2013 Boston Breakers

I used to go to track meets at Dilboy and parked far away in Arlington on the street. The lack of parking was one reason we cancelled our three year subscription to the Breakers. It's even further from the T than Harvard- which had ample parking. I really hoped they'd find a better venue convenience-wise for suburbanites who have little choice but to drive in.

 

But will the Breakers avg. 3,500 fans this year, or close to it?

 

Breakers have officially signed (not just announced) Cat Whitehill as their first official free agent.

 

It is also "expected" (but not officially announced) that Joanna Lohman is also one of the free agents.

 

Boston has quite the attack.

Leroux, Leon, Sanderson, Gaujardo, O'Reilly, M. Nogueira.
They will set up and score some goals together. Guajardo is a solid sub for a young player.
Sanderson and O'Reilly give them veterans. Leroux gives them FIREPOWER. Leon gives them another big time weapon. Nogueira gives them another young player that will contribute well. She has a rocket of a shot, and can score goals off her head with precision and velocity.

Will Boston also sign (retain) Kyah Simon?
She'd be more of a want than a need at this point, but the more firepower = the better.

When Boston announces all their free agents, they have the most complete team in the East right now (due to Western New York not having a good enough defense yet).

Cat Whitehill, Lianne Sanderson, and Joanna Lohman (probable as expected), are three of their four free agents.

 

I am putting the over/under at 3.5 days for the Breakers to make this next announcement that everyone already knows they are going to make. Any takers?

 

No, unless Lohman is pregnant, or is taking a Mormon mission.

 

Supplemental draft picks are official - midfielder Joanna Lohman, forward Katie Schoepfer, midfielder Bianca D'Agostino, forward Jasmine Spencer, defender Lauren Alkek and midfielder Jessica Luscinski.

 

And Kyah Simon is the 4th free agent. Very solid and deep up front and in the midfield if the Breakers aren't among the league leaders in goals scored there is a problem. Strong starting core on the back line but lack a little depth. Also very curious about the keepers who will be invited to camp.

 

Casey Short tore her ACL and MCL today playing for the U23s. Bad luck!

 

Not the best choice to take her that high in the draft anyways.
And now this. Hopefully she makes a full recovery. You hate hearing about this from anyone, especially a young player trying to be a pro player for the first time.

Some of these NWSL teams drafted better than other ones.
Boston didn't exactly have the best college draft. And now with this, they ended up having arguably the worst draft (them or Portland), but of course some of that is attributed to some bad luck for Boston, while Parlow just made some really weird draft decisions. But hey, if Amber Brooks is back in the middle of the season, then Portland did get two of the Top 15 overall players in that draft (Brooks and Williamson), but they still should have drafted Kendall Johnson.

A Portland team in 2014 that looks like this, would have been even more intriguing, and Parlow could have made it happen somehow.

F - Morgan, Sinclair, Foxhoven, Frisbie (2014) (Marshall can also play up top if needed)
MF - Long, Washington, Heath, Edwards, Kerr
MF/D - Kendall Johnson, Julie Johnston, Amber Brooks
D - Elli Reed, Tina Ellertson?, Rachel Buehler, Nikki Marshall, Marian Dalmy, Mercado?, Sandoval, Saucedo, Avant
GK - LeBlanc, Henninger


Here's how Portland should have handled it:

College Draft (2013)
1st round - Kendall Johnson (8th overall pick)
2nd round - Jo Dragotta (or Kat Williamson if she's still around)
3rd round - Amber Brooks
4th round - Ally Miller (when you see a player like that still available in the 4th round, you take her. And Portland needed midfielders there, especially at least temporarily)

Free Agents signed
Allie Long
Becky Edwards
Nikki Marshall
Elli Reed

Supplemental Draft (2013)
1st round - Bianca Henninger (beat FC Kansas City to the punch)
2nd round - Angie Kerr
3rd round - Nikki Washington or Michele Weissenhofer (whoever is available between these 2)
4th round - Tina Ellertson (no one thought she was playing. she already told Seattle "No")
5th round - Marian Dalmy
6th round - Melinda Mercado (tall, still out there, might even play. but why just say "pass?")

*You take Ellertson and Mercado, thinking that you may get one of them to play for you. And there's the theory that Ellertson may want to play, but under her terms, maybe not for the full season, etc. And Mercado is very underrated. And it's possible (maybe not probable) Weissenhofer is still available as a discovery player, if Portland takes Nikki Washington in the 3rd round above.

Discovery (2013)
Jazmyne Avant
maybe an international player

College Draft (2014)
1st round - Julie Johnston (even if you have to trade up to get the #3 overall pick)
3rd round - Amanda Frisbie (Portland could always use another reserve forward up top)

*Portland trades their 1st, 2nd, and 4th round picks, to trade up for some other team's #2 or #3 overall pick in the first round, so Portland can get Julie Johnston. Dunn and Ohai should go #1 and #2, but it depends on "team need" among those teams in the Top 2-3 picks in the first round.


