Athletica Saturday afterthoughts
Catching up …
National team coach Pia Sundhage was on hand. She’s making the rounds, trying to get to a game each weekend, and I suppose there’s a good chance she got to two this weekend if she drove up to Chicago on Sunday. Among the people she was looking in on Saturday was Gold Pride’s Leslie Osborne, who’s coming back from an injury after tearing an ACL last year.
Athletica’s trade with L.A. has the makings of a good one. Though Christie Welsh has been out of the national team picture the past two seasons, she was the team’s leading scorer in 2006 if memory serves, is only 28, and could play her way back in. She was the 12th pick overall in the WPS general draft, which means she’s still well-regarded. (And she used to be Hope Solo’s roommate in residency.) And the trade is a gift from God for Kendall Fletcher, who after playing with the national team in the Algarve Cup found herself stuck on the bench in L.A. It’s an international soccer rule of thumb: If you’re not playing, you won’t get called up to the national team. Getting playing time in St. Louis, which I have to think she will, will keep her in the national team picture, because Sundhage remains sold on her. (Fletcher, by the way, was Chalupny’s roommate at UNC.)
Barcellos was pleased with the play of both Fletcher and Welsh in the second half Saturday. Neither had ever practiced with the team. They arrived from L.A. on Saturday afternoon, not long before the match.
Really, I’m amazed the Sol traded them. Even if they weren’t playing, you would think they would be considered valuable reserves for when there are national team callups.
Francielle was moments away from coming into the game Saturday when Melissa Tancredi got hurt, which led to Niki Cross going in instead. Tancredi didn’t take part in the fitness testing the team had Monday. She awkwardly landed on her foot and has a loose spur on the right side of her foot. Tancredi is still being called in for Canada’s friendly with Japan on May 25, which will keep her out of the Athletica’s next game. I’m not sure who Francielle would have gone in for, since Larsson was already out. It’s possible she could have gone into Chalupny’s spot and Chalupny could have moved somewhere else on the field. Even those she’s in the midfield with Athletica, Sundhege is still looking at her as a wing in the back.
Athletica should be without four players for that game: Chalupny and Solo with the U.S. team, Tancredi with the Canadians, and Kia McNeill to suspension. Her appeal will be heard this week, but I think it has a zero percent chance of working.
Barb Chalupny, Lori’s mom (and official team mom), ran the 40 in 5.9 seconds in practice on Monday.
Amanda Cinalli was at full speed in practice on Monday, and Larsson looks OK after her injury.
From Barcellos’ weekly interview on the Athletica website: “Waiting for the first win was like waiting for bith of my first child.”
All Athletica games, home and away, the rest of the season, will be on 1380. That makes Athletica the only team in the league with a radio outlet, and the team is still working on a TV deal, though that seems a long shot to me.
I should also note that the Athletica are the only team in the league not to have a media guide out. I got the other six in the mail the other day. Athletica’s is assembled but hasn’t gone to the printer yet, and now they can make changes, adding Fletcher and Welsh, removing Sheree Gray.
Stephanie Logterman should be with the team by the next game, on May 23.
I can’t recall, in all my years of watching soccer, seeing in person someone put a corner kick in the goal like Chalupny did. I’m told it’s rare but does happen more in girls soccer than boys soccer, maybe because female goalies have a harder time getting to that top corner, or the ball is less likely to go untouched through the box. Chalupny said she’d done it before, but couldn’t remember when. Solo said afterward that as a goalie, it’s not the kind of thing you want to have happen. Nicole Barnhart of Gold Pride didn’t have a really good explanation as to how it happened, other than that she was an instant or two late reacting.
I am thrilled to hear that the remaining games will be available through 1380.
As for goals-via-corners, either last year or the year before SLU’s Brandon Barklage scored on a corner at Hermann, although he scored at the near post. Chalupny’s far-post goal may have been a fluke/accident, but it was a beauty; given it’s placement, it would have been difficult for any properly positioned goalie, male or femail, to stop.
Wow, that was a ton of information…Thanks!
I went to the bar and grill where Los Angeles and Saint Louis had a post-game meal together two weeks ago. At the time, I remember seeing Chalupny and Fletcher sit down and talk together, I assume they were doing some catching up. Two weeks later, they’re teammates.
Great info, Tom! Thanks for your great coverage of the Athletica. Their next game will really show how far they’ve come since Week 1 as they play the same team for the first time in WPS. Regional battle against Chicago…
I see that Vandenbergh got waived and they re-acquired Gray. So the injury to Daniela has caused a great ripple effect. McNeill and Wambach get suspended. Fletcher and Welsh get traded. First, Gray gets waived, then she’s back and Vandenbergh gets waived.
I’m assuming they did it this way because they couldn’t move somebody directly from the active roster to the developmental roster. So before they acquired Fletcher and Welsh which would have been 19 on the active roster after Daniela’s injury, they had to release someone off the active roster first, which turned out to be Gray. So then to get Gray to the developmental roster, they then released Vandenbergh. I know developmental players are basically unprotected meaning anybody can sign them away at any time. It’s kind of awkward the way they had to do it though. It really has to stink for the players.