Who does Athletica protect in the expansion draft?
The expansion draft for Philadelphia and Atlanta is Sept. 15. All teams will loses two players, and some will lose three. Teams can protect 10 players in the first go round, then protect two more after they lose the first, then protect another after they lose the second.
There are always some gambles that go along with these drafts. Can you slip an international player with since teams are limited to five? For instance, could the Athletica leave Sara Larsson and Melissa Tancredi exposed the first time through, figuring other players on their roster might be more appealing the first time through?
Some people the team will protect are obvious: Hope Solo, Lori Chalupny, Tina Ellertson, Eniola Aluko, Daniela. That’s five. After that, there can be some debate, but I’d protect Angie Woznuk, Sarah Walsh (the team traded two players to get her, you don’t want to give her up for nothing), Amanda Cinalli, Kendall Fletcher and Stephanie Logterman.
Expansion math says every team in the league is going to leave its second goalie unprotected. There will be a couple of goalies who saw a lot of action who will be out there. Sky Blue will have to choose between Jenni Branam, who took the team to the final with some gutty postseason play and Karen Bardsley, the English national team keeper. I would think Athletica backup Jillian Loyden would be an appealing choice, especially for Philadelphia, since she is from New Jersey and played at Villanova. Does the Independence take her or roll the dice and figure that when the Athletica can protect two more players after the first round, they still won’t protect the backup goalie? If Christie Welsh is unprotected, does Philadelphia go for the former Penn State forward who has been a starter with the national team?
After the first round, the decision on who to protect may be based on who has been chosen by other teams. If teams are at or near their limit on foreign players, maybe you can leave Larsson and Tancredi unprotected and instead lock up Kia McNeill and Elise Weber? If a lot of forwards have been chosen, do you leave them exposed and protect defenders? Or vice versa? And then there’s the Ashley Pistorius question. She’s got a lot of potential to be a goalscorer in the league. But she didn’t play much this season. How unlikely is it that an expansion team would take a chance on a player who saw very limited action this season?
I assume we’ll see the protected list the day before the draft; MLS has always done that. But in the meantime, it’s something to think about.
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The deadline for postseason award voting is 7 p.m. Central, though I doubt much will change. The fan voting leaders are Hope Solo (for MVP and goalie) and Christie Rampone for defender. None of the races are particularly close. Fan voting makes up one-fourth of the decision.
The media vote also makes up one-fourth of the final decision. I voted for Marta, Solo and Rampone. The media also voted on coach of the year. I voted for Jorge Barcellos. It will be interesting to see if Sky Blue’s title boosted the support for Rampone as coach of the year.
Tom, isn’t Pistorius a developmental player and by definition a free agent and not subject to the draft since she can be signed by anyone? It really gets tough when you get down to 8,9, and 10. I would lean toward Weber over Logterman, and probably throw McNeill into that conversation. And I’m just not sure about Woznuk. I like Angie and she has obvious skills, but sometimes she just seems to disappear and she had no goals and no assists for a position that is largely an attacking position and she played almost every minute until the last couple games. You’re right, the first 5 are definites and I’d have Cinalli, Fletcher, and Walsh right after that. Of course, once one player is chosen, you can always go back and protect a couple of the defenders. Very tough decision.
My goodness I am glad I am not making the selection for protection. But if I were forced to, as a former striking defender and goalie I would have Weber far up in my list of protected players. When you see her running across the field from right back to take a corner kick from the left side of the field that tells me something about her well rounded contribution. While she had some rough spots prior to mid season an unsung ongoing contribution that is invaluable to a team and a huge comfort to a goalie is her ability to slow down sideline attacks. While she may have gotten beat more times than I liked, she allowed Athletica’s mid defensive backs to gain position and clean house far more. I must add that Weber won me over as the season progressed. I was not at all a fan early on.
While I hate to see it happen, I would love to have this league see Loyden play most games.
… and if Tancredi goes someplace else, I am following that team too. There is not a combined three other Athletica players that put more smiles on my face before, during and after a game than Tancredi.
I’ll say protect the second goalie. If we presume that Hope will be missing for at least as many games as we did this year it would stand to reason to want to keep a quality backup. Then again I do not know what the senior class looks like this year so there could be goalies coming out of college that are equally as good. If anybody out there has any insight on that please share. I think we can all be in agreement that this is very tricky.
I would protect that first 5 hands down, but I also agree with J Stats about protecting Loyden. You’ll be getting into WWC qualifying you’ll need that comfort of a good backup goalie. I would say protect McNiell and Tancredi, also. Then I would protect Kendall Fletcher and Weber.
I like the first 5. The second 5 I like are Cross who’s not afraid to shoot if she’s at forward and certainly has the leg for longer shots. This pulls the defense out uncluttering the box. Weber is fiesty and aggressive and quick to the ball. Woznuk I see as improving with time and has the capability to score. Tancredi of course a hustler and a needed force. That leaves me with one spot with two gals, either Logterman or Larrson. Both I like. I’m out on Walsh. She runs around in circles and dribbles to the point of missing others in the opening too often. I hope Loyden gets to play for another team. Not that I want her to leave, she’s too good to sit on the bench behind the best. We’d miss her in Hope’s absence but she’s too good to sit.
The Athletica would likely have to promote Pistorius to the full squad to protect her, which would require them to get rid of someone, which they probably wouldn’t want to do.
As for Loyden, the league hopes to have fewer conflicts with the national team next year, and CONCACAF qualifying likely won’t be until after the season, so backup goalies may play far less often next season.
Another thing to watch is that Tancredi has applied for a green card, and assuming WPS operates the same way as MLS, if she gets one, she wouldn’t count as an international any more and that would open up a spot for another foreign player.
I’m a little suprised that Tanc already didn’t have a green card because of how long she’s been here. She was after all with RCFC until Canada called her up for 2007 WC residency camp. She was taking classes at Logan Chiropractic. But then again I openly admit I’m not an expert on imigration law
All I can say is that Tancredi and Mcneill better be protected.
The league is not releasing the names of those protected, but I did find an interesting comment in this story about the expansion draft…
http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/news/columnist/090914-lauletta-expansion-draft
“Additionally, multiple teams protected two goalkeepers.”
First of all, that shocks the heck out of me. Second, there are probably five teams who would think about it…LA (LeBlanc & Henderson), Gold Pride (Barnhart & Whitworth), St. Louis (Solo & Loyden), Chicago (Jonsson & Williams), and Sky Blue (Branam & Bardsley). I can’t see Washington or Boston doing it. There are some pretty good keepers in this year’s college senior draft (Naeher, Davis, & Harris to name 3) which is one of the reasons I’m surprised any team would keep two protected.
If St. Louis protects both Solo & Loyden, that’s going to leave a lot of players unprotected, including most of their defenders, possibly Walsh, possibly Woznuk or Cinalli, and probably Cross.