End result: Portland has a killer offense and defense. Midfield looks solid. Playmakers, possession, and great defense in the midfield. Defense has depth. Henninger platoons with LeBlanc, and is always a security blanket, if LeBlanc is getting older and declining quicker.

Parlow Cone could have built a JUGGERNAUT.

 

I really hate to hear this news! Casey worked her butt off to get back on the field. She was a key proponent in the Seminoles returning to the College Cup by moving to outside back.....a position she never played. Shorty was a key leader for the Noles, a great student and a true friend! In whatever Casey decides to do she will be successful. Good Luck Shorty!

On to another post:
WPS Movement totally CLASSLESS post! Coming on the Breakers thread to badmouth their draft choice after an unfortunate injury and then proceed to promote your Portland Turds! Bad Taste-Bad Karma!

 

Portland Turds? I agree that WPSM's post was both OT and insenstive, but there's no need to take it out on the rest of us left coasters . . .

 

I said Boston already had a less than stellar draft before Casey Short got injured, not because she got injured. Even if she's 100% healthy, it wasn't the best draft class in the league. I wish her well, and hope she's back at full strength for 2014. Yes, I thought she was taken too high (#5 overall) to begin with. Kendall Johnston and Christine Nairn, etc. are better overall players, and you could make the case they should have gone higher in the draft. But Short is definitely a starter in this league. Hope she rebounds for 2014.

The point I was making is that they couldn't really afford this.
They already had a sub-par draft compared to most teams, and now their first round pick goes down, which means they ended up having possibly the worst draft, some of it due to bad luck now, which is exactly what I mentioned above. Boston didn't have the worst draft before Short's injury. They just didn't have the best draft, or close to it (before her injury). Now it's possibly the worst draft. But some of it is because of bad luck to the Short injury. Bad luck, because you can't foresee an injury happening.

I meant absolutely no harm in the post. Don't misunderstand it.
Boston will be fine. They'll still be competitive. They need to find a defensive player in discovery though, for depth.

Go Breakers.
And let's not call Portland the Turds. They're great for the league. Tons of fans.
The league needed Portland. The league needs Boston too. Riptide in the house.

 

WPSM you have trashed the Breakers draft picks on more than one occasion. You don't seem to understand Boston's ability to find underrated players that are hard workers and still a little raw and develop them into solid professionals or role players to meet their needs. They did this with Lipsher, Schoepfer, Luscinski, Angeli & Hemmings to name a few. If what Tokonta said is correct about Short's work rate then this is definitely a huge loss for the Breakers and I wish her a quick recovery. As for the rest of their draft class I am pretty confident that Cole had a good reason for drafting them and all of them will be strong contributors in year 1 because that is her track record.

 

I didn't trash their draft picks. I just said they didn't have the best draft (before Short went down).
Here is how I rank the rookies, with overall player rating for each of the rookies.

Boston: Casey Short (86), M. Nogueira (85), Dragotta (83), Maddy Evans (80)
Chicago: Bywaters (88), Quon (87), Hoy (84), Vancil (81)
FCKC: Mewis (89), Tymrak (88), Whitney Berry (84), Nia Williams (80)
Portland: Brooks* (88), Kat Williamson (87), Radovcic (83), Roxanne Barker (80)
Seattle: Nairn (88), Schaffer (86), Kopmeyer (84), Meier (82)
Sky Blue: Cutshall (88), Kendall Johnson (88), Ashley Baker (84), Becky Kaplan (81)
Washington: McCarty (88), Miller (87), Holly King (86), Colleen Williams (85)
Western NY: Franch (89), Barczuk (85), DiMartino (85), Logue (83)

I just thought Boston had an opportuntity to have a better draft.
But you are right, they do a better job than most franchises at finding "diamonds in the rough".
Mariah Nogueira is a nice player. I think her player rating will trend up on my list after 2013. And Dragotta is a hard-worker who continues to get better. I expect her to ascend up these rankings as well.

And for the record, I like Casey Short, and think she'll be a starter in this league when she's back. I didn't think she was the best defender on her own team though (I thought that Ines Jaurena and Kassey Kallman were better). But Florida State was stacked defensively. And Short is certainly a solid defensive player herself. But I did have to scratch my head at thinking the 3rd best defender on her college team ended up being the #5 overall player in the draft. She does have a high ceiling though, so I understand the longevity of the pick, and hope she gets her chance to reach it.

 

Heard from a reliable source that parking is being expanded by 250 spots and they are still working on more. They could probably use another 75 to 100.

 

Tiger Woods has a new wife? Well that's shocking.
That sounds like a celebrity name. Lisa Marie, as in ... Lisa Marie Pressley.
Lisa Marie Woods - wife of Tiger Woods.

 

Yes. And haven't you heard? captain Morgan's daughter Alex plays for the USWNT and the Thorns...