Former Athletica Players

Several former Athletica players will be participating in the Four Nations Tournament which starts tomorrow (1:30 am) in China.

Ashlyn Harris, Shannon Boxx, and Lindsay Tarpley will be playing for the USA.

Sara Larsson and Madelaine Edlund are on the Swedish roster, although neither is listed as a starter for Friday's match.

Melissa Tancredi is on Canada's roster for the tournament.

I hope I have the times right...

Schedule (times in central time zone):
January 21
USA vs. Sweden (1:35 am)
Canada vs. China (4:35 am)

January 23
China vs. Sweden (2:05 am)
USA vs. Canada (5:05 am)

January 25
Canada vs. Sweden (1:35 am)
USA vs. China (4:35 am)

 

I doubt it. The only thing the story at the US Soccer site said was to follow on twitter. I'm not even sure about matchtracker.

 

In the Four Nations Tournament, the US dropped the opener to Sweden 2-1. Canada won 3-2 over China.

Former Athletica Players:
USA
Shannon Boxx started and played the 1st half.
Ashlyn Harris was the backup keeper and did not play.
Lindsay Tarpley was apparently not active for the match.

Sweden
Madelaine Edlund subbed in the 73rd minute and according to accounts of the game, came close to scoring but Barnhart made a good save.
Sara Larsson was not active.

Canada
Melissa Tancredi had a big game for Canada scoring the 1st goal and then assisting on the final two goals by Christine Sinclair. Congrats to the Tank!

 

Sydney FC (with former Athletica developmental player Lydia Vandenbergh) defeated Melbourne (with former Athletica defensive midfielder Kendall Fletcher) 5-1 in the Aussie W-League semifinals. Sydney now faces Brisbane in the finals.

 

Various WPS training camps for former players:

Atlanta Beat: Lori Chalupny, Kristina Larsen, India Trotter.
Boston Breakers: Niki Cross.
magicJack's Washington Freedom: Shannon Boxx, Tina Ellertson, Hope Solo, Lindsay Tarpley.
Philadelphia: Christina DiMartino, Kia McNeill.
Sky Blue FC: Eniola Aluko, Anita Asante, Carolyn Blank, Kendall Fletcher, Angie Kerr.
Western New York Flash: Ashlyn Harris.

Looks like Sky Blue leads with five Athletica alumni, followed by magicJack's with four, Atlanta with three, Philadelphia with two, and Boston and WNY with one each.

 

I think (at least the way I read the story) that Cinalli and Adams once played for Cleveland FC in youth leagues, but are not going to be part of the WLS teams. Danesha Adams is with Philadelphia, so she wouldn't be able to play with Cleveland anyway, unless she gets cut.

Cinalli, according to her linkedin page, is working in Chicago as a restaurant host(ess) and will be attending nursing school this coming fall.

 

It happens to all of us. Just don't hurt yourself, because I've got to believe the desk will ultimately win that battle.

 

I see that Sky Blue defeated Fortuna Hjørring on penalty kicks. Aluko, Kerr, Blank, and Fletcher all made theirs, with Fletcher converting the final Sky Blue kick for the 7-6 win in PK's. Hope the ladies are enjoying Turkey.

 

Only four teams played in the opening weekend, but several former Athletica players saw action.

For Atlanta, Lori Chalupny, India Trotter, and Kristina Larsen started in the 4-1 loss to Boston.

Sky Blue started four former Athletica players, Eni Aluko, Kendall Fletcher, Carolyn Blank, and Anita Asante (I know she only played in one match for Saint Louis). Angie Kerr later subbed for Fletcher, who came off the field limping a bit late in the match.

Philadelphia started two former Athletica players, Tina DiMartino and Kia McNeill. DiMartino scored the tying goal in stoppage time for the Independence.

Other former players on rosters: Niki Cross (Boston), Shannon Boxx (magicJack), Jill Loyden (magicJack), Hope Solo (magicJack), Lindsay Tarpley (magicJack), Ashlyn Harris (Western New York).

magicJack and Western New York play their season openers next weekend.

 

Nice find! That's a good win for Mexico, given Colombia has qualified for the World Cup as well. The US gets a rematch against Mexico on June 5 at Red Bull Arena in our World Cup send off match.

Additional news on the former player front:

Jill Loyden posted a shutout for magicJack (subbing for the suspended Hope Solo). Also seeing action for magicJack were former Athletica players Lindsay Tarpley and Shannon Boxx.

Lori Chalupny, India Trotter, and Kristina Larsen will be in action today for Atlanta on FSC against the Flash, who has Ashlyn Harris.

The WPSL, W-League, and WLS seasons will be starting soon, so we might find out about some more former Athletica players when these teams start playing regular season matches.

 

For those of you who didn't get a chance to watch tonight's game between Atlanta and Western New York, please catch the highlights when they come up in a few days on the WPS site. Chalupny scored a beautiful goal for the Beat. In fact, all four goals (Chalupny and Lloyd for Atlanta and Sinclair and Marta for WNY) were excellent.

Keeping my fingers crossed for Chalupny as Player of the Week.

Larsen and Trotter both came is as second half substitutions in the match. Ashlyn Harris played the entire match in goal for WNY.

 

She was drafted by Athletica in the general draft back in 2008, but supposedly announced that she was retiring after playing in Europe and didn't play in 2009. However, she was invited to Athletica's camp in 2010 and made the team. She came in as a sub in some of the early games before the team disbanded. I don't think she was quite in game shape yet when she was here and would have logged more playing time had the season progressed.

Kristina Larsen never actually played a regular season game in Saint Louis. She was their top draft pick (2nd round) in 2010, but broke her foot either in training or in a preseason game. By the time I got a chance to see her, she was already on crutches and obviously didn't get in any action before the team disbanded. But I still consider Larsen a former Athletica player because she was on the roster during the regular season. Similarly, Lydia Vandenbergh, Katie Spisak, Ashlyn Harris never played for Athletica in the regular season. Mexican National Team player Veronica Perez got in for a mere one minute in one game, but was on the roster for the entire six weeks of the 2010 season.

My basic criteria for "Former Athletica Players" is anybody who was on the active roster at any time after the regular season started, whether it be full roster or developmental. If you made the team and were on the roster, as far as I'm concerned, you were part of the team and an Athletica player. To me, they were all part of the Athletica family (such that it was in the short time they were in St. Louis).

Nikki Washington, on the other hand, was never actually signed by Athletica as far as I know, although they obtained her rights a few weeks before disbanding. So I don't include Washington when speaking of former Athletica players.

Edit: After checking the 2010 stats for Athletica, I can see where one might think Trotter didn't actually play for Athletica. For some reason, she is absent from the team statistics. If you add the totals for the team, you will find them to be 34 minutes short, presumably Trotter's 34 minutes. Her individual stats at the WPS website do include her being with Athletica.