Athletica Players Abroad or at least Elsewhere

Jill Loyden gets her first victory down under as the Central Coast Mariners defeated Sydney FC 3-1. Loyden, Fletcher, and former Athletica player Lydia Vandenbergh started for the Mariners. Free agent and (maybe) former Athletica player Sarah Walsh scored the only goal for Sydney.
Box:

http://wleaguelive.sportal.com.au/popupwleague.aspx?m=58

Stories:

http://www.ccmariners.com.au/default.aspx?s=wleague_newsdisplay&id=29754

http://www.a-league.com.au/default.aspx?s=wleague_newsdisplay&id=29756

Also note that in the ccmariners story, the coach talks about Jillian (not by name, but "the keeper"), and Kendall in the audio bite with the story.

What's the attendance like in the Australian league?

You know, you really need to learn how to quicksearch stuff. You can get a good idea of your answer on the '08-'09 W-league season page on Wikipeida. People won't spoonfeed you info here on the forums forever, you know.

IIRC Lyds never played a game for Athletica (unless she did in preseason). Thus I have trouble calling her a 'former player'....
But I guess she probably got her developmental player salary for that first month and practiced with the team. Eh, semantics.

Semantics? Sounds more like sour grapes....http://www.kplr11.com/sports/athletica/

Jill Loyden posts a shutout over Adelaide United in the Central Coast Mariners 2nd game. Final score-CCM 2, Adelaide 0. I'll post game stories when they become available.

Next week the Mariners take on Brisbane, the defending champions. The two teams are currently tied for 1st place with 2 wins and no losses.

Incidently, though Sarah Walsh is now a free agent and is officially no longer a member of the team (unless they re-sign her), she has scored a goal in each of her first two games in the W-League in Australia.

At least I got a picture if she doesn't come back, Thanks KC!

BTW, We're going to the World Cup!!!!!!!

You're welcome, flamepruf!

Game story on the Central Coast Mariners:

http://www.ccmariners.com.au/default.aspx?s=wleague_newsdisplay&id=29902

For those interested, they finally have the current player pictures up on the team page for the Central Coast Mariners (Loyden and Fletcher):

http://www.ccmariners.com.au/default.aspx?s=wleague_team

Not abroad, or even elsewhere, but interesting stuff about Pistorius now up on the Athletica site:
http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/stlouis/news/general/091017-pistorius-big-off-season.aspx
So I guess she's not changing her last name?

Good story, but it didn't seem to mention what we (or at least I) would like to know which is will she be re-signing with Saint Louis and continuing her WPS career. I hope she does. While she didn't play a lot, she played pretty well when she did get in.

In Australia, the Central Coast Mariners suffered their first loss of the season, although it sounded like Fletcher and Loyden played well. It's funny how these two stories differ from one another as to the tone of the game, one from the league and one from the team....

http://www.ccmariners.com.au/default.aspx?s=wleague_newsdisplay&id=30092

http://www.a-league.com.au/default.aspx?s=wleague_newsdisplay&id=30090

Well, considering she said that she and Josh are making STL their "permanent home" and the article said she "will now be a fixture in St. Louis soccer for years to come", I have a feeling she'll be doing both - or neither. At least, I find it hard to think that she'll be signing with a different WPS team, from the tone of the article. I think the three jobs - Athletica (develpomental?) player, SLSU coach, and Ursaline coach - don't conflict with each other much if at all during a year, and the combined annual salary probably isn't something to sniff at. And STL is one of the cheapest major cities to live in, so.... =-)

Very different tones indeed....

Off-topic, but am I the only one who really doesn't like the Westfield W-League's top-of-the-screen image? I think those girls look the exact oppostie of attractive, what with the overdone makeup and crazy hair. None of the actual players looks like that anyway!

I think it goes with the whole cartoon character superhero thing, I guess. It's their soccer with style ad campaign.

Here are some actual pictures of Loyden and Fletcher from the Central Coast/Brisbane game courtesy of Australian FourFourTwo.....

http://au.fourfourtwo.com/gallery.aspx?galleryID=1614&imageID=40670

http://au.fourfourtwo.com/gallery.aspx?galleryID=1614&imageID=40676

http://au.fourfourtwo.com/gallery.aspx?galleryID=1614&imageID=40677

http://au.fourfourtwo.com/gallery.aspx?galleryID=1614&imageID=40678

There are more if you thumb through them all.

As for Pistorius, you're probably right, but there could be somewhat of a conflict with the high school soccer season being in the spring. Remember that an Athletica game was moved to Sunday because the Missouri state championship was on a Saturday in late May or early June.

