Reign Roster

Supplemental draft was today and the Reign picked up:

Rd 1: D Nikki Krzysik
Rd 2: D Lauren Barnes
Rd 3: F Laura Heyboer
Rd 4: F Liz Bogus
Rd 5: GK Michelle Betos
Rd 6: D Kaley Fountain

The downside is that Kaley Fountain has already tweeted that she will not be playing in NWSL and has updated her twitter description to "ex-professional soccer player" so it seems she's out of soccer completely. There is also some traffic going around that Nikki Krzysik is also hanging up the boots and won't be playing in NWSL.

So that's 5 out of 21 players the Reign have been allocated/drafted that will either miss the entire season, or at least half.

 

Elli Reed (defender) has signed with the Seattle Reign.

Seattle's Roster
F - Amy Rodriguez (pregnant, out for the year)
F - Lindsay Taylor
F - Tiffany Cameron
F - Laura Heyboer
F/MF - Mallory Schaffer
MF - Liz Bogus (insurance pickup in the midfield, provides depth)
MF - Megan Rapinoe (overseas until midseason)
MF - Teresa Noyola (overseas until midseason)
MF - Jessica Fishlock
MF - Christine Nairn
MF - Kristen Meier
DM - Kaylyn Kyle
D - Elli Reed
D - Kate Deines
D - Nikki Krzysik (50-50 in whether she'll be playing with Seattle)
D - Emily Zurrer
D - Jenny Ruiz
D - Lauren Barnes
D - Kaley Fountain (doubtful in 2013, as she said that she's not playing)
GK - Hope Solo
GK - Haley Kopmeyer
GK - Michelle Betos

 

Left side defender.

 

She tends to play on the one side, but she is a versatile player.
This Seattle team now just needs one more starting caliber defender to sign from somewhere, and they'll be fine.

 

True, my main point being that she's left footed. She actually can play defender or midfielder.

 

So the A-Rod to WNY trade fell thru, which made no sense and the Perez for Noyola trade fell thru as well. Anyone think the larger trade people have mentioned included Cari Lloyd? Lloyd is Hope's famous friend thru thick and thin and maybe Hope would like someone to chat with out there. I really cant feature Solo and Rapinoe as buds. Maybe WNY was willing to move Lloyd for Rapinoe but wanted something else to compensate for Pinoe arriving in June.

 

Here's a good trade proposal ....

Seattle receives
Carli Lloyd (gets to hang out and party with Solo)
Veronica Perez (back to Seattle where she wants to be)
Estelle Johnson (could boost her resume by playing in front of Solo)
WNY's 4th round pick (2014 college draft)

WNY receives
Megan Rapinoe (Wambach and Rapinoe playing together again. Lines would love it)
Teresa Noyola (Seattle would rather have Perez. WNY would rather have Noyola)
Nikki Krzysik (she's from New Jersey. she'd rather stay closer to home)
Mallory Schaffer (from the East, she would rather be with WNY)
Seattle's 2nd round pick (2014 college draft)

Since WNY has to "wait" to receive Rapinoe and Noyola (midseason), they get to swap draft picks with Seattle, and pick up a better draft pick for the one they are trading away. WNY also gets Mallory Schaffer as a "bonus" (extra player) in the deal, to tie them over depth wise on their roster until they get Rapinoe and Noyola at midseason. Schaffer was a 2nd round pick in the draft, and some had her as a projected late 1st round pick in the 2013 college draft. She's more than good enough to make any 20-player roster, on any of the 8 teams.

The rosters would then look like this .........

Seattle
F - Lindsay Taylor, Tiffany Cameron, Laura Heyboer, Liz Bogus, Amy Rodriguez (pregnant)
MF - Veronica Perez, Fishlock, Christine Nairn, Carli Lloyd, Kristen Meier, Kaylyn Kyle
D - Elli Reed, Kate Deines, Estelle Johnson, Emily Zurrer, Jenny Ruiz, Lauren Barnes
GK - Hope Solo, Haley Kopmeyer, Michelle Betos

Western NY
F - Abby Wambach, Adriana, Samantha Kerr, Victoria DiMartino, Ashley Grove
MF - Rapinoe, Noyola, Mallory Schaffer, Zerboni, Kim Yokers, Sarah Huffman, Amy Barczuk
D - Bry McCarthy, Brittany Taylor, Krzysik, Angela Salem, Jodi-Ann Robinsin, Jackie Logue
GK - Adriana Franch, Val Henderson, Pamela Tajonar (which WNY must keep)


Why does WNY do this deal?:
It makes them that much formidable to beat the Portland's of the world in the playoffs.
They would have Rapinoe and Noyola by then.

