And the mean age of the Cyberrays approaches 40. Maybe not quite, but you get my point. I once again sincerely hope Sawyers' "experience trumps youth" strategy proves successful. My goodness, we now have FIVE former Freedomites on the roster: French, Pretinha, Greathouse, Cook, Cromwell.
Sal has a ton of experience. :\ Other than that I'm not sure what to think of that acquisition just now. I'm not sure where she fits in. I'll have to think about it for a bit. In the meantime, I was just really surprised to hear that Hendershot retired until I read the article. Concussions are nasty business.
I agree - where is she going to play? I wonder how much we are paying for her. I don't believe we need another defender. How many actual "players" do we have now?
It's sad that Maren is gone, but at least she got to get another season in. Remember last year when she didn't think she'd be able to play anymore without some major personal sacrifices? Hopefully having last season in her memory bank helped. This is a bad way to go, hopefully she'll be ok. She was smart to step down and not risk hurting herself again. Cromwell has more experience than Maren, she has more experience than most players around. When I saw that she was 32, the first thing that popped into my head was something along the lines of what RB1 posted. Our team's age is getting up there, hopefully it won't hurt us. Ian sure has some interesting ideas floating around in his head. Let's hope and pray they work. There's an excellent chance that Cromwell won't even get minutes this year, but you never know. Our other reserve is also a defender, rookie Carter. I guess of the group of waived players, Sal was one of the best. I don't know if defense was the way to go, but what do I know. Good luck to her and the 'Rays!
I'm going to quote something here that Druid Squirrel wrote in the pre-match thread because it made me think a little more about Cromwell. Cromwell is a central defender, and a smart one. At 32 she may not be as fast or athletic as Kelly Lindsey, but she's probably as effective and experienced at organizing a defense as anyone else on the team, including Brandi. She's tactically sophisticated - she's the head coach at a decent Division I program. She's played on the national team alongside Brandi, Thori Bryan and Venturini. Perhaps most important, she still has enough drive to relocate across the country for a reserve spot. Compare this to some of the good younger players who are retiring rather than be a reserve in a city not to their liking. She's a grownup who's not going to get fazed by jumping into a new situation. If I'm Coach Sawyers, I'm thinking about Kelly and Di's iffy knees, Di and Brandi's (and maybe Thori's) national team callups, rookie Barr at defensive midfield. Suddenly Cromwell, who can also play defensive mid, starts to look pretty darn good as a reserve option. In fact, the more I think about it, the happier I am with the revamped Cyberrays roster. We have a solid back up at attacking mid in Ann Cook, two promising new forwards in Clemens and Barnes, plenty of depth in defense (with Sanchez and Carter as flank options) where we're most vulnerable to injury and national team callups. It's hard to predict just what makes a team gel, but when you add these players to our core from last year, I think we're looking pretty competetive. We're also back in a quasi underdog position by virtue of having missed the playoffs. I could be way off, but I have the feeling that's going to work in our favor. The CyberRays' success in year 1 and lapses in year 2 seemed as much about cohesion as talent. I'd argue that this time round we've got enough talent, and just might have an edge on cohesion.
Cromwell is a "reserve" player, so the $$$ ain't much. She is smart and talented. Capable of playing in midfield, too. Fast enough when she needs to be.