Central Coast Mariners 5, Newcastle 1

Loyden gets the win in goal, only giving up a late goal in the 87th minute long after the game was decided. Fletcher scored on a penalty kick. Vandenbergh scored the opening goal for Central Coast, who are now 3-1.

http://wleaguelive.sportal.com.au/popupwleague.aspx?m=69

More stories from down under....

http://www.a-league.com.au/default.aspx?s=wleague_newsdisplay&id=30233

http://www.ccmariners.com.au/default.aspx?s=wleague_newsdisplay&id=30247

And this one from the Athletica website that you may have already seen...

http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/stlouis/news/general/091026-aussie-update.aspx

I'm darn jealous of their ocean view apartment.

Wow, that's a great view which usually adds to cost of any apartment or condo.

You know how many players share it and if the Mariners pay for it?

I know there was a video that Fletcher was talking about what she would be doing in the offseason and she seemed to say that the trip to Australia was paid for, so I'm assuming that includes the room. I think that Loyden, Vandenbergh, and Fletcher were sharing, but I'm not 100% sure on that.

So when Chalupny and Solo are playing for the National Team on Thursday at noon, Emma Hayes tweeted that this may be a link to watch the game...

http://bit.ly/Vcpwg

I'm not sure and I won't be able to watch it because I'll be at work, but for those wanting to try it....

I'm afraid to say that all that came up for me was EinsExtra, a news loop. In other words, nothing that coincides with the TV schedule.

Thurs. the 29th Smulan. I don't know if I'll be home near game time, but I'll search Justintv. for the match I'll post a link tomorrow.

Sorry, I don't quite know what you mean by this? What I meant was that what was available via the link was special programming (i.e. the news loop), not the normal programming which was on ARD at that time.

Considering this is a USA/Germany game I'm shocked it's not on one of the ESPN networks or FSC.

That's about the best matchup for the USWNT along with Brazil and maybe England.

Are you sure there's no TV at all??

No, there was no English TV. German ARD (?) had it live though.

http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Womens...S-Defeat-Germany-1-0-in-Augsburg-Germany.aspx
Chalupny was captain in the 1-0 win against Germany ^.^ (Wambach scored =-P)

Congrats to Solo, Chalupny, and the US on their victory over Germany.

Great save by Solo early in the match on a free kick. The US were lucky considering the run of play, but the US probably should have been awarded a penalty late, also. Highlights (sorry if someone has already posted elsewhere)...

http://tv.dfb.de/index.php?view=1512

Central Coast Mariners 1, Canberra United 1

A bit of a disappointing result for the Mariners against the 6th place Canberra side. Canberra's goal against Loyden was a penalty in the 2nd minute of the match. Kendall Fletcher scored CCM's only goal. The match pitted two WPS backups, Loyden vs. Lydia Williams (Chicago Red Stars), although Williams didn't see any action for the Red Stars.

http://www.a-league.com.au/default.aspx?s=wleague_newsdisplay&id=30385

http://www.ccmariners.com.au/default.aspx?s=wleague_newsdisplay&id=30382

Once again, it's pretty amazing the difference in the description from each story. CCM is now in 2nd place, 3 points behind defending champions Brisbane. The teams are now midway through their 10 game regular season.

Also, although it doesn't really involve Athletica players, I saw where Lisa DeVanna got a suspension, apparently from arguing with the ref from what I could gather from the story. Kind of surprising to me at least. DeVanna and Freedom teammate Alex Singer play for Perth.

http://www.a-league.com.au/default.aspx?s=wleague_newsdisplay&id=30305

Central Coast Mariners 2, Perth Glory 1

Lots of WPS players in this match. Loyden gets the win in goal. Lydia Vandenbergh scored the first goal for Central Coast. Kendall Fletcher picked up a yellow card early on. Alex Singer and Lisa DeVanna, both Washington Freedom and Perth Glory players, were yellow carded later in the match.

Central Coast has now outscored their opponents by a margin of 13-5 and have a 4-1-1 record.

Game stories to follow as they become available.

Central Coast maintains their 2nd place position. Brisbane also won to stay 3 points in front of them. Sydney plays later and could tie for 2nd with a win. Next week, CCM travels to Adelaide who are in 7th place with a scant two points so far.

http://www.a-league.com.au/default.aspx?s=wleague_newsdisplay&id=30553

http://www.ccmariners.com.au/default.aspx?s=wleague_newsdisplay&id=30550