Why does Seattle do this deal?:
They need help "now". Not midseason.
Estelle Johnston gives them an athletic defender which they could certainly use.
Veronica Perez is one of the fan favorites there, not to mention one of the franchise favorites.
It keeps Hope Solo happy to have Carli Lloyd there, and Seattle fans will love Lloyd's rocket foot.

 

Solo getting surgery on her wrist next week, will need 6-8 weeks of recovery, will miss beginning of season. Sounds like she should be okay for the home opener, though.

 

Here's Seattle's allocation -

Amy Rodriguez (pregnant)
Megan Rapinoe (10,000 miles away in Europe, playing with a different club)
Hope Solo (damaged wrist)
Teresa Noyola (on contract to play for her Netherlands team for awhile)

Seattle did get Jennifer Ruiz, Emily Zurrer, and Kaylyn Kyle though.
Sounds like (for now), they'll be available at the start of the year.
And ultimately, Amy Rodriguez turned into Elli Reed for them.
They got a 5th free agent spot in exchange for Rodriguez not being able to play this year.

But no one has had the unfortunate (bad) luck that Seattle has gotten.
And it's not even close.

The Reign are in Pain, for the moment. Or they're 10,000 miles away.
Let's hope they get healed up, and have everyone available to play from the players listed above (except A-Rod of course) by the middle of June.

 

Nikki Krzysik (she's from New Jersey. she'd rather stay closer to home)

Why was she drafted by Seattle? I thought the idea behind the new league was to let women play closer to home. She gets like $15000 for season to live in another city vs with her folks. This doesn't make sense. If I was her, I'd wouldn't play in Seattle. Something isn't right about this. It's like the league isn't following its' own mission out the box from day one.

 

don't go there.

here are two fields... the one in the upper left is Jeld Wen field where the Thorns will play.

the other is Lincoln High school where I watched Kendall Johnson play prep and club ball. she could kick a ball from one field to the other.

Merlo field is a couple miles away where she played college ball.

she will be playing in New Jersey where Krzysik is from and probably on fields where Krzysik played.

 

I dont see why this is hard. They have the rights to a good player who apparently doesnt want to go West. Kryzsik is from Jersey...there is a team in Jersey. Kryzsik went to college at Virginia...there is a team in DC. Boston and WNY r close by. It isnt rocket science.

 

they could do a three/four way trade with the Thorns.

 

Somewhere, my simultaneous post with CW got lost:

Kryzsik from Seattle to NJ for Johnson from NJ to Seattle. Johnson from Seattle to Portland for ? from Portland to Seattle.

Later addition: From the Reign Facebook page: "Player Trades: We've got one that is looking pretty good...stay tuned for more info this week."

 

Kryzsick to Johnson for Brooks and I'm happy.

 

I had that thought. I've also thought about a more complicated trade involving Johnson and Rapinoe, but I think the price might be too steep.

 

If Rapinoe's involved then at least one other USWNTer would have to be as well. Can't 'unbalance' the allocations.

 

They probably could make an unbalanced trade with WNY. If they traded Rapinoe to WNY it would just mean that Seattle was the one a USWNT player short and that Hope Solo gets the Gulati endorsement as counting as two players.

 

Seattle just said on their twitter/facebook that at 3pm Pacific time today they will announce the first trade in NWSL history.

Here's a hint:

Seattle Reign FC Hint: not Veronica Perez (although we would love to see her back in Seattle someday). The trade involves one of the 23 US allocated players. And no, it is not Alex Morgan...
-------
It must be either ARod or Rapinoe but I would bet it has to do with ARod's 2014 rights. It was rumoured that they were trying to trade ARod's rights for Perez.

 

Well that was a great trade, LOL.

Amy Rodriguez (2014 rights) and Christine Nairn for Tina Ellertson and Nicolette Radovcic.

Seattle wanted Ellertson that bad I guess.

 

Am I missing something? 'Cause Seattle and Equalizer are reporting that the Reign have traded their 2014 1st round pick to Chicago in exchange for Keelin Winters and a 4th round pick. I'm not sold on the idea of presenting opinion as fact, myself.