I would be satisfied with the Flash taking either Andrews or Lavelle at #2, as long as they get a RB at some point in the offseason.
Wouldn't be surprised if Krieger plays center back. Monica was solid but neither Alleway or Pressley had great seasons. Both too slow to handle speedy forwards.
Andrews or Lavelle does fit a need of Boston's. The midfield right now is very thin - Salem, DaCosta, Verdoia, Ratcliffe - that's not going to cut it as starters. If I were Boston I'd take Andrews at #1 and Jordan at #3. On the other hand, teams have a financial incentive to pick Canadians as their salaries are covered. Boston now has Oyster and Engen, which is solid enough. Maybe they still pick Buchanan and move Oyster wide, to use her speed as a lock down outside back. I always wondered if Buchanan might end up back as a striker, where she used to play before Herdman made her a defender. She is prone to giving up stupid fouls in the defensive third, or even in the penalty box as we saw in Rio. Lavelle doesn't really mesh with WNY's rampaging direct style. More of a KC or Sky Blue sort of player. I wonder if she drops to SB at #4?
There's nothing concrete but there's definitely been interest from clubs. Two years till any major tournament and Canada allocations are middle of the pack in salary (~25k). So if she had any interest in playing overseas, now is the perfect time and then she can come back in 2019 Reynard's contract is up at Lyon so there's a place for Buchanan to slide right into if she signs elsewhere (Hal has already trolled about her coming to Houston as she has spoken about playing in the NWSL before [emoji24])
One is a RB. The other is a converted attacker. The Flash do not need another converted to RB player, they need an actual RB.
So who has raised their 2017 draft profile??? - Katie Johnson (USC) : Hard to argue with 3 goals off 4 shots in the College Cup. May not be a dominating all-around force like some of the attackers in this class but the girl can finish...in huge games too. - Casie Ramsier (AUBURN) : Quietly a 2 time all-american midfielder I haven't seen on any mock-drafts.
Ramsier is a potential late round pick. Katie Johnson may have played her way into the draft. She can score out in the open field, and that translates well in NWSL in a high octane (wide open) game.
I decided to do a Mock-Draft with Buchanan and Lawrance included...because why not? Let me know who I forgot, it's so hard especially in a draft with so much attacking talent. Round One 1. Boston - Buchanan (WV) 2. WNY - Lawrance (WV) 3. Boston - Andrews (USC) 4. Sky Blue - Jordan (FL) 5. FCKC - Lavelle (Wis) 6. Seattle - Mills ( USC) 7. WNY - Gibbons (Duke) 8. CHI - Payne (Duke) 9. Boston - Meehan (BC) 10. Sky Blue - Campbell (Stanford) Round Two 11. Boston - Riberio (UConn) 12. Boston - Freeman (USC) 13. FCKC - Crowley (FSU) 14. Portland- Bauer (Stanford) 15. Houston - Cephers (VT) 16. Boston - Driesse (PSU) 17. FCKC - Sheridan (Clemson) 18. WNY - Hatch (BYU) 19. Washington - Shaffer (UVA) 20. Portland - Hill (Uconn) Round Three 21. Boston - McNabb (UVA) 22. Orlando - Kurtz (SC) 23. Sky Blue - Fletcher (Cal) 24. Sky Blue - Beal (MN) 25. FCKC - Shipp (Cal) 26. Seattle - Prudhomme (USC) 27. Portland - Drennon (SC) 28. CHI - Lussi (Princeton) 29. Washington - Purce (Harvard) 30. Sky Blue - Tiernan (VT) Round Four 31. Boston - Dowd (BC) 32. Orlando - Ramsier (Auburn) 33. Houston - Paul (Georgetown) 34. Sky Blue - Vasconcelos (BYU) 35. FCKC - Johnson (NEB) 36. Washington- Harris (UNC) 37. CHI- Castleberry (UNC) 38. CHI - Lachowecki (Miami) 39. CHI - Proffitt - (Marquette) 40. Portland - Catanda (Clemson)
I hope she gets drafted and i'm totally wrong. During the regular season I watched the USC vs Stanford game and she impressed me in that game just as much as Andrews! She's obviously a clutch finisher so a lot of clubs could use that. There is just so much attacking talent in this draft!
If we had a California expansion team, she would be virtually guaranteed to be drafted at some point in this draft (no later than the last round). They would draft her, provided they paid any attention to local talent, and did their homework on how she was more impactful than anyone in the College Cup for her National Champion team. Maybe Portland takes her in a later round. She doesn't necessarily have to stay west, but I feel like it would improve her chances if California had a team. She was on nobody's mock drafts (including mine) before the NCAA tournament. But now, I have her as a 3rd round pick in my latest version. Clutch play does matter to me, and I'm open-minded to "late-bloomers" who continue to show increasing progression. She isn't the most lethal and explosive player in terms of pace, and the more energetic and jittery players like Shea Groom seem to be more successful in NWSL than the Katie Johnson type. That's due to the nature of NWSL and it's more high-octane style of play. And organized defenders in NWSL have more success defending the Katie Johnson type more so than the She Groom type. Still, she can find a niche in this league as a quality reserve (role) player at the very least, and that's probably worth taking in the #21 - #30 range. She is a consistent and reliable player (as a role player) at minimum, and possibly more. I don't think anyone expects her to DOMINATE in the professional ranks. Then again, no one really saw it coming from Beverly Goebel (Yanez), but even though she isn't DOMINANT, she is still pretty high quality and exceeded everyone's expectations. Maybe Katie Johnson does the same. Morgan Andrews is still the superior pro prospect with a higher upside. There is no doubt about that. Her game has the chance to peak one day into a Lauren Holiday 2.0 version (more advanced goal scorer, especially on set pieces).
