there be a reunion with her in the near future?

If I am Jim Gabarra, I bring back Welsh, consider giving DeDycker a full roster spot and potentially look for a defender either in free agency or in the first round of the draft. With the addition of Mykjaland that could be going a little attacker heavy but with Ali Krieger hopefully coming back midseason, maybe the Freedom defense can hold out long enough for the cavalry to arrive.

The potential is there for a big move to be made, but as I look around the league I fear things are shaping up for the Freedom to have the quietest offseason of the league. Regardless, it will be fun to sit back and watch things unfold.

So now I open the floor up to you – who do you think the Freedom should sign this offseason? Vote in the poll or leave a comment.

Bookmark to: