Just out of curiosity, I compiled a list of the US colleges represented in the WPS opening day starting lineups. Twelve colleges had more than one of their alumni representing them on opening day. It will surprise no one that North Carolina tops the list with 9 players, but it may surprise some that Virginia (with 5 players!) narrowly finished behind Notre Dame for the 2nd spot. Notre Dame had six. The 12 colleges with two or more in the starting lineups: North Carolina 9 Notre Dame 6 Virginia 5 Portland 4 Stanford 3 Santa Clara 3 Washington 2 Nebraska 2 Florida 2 Connecticut 2 Clemson 2 Arizona State 2 Perhaps the most conspicuous absences from the list are UCLA, Florida State, and Texas A&M - who all had zero players in the starting lineups.
India Trotter retired, she was our best bet at a starting shot in the new league. However Sarah Wagenfuer made the Chicago Red Stars as one of the developmental players. I suspect a few of the girls on the team now(Tiffany McCarty, Toni Pressley, Casey Short) will play in the WPS, maybe more, hard to say.
Season's pretty young. It might be more instructive to see who plays the minutes as the season wears on. There are some college players still finishing up school who may be starters, as well.
And a couple of international starters that didnt really show all that well from the 2 games I saw. Patience
Good to see the young players blossom and the old ones gracefully age out. What? Lilly still plays on. She keeps going, and going, ....
Conference breakdown (starting rosters): ACC: 18 Big East: 12 West Coast (WCC): 8 Pac-10: 8 SEC: 2 Big 12: 2 Big 10: 2 No other conference had more than 1 player.
Interestingly enough, Texas A&M only has two players on active rosters for the WPS. Kind of weird when you consider they've won the Big XII five times since 2002, and have had several players play for U-20/U21 national teams.
You seem to be implying something which I don't believe is true. Which is that the number of alumni starting or even playing in the WPS reflects the quality of players of that college. I'd say a bigger factor is the options available to alumni. Particularly since there hasn't been a pro league in six years. Most young alums from the California Pac-10 or WCC colleges are in grad school or have a job that pays more than the WPS. They've moved on.
Except those factors apply the same to everybody (like not having a pro league in six years**). The Pac-10 and WCC are actually well represented. The Pac-10 especially so when you consider UCLA had zero starters in the Opening Day lineups. (That changed by Week 3 when Tina DiMartino started for Gold Pride) I don't know what to make of it - as I said, I did it out of mere curiousity. ** Maybe the way the six years without a league makes a difference is this: you have players divided in two groups - A) the "old-timers", the ones who've been around since WUSA, became established there and, for the most part, have had their playing careers sustained by national team duty. Most of these players come from the programs, of course, that have been around longer - namely UNC, Notre Dame, Portland, Santa Clara. Florida also has two players in this group: Abby Wambach and Heather Mitts. B) recent grads - the ones just graduated or graduated in last couple years as the new league was being formed. So they had a new league to look forward to and prepared for it in the W-League, the WPSL or playing overseas. Could be interesting to compare the college and conference representation between the two groups. Either way, I love college soccer out here on the West Coast. But having Brittany Bock (Notre Dame) on the Sol is giving me new-found appreciation for soccer in parts further east.
A couple are getting playing time: Kelly Schmedes (that's her married name, I can't remember her name from college playing days) and Kasey Moore (?), I think.
I'm pretty sure Logterman is finishing up school yet. She should be available to play in a couple of weeks.
Virginia serves as the minor league for the Freedom - we've got three starters from UVA. We'd have a fourth - and give the Cavaliers a tie with the Fighting Irish - if Sarah Huffman hadn't blown out her ACL during training camp.
I was wondering where Logterman was. Thanks to all for all the added info. And most importantly for not bringing up that USC had an opening day starter when UCLA didn't. Harrumph...!
Regarding the Texas Longhorn players, Jill Gilbeau is getting some time with the Washington Freedom, Kelly Schemedes (Wilson is her maiden name) started the last game for Boston along with Kasey Moore who has started in Boston's last two games. I believe Stephanie Logterman is still in Austin finishing school.... Go Longhorns !!!