Offseason moves and happenings

flash.

http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/news/general/110118-wny-edwards.aspx

Bummer. But I guess she is following the rest of her Gold Pride Teammates to WNY.

This is what I was seeing, when she need to take control of games in the second half she did not... I really think she did well in the first half. Would have prefferred to Keep Seger and let Lori go..

I agree w/ your assessment of her form last season & the need for Pia to look elsewhere, wait wrong team, for Riley to manage her minutes over the course of the season.

I do have one little correction. Lindsey was part of WNT residency in 2004 and maybe after that but I don't know for sure. So this go around isn't her first WNT chance.

Kool Aide, I guess I was thinking along the lines of caps and Lindsey had only earned one prior to last year, that coming in 2005 in a game against Iceland. She is a solid player but really did not become a regular member of the WNT until 2009-10 at the age of 30.
I do think Lori might make a good D-MF, or at least better than what they have. She's heady and a good passer and decent positionally. She has lost some speed but that might be a way to get Farrelly, Rapinoe and DiMartino on the field at the same time in the MF.

Who will be on Philly's final roster??? They seem over loaded-Will some veterans be cut?

Well, you know I couldn’t let this go without a bit of a fight!! ; ) I honestly don’t know where you PHILLY fans are coming from about Lindsey. You are acting as though she’s a throw-a-way. She was Philly’s very first pick EVER, come on!! She’s also the captain, and you don’t become captain by happenstance. When I said in the other forum that she carried the team, I meant that, at least in the first half. Let’s see, statistics show she scored 2G and 5A in the first 12 games, then 3A in the second half (although she did not play in one of those games due to WNT duty). When Riley brought Seger in he said she was the best side-to-side midfielder in the world. Unfortunately, she didn’t come close to playing like it until the second half of the season. We also got DiMartino 4 games in and that helped solidify the midfield, thereby not requiring Lindsey to do all the work. My opinion is that they didn’t require her to score/assist as much b/c they now had additional options. BTW – Lindsey should have had a double digit assists season had A-Rod been able to hit the broad side of a barn in the first half of the season.

Dogging her about her WNT play is curious also. She led the team in assists in 2010 on, let’s see, 741 minutes of playing time. A little under an assist/game.

Del Rio & Boquete to Philly is official

Glad to have the discussion SCCL
Lindsey was the first pick in the expansion draft where Washington didn't see fit to include her as one of its 10 players protected from being drafted, so I would say that's not a big point in her favor. Also, I'm sure she's a fine captain and human being but for much of the season she was the third best MF on the team behind Seger and Tina IMO. Agreed on ARod botching possible assists but you could say the same thing for that affecting the assist totals of other players -- DiMartino in particular.
And my point about the WNT was that it took her until she was 30 years old to really become a regular member of the squad while other players of her generation have been playing on a regular basis. If she was an amazing talent, she probably would have broken through sooner. I didn't see every WNT game last season but others on these boards have posted less stellar reviews of her play than you.
Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with having her back and she's a fine player. But you have to admit she was spent by the end of the year. If Riley can do a better job managing her minutes, I think she will be fresher down the stretch and it will show in her play.

Frida is an LB, so they really have 6 forwards on roster now. It will be very tough for rookies to make this squad. My concern is why we don't have 3 keepers on the roster. I've heard Barnie mentioned but the move makes no sense because if they really believe that Val is capable of starting (from the quote when KK was traded to Chicago) then they should stay away from getting in the same situation they were last year. Robyn Jones was a solid backup last year and they should bring her back + a devel keeper. That will round out the roster. Not sure how many players are allowed for preseason but we must be right at that # at the moment. Roster on paper so far looks fantastic

No problem wasn't trying to jump down your throat for listing her as such. We could have a 10 year talk about how WPS teams don't maintain/update their sites appropriately (just look at the Freedoms hehehe)

Rapinoe and Frida on the left is a potential nightmare for teams. hope that's what happens.

Only if Rapinoe improves her ability to cover and defend when the LB (ie Frida) bombs forward. She wasn't consistent in doing that for CRS and their left back play was spotty to begin with. And she's hasn't done that well w/ the USWNT. WPS teams with decent coaching (it could happen) attack the left side to see if they can get behind them both. And they'll have success if Rapinoe doesn't improve that part of her game. And she'll rack up fouls/cards for being late in defensive recovery.

Looks like the roster might end up shaking out something like this (unless some unheralded rookies impress).

GK: Henderson, keeper #2
D: Falk, McNeil, Robinson, Krzysik, Magnusdottir (I), Fowlkes
M: Buzzsaw, Lindsey, Lohman, DiMartino, Rapinoe, Del Rio (I), Farrelly
F: Rodriguez, Kai, Sanderson (I), Boquete (I)

Developmental: keeper #3, Barnes, Johnson, Adams

It's definitely a solid roster. Fowlkes might be able to step up and play the defensive midfield position more effectively than Buczcowski, so Jen might end up fighting for playing time. To me, the international selections are a bit disappointing though. I have no qualms with either Frida (awesome pace) or with Boquete (awesome skills), but Del Rio was mostly a role player for Boston last season and didn't make much of an impact (outside of one amazing goal). Sanderson is okay, but not the most dynamic or mobile of forwards. I guess Riley thinks they need a post up player for A-Rod and the others to run off of.

Depth is good, since they'll be missing their 3 USWNT players for residency for much of the season. Discussions on other boards pretty much just have Pia releasing the players for games, they probably won't get to train too much with their WPS teams. And Boquette isn't available until sometime in May, I believe, due to commitment to her current team. None of their internationals will be lost to WWC preparations, though Frida and the Spaniards could have a friendly or two. Lianne retired from the English national team.

It will be interesting to see whom they take as their backup keeper. Lots of quality players out there, like Kristin Arnold from Texas A&M, whom everyone thought would be the first keeper drafted. I bet there are a LOT of GK's in their open tryouts next week.

She is a solid player and I only thought that there were upgrades available in Free agency..

Can this be right? from the WPS transaction page:

"The Philadelphia Independence traded Heather Mitts to the Atlanta Beat for its third round pick in the 2012 WPS Draft."

Third round pick is definitely correct. Mitts was left available in the WNY expansion draft so the Independence was looking to move her off their roster even if it meant receiving nothing in return. Between injuries last year and diminishing skill level, she was not in Coach Riley's plans for the upcoming season.

That all well could be true but did Riley have to be such a jerk about it. Mitts chose to come back here last offseason and is essentially the best known soccer player in Philly — male or female — from her time with the Charge. Why did he have to take thinly veiled potshots at her. If she doesn't fit with your plans, then trade her. But show some respect to someone who's done a lot for the sport in this region. He didn't have to kiss her butt or anything, just don't tell everyone in earshot about how "inconsistent" the RB was last season— which BTW diminishes her trade value. Just trade her and wish her well.
I actually think she was traded just as a salary dump — same with Seger— and also because Riley and Mitts didn't mesh. She did not play poorly last season — she was just injured for much of the time.

Whole league is quiet really...just waiting to see how long it takes magictalk to announce all these new players and staff changes and what not...preseason will be here before you know it (less than 4 weeks)

lets speculate :
wambach
press
tarpley
masar
rasmussen
romos
box
white
mcleod
solo
ellertson
rampone
saurbrun
Marshall
dalmy
shnurr
klingenberg
devanna
adn whoevre else is left thats good player..haha