
CHICAGO (Jan. 11, 2013 Press Release) – The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) has announced the allocation of 55 National Team players to the eight clubs as 23 Americans, 16 Canadians and 16 Mexicans found out their teams for the inaugural 2013 season.
The allocation process was conducted with assistance from a panel of experts familiar with the player pools, including individuals from the collegiate level, recent professional and semi-professional clubs, and the youth and senior national team level in North America.
Along with the panel’s collective input on the technical ability of the players, in preparation for the allocation, players selected their preferred destinations and the clubs also provided their preference with regard to specific players and qualities of players desired. Based on the input from the panel of experts and the teams, players were assigned numerical values on quality and desirability.
“This allocation process is obviously a big step in building the foundation for this league and each of the teams will benefit from a group of very talented players,” said NWSL Executive Director Cheryl Bailey. “This is always a difficult process, but we believe there was a fair distribution of talent across all eight teams and with the NWSL College Draft coming up in Indianapolis on Jan. 18, the rosters of the clubs will really start to take shape.”
U.S. Soccer is subsidizing the salaries of the 23 American players, while the Canadian Soccer Association and the Federation of Mexican Football will each do the same for 16 players.
With 23 U.S. players available for the allocation, all but one of the eight teams received three U.S. Women’s National Team players with the Western New York Flash getting two Americans in Olympic heroes Carli Lloyd and Abby Wambach, who last Monday was named the 2012 FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year.
Following are the team-by-team allocations:
Boston Breakers
Sydney Leroux (USA)
Heather Mitts (USA)
Heather O’Reilly (USA)
Adriana Leon (CAN)
Rhian Wilkinson (CAN)
Anisa Guajardo (MEX)
Cecilia Santiago (MEX)
Chicago Red Stars
Shannon Boxx (USA)
Amy LePeilbet (USA)
Keelin Winters (USA)
Erin McLeod (CAN)
Carmelina Moscato (CAN)
Maribel Dominguez (MEX)
Dinora Garza (MEX)
FC Kansas City
Nicole Barnhart (USA)
Lauren Cheney (USA)
Becky Sauerbrunn (USA)
Desiree Scott (CAN)
Lauren Sesselmann (CAN)
Renae Cuellar (MEX)
Marylin Diaz (MEX)
Portland Thorns FC
Rachel Buehler (USA)
Tobin Heath (USA)
Alex Morgan (USA)
Luz Saucedo (MEX)
Marlene Sandoval (MEX)
Karina LeBlanc (CAN)
Christine Sinclair (CAN)
Seattle Reign FC
Megan Rapinoe (USA)
Amy Rodriguez (USA)
Hope Solo (USA)
Kaylyn Kyle (CAN)
Emily Zurrer (CAN)
Jenny Ruiz (MEX)
Teresa Noyola (MEX)
Sky Blue FC
Jill Loyden (USA)
Kelley O’Hara (USA)
Christie Rampone (USA)
Sophie Schmidt (CAN)
Melanie Booth (CAN)
Monica Ocampo (MEX)
Lydia Rangel (MEX)
Washington Spirit
Ashlyn Harris (USA)
Ali Krieger (USA)
Lori Lindsey (USA)
Robin Gayle (CAN)
Diana Matheson (CAN)
Alina Garciamendez (MEX)
Teresa Worbis (MEX)
Western New York Flash
Carli Lloyd (USA)
Abby Wambach (USA)
Bryana McCarthy (CAN)
Jodi-Ann Robinson (CAN)
Veronica Perez (MEX)
Pamela Tajonar (MEX)
The NWSL is an eight-team league organized and administered by the U.S. Soccer Federation that will begin play in the spring of 2013. The eight founding clubs are the Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, FC Kansas City, Portland Thorns FC, Seattle Reign FC, Sky Blue FC (New York/New Jersey), the Washington Spirit and the Western New York Flash.
Portland with Morgan, Heath, Buehler and Sinclair got the best deal in this allocation process IMO!
Absolutely. It was likely agreed in advance that they would. Biggest venue and a chance to now draw 15,000 or more fans per match. The league helped them in an effort to grown the league itself. Seattle will need some top free agents.
Feedback now coming in:
http://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2013/1/11/3866672/nwsl-allocation-alex-morgan-christine-sinclair
Even though it’s off the pitch, the Seattle-Portland rivalry definitely has started with Thorns being on the Reign’s side early. Can’t wait to see the rest of roster building.
Another take:
http://equalizersoccer.com/2013/01/11/at-first-blush-assessing-the-teams-after-nwsl-allocation/
From above link…
The Portland-Seattle rivalry should have no trouble spilling into the women’s game with a deep group of allocated players on the way to the Emerald City as well. Rapinoe had the highest arc of any player besides Morgan since the World Cup. Solo needs no introduction as the best goalkeeper on the planet and Rodriguez has her moments of inconsistency but is still able to finish from anywhere on the field. Noyola won the Hermann Trophy in 2011 and was a high WPS draft pick in ’12. Kyle has 65 appearances with the Canadian national team and has been in the system there since she was 14. Zurrer is a center back just coming into her prime years and Ruiz is a Mexican veteran at 29 who scored the bronze medal winning goal two years ago at the Pan Am Games.
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