With rosters officially released, this probably deserves its own thread. Starred players are either injured or will arrive late. Boston Breakers (Tom Durkin) G: Naeher, Kranich D: Avant, Whitehill, C. Jones, Stewart, King M: Lohman, Kyle, O'Reilly, Sanderson, Mewis, D'Agostino, Grove, Evans F: DeVanna, Ezurike, Reeves, Schoepfer, Pathman Western New York Flash (Aaran Lines) G: Williams, Wys D: Taylor, Williamson, Reynolds, Barczuk, Verloo, Palmer, Edmonds M: Zerboni, Salem, Lloyd, Losada, Meier, Wetzel F: Wambach, Kerr, Adriana, Kete, Spencer Sky Blue FC (Jim Gabarra) G: Cameron, Loyden D: Rampone, Goodson, Foord, O'Hara, Levin, Cutshall, K. Johnson, Thompson, *Haagsma (injured) M: Schmidt, Nick, Lytle, Freels, Kiryu F: Hayes, Ocampo, Filigno Washington Spirit (Mark Parsons) G: Harris, Jones, Gay D: Krieger, Pressley, Dunn, Sandvej, Huster, Sierra, Gayle M: Lindsey, Averbuch, Angeli, Matheson, Nairn, Perez, C. Williams F: J. Taylor, Adams, Weimer, Cuellar, Miller Chicago Red Stars (Rory Dames) G: LeBlanc, Vancil D: Quon, Santacaterina, Hemmings, Morway, S. Johnson, Wenino M: Johnston, Boxx, Bywaters, DiBernardo, Chalupny, Sitch, Mautz F: Leon, Hoy, Brock, *Tancredi, *Press FC Kansas City (Vlakto Andonovski) G: Barnhardt, Keane, *Santiago (injured) D: Sauerbrunn, Kallman, Phillips, Robinson, LePeilbet, N. Williams M: Buczkowski, Mathias, Richmond, *Laddish, Holiday, Tymrak, Silva, *Gorry, Kelly F: Rodriguez, Henderson, Bogus, Marlborough, *Hagen Houston Dash (Randy Waldrum) G: McLeod, Henninger D: Romero, Diggs, Toulouse, Washington, *Engen, *Klingenberg, *Sesselman (injured) M: Bock, Edwards, Noyola, J. Jackson F: Masar, McCarty, Ochs, Ohai, Souza Portland Thorns FC (Paul Riley) G: Angerer, Betos D: Moros, Menges, van Hollebeke, Marshall, *Catley M: Brooks, Long, Huffman, Kerr, Shim, Farrelly, *Heath, *Boquete F: Sinclair, McDonald, Acevedo, Sullivan, *Morgan (injured) Seattle Reign (Laura Harvey) G: Solo, Kopmeyer D: Reed, Frisbee, Barnes, Cox, Moscato, Dallstream, Brigman, Fletcher, Deines M: Winters, Fishlock, Nogueira, Little, Rapinoe F: Leroux, Kawasumi, Goebel, Foxhoven
Not every team is listing 20 players. Some, like Kansas City, have more - presumably to make up numbers until their big-name June arrivals. Washington also lists 22. Others, like Houston, only list 18 players including latecomers Engen and Klingenberg. Sky Blue has 18, not counting the injured Haagsma. Sky Blue and Seattle went all in on defenders. On the other hand, until Catley arrives Portland will have four defenders. Total. Paul Riley better be hoping they stay injury free. Teams who improved: Washington, Seattle, Kansas City, Portland, Chicago Teams who regressed: Sky Blue Teams treading water: Boston, Western New York New kids on the block: Houston Also, Laura Harvey: representing the female coaches of America. Kind of discouraging there are no others.
Sarah Huffman is versatile enough to play pretty much anywhere on the back line. So she gives them an emergency defender when needed.
Also, Houston will only have 15 active players for their inaugural match. 3 of the 18 (Engen, Klingenberg, Sesselmann) won't be there. Sesselmann is out for the year. I'm not sure why any of their trialists didn't make the squad, at least until Engen and Klingenberg get there. Maybe Megan Ohai will suit up for them after all.
Sierra is a Mexican international. Morway won a national title with Notre Dame but then transferred to Colorado College. No idea on Grove, Palmer, Johnson.
Do some or all the NWSL teams have practice squads they can use to call up players during international absences and injuries? I'm ignorant about this.
Boston: Grove? See post in Breakers thread Chicago: Morway? See MRADs posts in Red Stars threads-Kecia Morway started at Notre Dame and transferred (after winning the NCAA championship) to Colorado College. Has played almost all of the games preseason on defense. S. Johnson? Was part of the U17 WNT New Zealand World Cup team and played at USC as a forward and a defender. Has played both defense and midfield (I think) for Red Stars in the preseason
Roster notes Boston - Naeher listed as allocated Houston - 14 active players and Sameshima not listed at all Washington - Dunn listed as Allocated WNY - Iachelli (Canadian allocated) not listed.
Probably not; she's 27 and has a degree in physiotherapy. I'm guessing she's running her food truck business in Vancouver, BC . http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/news/sports/story.html?id=47b7ea8a-6600-4c1d-8944-874ead39663b
For Houston: Noticed Univ of Missouri's Dominique Richardson (trialist) posted a photo of her jersey on Twitter. MU also posted to their Facebook page that Richardson made the final 20 although she's not listed on Houston's list. Thinking she's a reserve player who will be on the 20 until some players get back. https://twitter.com/Domi_Richardson/status/452856830037725185
I'm sorry but Herdman must have been trolling the NWSL when he allocated her. What was exactly the reason??
Or trolling WNY, maybe as payback for keeping the two Canadians they got last season on the bench. Was he that hard up for available players?
Of the 36 draft picks, 26 made the final rosters of the teams that drafted them. Don't know if any are currently not actually with their teams, there were previous comments here about at least two who had gone back to school after time at camps. Of the other ten, 4 never came to camps (as far as I can tell). Of the 6 who did, one reportedly left to go to Europe. Of the first 25 drafted, all of the 22 that showed up at camps made final rosters. Of the last 11 drafted, four made rosters (all from fourth round with the last one being drafted at #35), one did not come to camp, one left for Europe, and 5 were cut. Most of the teams signed most or all of their picks, while Flash signed 2 of 5, SB 2 of 4 (the other two did not show up), and Wash. 1 of 3 (and that was allocated Dunn). The top drafted players made rosters, no surprises there. The last dozen or so drafted may have always been question marks of making it. The 89% (32 of 36) player turnout seems a positive. I think there were questions here of how many players actually coming to camp considering the salaries, travel distances, school, etc. I don't think many "trialists" actually made final rosters.
Unless there is a 20th player (int'l) that they want/wanted to sign, I think SB went on a salary reduction effort. All of its four original and presumably high paid "free agents" are gone. Levin and Kiryu could not cost much and SB signed only 2 draft picks (the other two did not show up). It also has one less allocated Mexican player (was Rangel last year).
Good for the league and it should be a boost for these players. Now lets see how many of them are still surviving after June when there will be an influx of players from Europe
Excellent information! I was thinking about this and wondering how to collect the data. Thanks. I would not have guessed 26 of 36, maybe because I tend to focus on the Flash. For WNY Haley Palmer was in the draft pool, but not drafted. She made the team. Are there any others? -CJ
Best I can tell undrafted KC- Sara Keane GK from West Virginia (NJ native) Chicago- Samantha Johnson D Concordia University Portland (that is where she was listed from on the eligible players site but played at USC?). Chicago Kecia Morway