Women's Professional Soccer Draft January 16

The FC Gold Pride (Bay Area) team, which drafted Christine Sinclair in the international draft round, has a poll on its home page, http://www.womensprosoccer.com/bayarea/default.aspx, asking fans which player the team should draft next. Vote for Megan Rapinoe!

Those following the birth of the new league should expect lots of news on Friday when WPS drafts another batch of players. This is from the league's Web site:
2009 WPS Draft Friday, January 16, 2009 - 9:30am CST
Cervantes Convention Center/America's Center in St. Louis, Mo.

9:30am CST - Commissioner's Welcome
10:00am CST - Draft Begins

The 2009 WPS Draft on Friday, Jan. 16 is a 10-round draft that will take place at the NSCAA Convention in St. Louis, Mo. Players not attending the WPS Combines as well as combine participants can be drafted.

The selection order for the 2009 WPS Draft was determined via lottery with the following results:

1. Boston Breakers
2. Chicago Red Stars
3. Bay Area
4. Sky Blue FC
5. Los Angeles Sol
6. St. Louis
7. Washington Freedom

Fans can follow the 2009 WPS Draft online. View more information on the player selection process.

So I went to the site to vote for Megan, which was tough because Brandi Chastain was a choice. But I did it anyway. Then since I am kind of have a lot of free time, checked the roster. Did anyone know that Christine Sinclair's hometown is 5'9"?

Sorry I can't vote for Megan to go to San Francisco I hope she gets drafted by LA so I can watch her play locally. And Matty truly was there any choice between Megan and Brandi? I mean I know Brandi has a cool sports bra and all but really..lol.

They must be timing the draft so that it's close to the same time as the MLS draft for exposure... I believe the Superdraft is the day before on 1/15/09...

It's great for the sport to see new young talent. I hope that the sponsorship and organization of the women's league is as good as it is now in the MLS. If it is, they'll be in good shape...

mattywizz wrote:So I went to the site to vote for Megan, which was tough because Brandi Chastain was a choice.

Somehow Brandi slipped to #45... I suppose that would be a steal, even though she IS like 45...

You can see the full results here... I am going through it to see which Pilots were drafted.

http://twitter.com/womensprosoccer

First one I saw... Lisa Sari going to LA. with the 66th pick. Great for Auto Pilot, but I wonder what that means for our coaching staff. Hmmm...

So she gets to play with Steph and Marta?? Nice!

Megan Rapinoe was the #2 overall pick. WOW!!! Going to Chicago.

Pretty amazing considering her injuries and the really, really good player taken after her. Proves that these WPS people know what we know about Rapinoe!

This about Lisa's future from a release after the draft by the UP:

"Sari was a four-year starting midfielder for the Pilots and helped the team to an undefeated 2005 NCAA Championship run. She scored 10 goals with 15 assists in a holding midfield role for Portland. Sari has spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach with the Pilots and will continue that role while playing professionally."

I believe Michelle French also was selected, under the mistaken name Mele French. #60 in the draft.

UPSoccerFanatic wrote:I believe Michelle French also was selected, under the mistaken name Mele French. #60 in the draft.

wrong French. Not our girl.

- From the Sky blue website-

Ninth Round (60th overall)
Mele French – Forward
Hometown: Mililani, HI
College: University of Oregon
Born: June 15, 1984

More About Mele:
• Played for the USASA National Team in 2008
• Leading scorer for Oregon in 2002 and 2003
• Played for the Pali Blues and captured the W-League Championship in 2008
• Selected as the Hawaii High School Co-Player of the Year

According to Ian Sawyers: “Mele will give Sky Blue FC some additional depth on the forward line. She has good size and uses her body well under pressure. Her work ethic has been a huge part of her success.”

According to Mele: “The draft started at 5:30 a.m. [Hawaii time] When I got the news, I was pacing around the room like a lost child. I got so many calls from the amazing supporters and people in my life. Ian called me right away and I knew it was real. I was speechless and overwhelmed. It’s the greatest feeling I’ve ever had.”

This is as good a thread as any: Tiff Milbrett will be at the 28 player camp for the FC Gold Pride (Bay Area team playing at SCU's Buck Shaw stadium), the same team that has signing rights to Christine Sinclair: http://www.womensprosoccer.com/newsitem_ektid8976.aspx?team=stlouis

(Don't ask me why this is on the St. Louis Athletica webpage. It's not on the FC Gold Pride webpage yet.)

Go Tiffeny! Milbrett is so much better than some of the players who went in the bottom of the WPS draft. It's really unbelievable, but, I guess she is getting older... I see her smoking the competition.

athleticjames wrote:Go Tiffeny! Milbrett is so much better than some of the players who went in the bottom of the WPS draft. It's really unbelievable, but, I guess she is getting older... I see her smoking the competition.

what you said...

Any team that can field Tiff AND Christine in the same front line definitely has a chance to win...

A_Fan wrote:This about Lisa's future from a release after the draft by the UP:

"Sari was a four-year starting midfielder for the Pilots and helped the team to an undefeated 2005 NCAA Championship run. She scored 10 goals with 15 assists in a holding midfield role for Portland. Sari has spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach with the Pilots and will continue that role while playing professionally."

Sorry i totally over looked the part of the quote about her staying on as assistant to UP while playing pro. I don't know how the schedules fits but that is a huge plus as we are net loss one asistant at this point instead of two.

According to this, the season is done by August 22nd:
http://www.womensprosoccer.com/2009-schedule.aspx

So while she may miss the summer sessions and whatnot, she would be available to coach/recruit during the entire fall. I'd say its pretty feasible that she can effectively coach and still mantain a successful pro career. Plus having a pro on the staff can't hurt recruiting...

Plus she is playing with some pretty experienced international players. I'm sure she will pick up a lot of god tips from them that will be passed down to the Pilots. I don't really see much of a downside to her being a player/coach.

The LA team played the Bay Area team in a "friendly" today. LA won, 2-0. Apparently, many players certain to make the teams' rosters did not play. Rather, it was a chance for the coaches to see the players they are looking at for inclusion on the rosters play in a game situation. Here's a comment from a LA fan who was at the game on which of the LA players looked good:

"Players that stood out for me were Brittany Bock, Camille Abily, Aya Miyama, Greer Barnes but especially Lisa Sari and Allison Falk. They did an excellent job in the back line."

Haha so I wonder if Lisa will be able to recruit while she's playing... I'd say a pretty convincing argument to go to UP would be a player to be able to watch a game, and point out "Yeah.... She's gonna be my coach"