Buchanan spotted in Lyon today by a paparazzi ie one of the OL fans who come to every training session . They don't get in now, which annoys them. @Lyonnais69005 pas mieux pic.twitter.com/Y0XGR01eSn— MALLEN Dominique (@dommal38) December 16, 2016
I guess I don't get Lyon at all. At what point does it exceed building a squad and becomes an exercise in collecting/hoarding players?
Buchanan and Henning coming to replace Renard and probably Kumagai who is out of contract in June. Morgan of course is a marketing buy.
I would add Simone Kolander from Minnesota and Nichelle Prince from Ohio State, Prince may be allocated by Canada.
Indications of Lawrence to PSG as well. Will be bummed not to see either Canadian in NWSL if this all happens.
Mock Draft: Round 1 1-BOS---Buchanan (WVU) 2-WNY---Lawrence (WVU) 3-BOS---Andrews (USC) 4-SBFC---Jordan (Florida) 5-FCKC---Lavelle (WIsconsin) 6-SEA---Hatch (BYU) 7-WNY---Mills (USC) 8-CRS---Hill (UConn) 9-BOS---Payne (Duke) 10-SBFC---GIbbons (Duke) Round 2 11-BOS---Meehan (BC) 12-BOS---Freeman (USC) 13-FCKC---Ribeiro (UConn) 14-POR---Bauer (Stanford) 15-HOU---Crowley (FSU) 16-BOS---Cephers (Virginia Tech) 17-FCKC---Campbell (Stanford) 18-WNY---Purce (Harvard) 19-WAS---Shaffer (UVA) 20-POR---Kolander (Minnesota) Round 3 21-BOS---Lussi (Princeton) 22-ORL---Driesse (Penn State) 23-SBFC---Prince (Ohio State) 24-SBFC---C. Ramsier (Auburn) 25-FCKC---McNabb (UVA) 26-SRFC---Ship (Cal) 27-POR---Tiernan (VT) 28-CRS---Sheridan (Clemson) 29-WAS---Harris (UNC) 30-SBFC---Kurtz (SC) Round 4 31-BOS---Beal (Minnesota) 32-ORL---Johnson (USC) 33-HOU---Vasconcelos (BYU) 34-SBFC---Dowd (BC) 35-FCKC---Johnson (Nebraska) 36-WAS---B.Ramsier (BYU) 37-SEA---Prudhomme (SC) 38-CRS---Medeiros (BYU) 39-CRS---Castleberry (UNC) 40-POR---Fletcher (Cal)
Looking at the list, and not knowing much about any of the players others than those at or near the top, I'd be inclined to move Purce and Lussi up or to think of them as players likely to outperform where you have them listed. Why? They're playing at mid-majors and don't have anywhere near the support around them that the other players on the list have. It makes it easy to underrate them.
They're also playing against lesser competition, which tends to balance things out. Sarah Hagen scored something crazy like 93 goals in college. She probably scores less than 70 if playing for UNC or Virginia, since she'd be playing against ACC defenses. http://mkepanthers.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=3089&path=wsoc I think Lussi may get drafted above #21 overall, so if Boston wants her as a local choice, they may need to take her in the 2nd round. She's like a thinner version of Hegerberg out there, but a little less talented of course.
I would also consider Savannah Jordan's 81 goals against tougher (SEC) competition as more impressive than Sarah Hagen's 93 goals against inferior competition. Florida also typically plays a tough non-conference schedule each year against teams like FSU, UCF, and often against a couple of other ranked teams (such as Stanford and UCLA this year). Jordan will be a better goal scorer after college than Hagen is. Hagen was the #5 overall pick of the 2012 WPS Draft. Jordan should top that this year, if she's in this (NWSL) Draft. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_WPS_Draft
Yeah, but the NWSL has been eating up hotshot college goal-scorers. The Spirit took Tiffany McCarty and Caroline Miller in that first draft, which looked incredible on paper -- McCarty has 63 goals at Florida State, Miller scored 20 her senior year at Virginia, and Anson Dorrance was very happy to see both of them graduate from ACC play. Yet for some reason (Miller's horrific string of injuries didn't help), that never translated to big production in the NWSL. Zakiya Bywaters was the No. 1 pick in 2013. (OK, 2014 had Dunn and Ohai 1-2 -- they're the biggest exceptions.)
The 2013 draft was just bad overall. As weak as most people think this past draft was, 2013 was worse. There were so many players that year who either didn't make the cut right away, or were cast off after one year.