Sky Blue FC training in Turkey
Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) preseason is in full swing, and on Monday, teams made a number of roster moves. On a day that was supposed to cut rosters down to 28, some teams added players from their initial preseason rosters that were announced back on March 1. In other WPS news, magicJack made its preseason debut Tuesday, and Sky Blue FC landed in Turkey for the Alanya Women’s Tournament of Champions.
In Turkey, the Alanya Women’s Tournament of Champions features Sky Blue FC, LdB FC Malmö of Damallsvenskan (Sweden), Russian club FK Energiya, and Fortuna Hjørring from Denmark. At the tournament, LdB FC Malmö officially loaned out Therese Sjögran to Sky Blue FC in Turkey, and the Swedish international scored in her debut. In addition to Sjögran’s goal in Tuesday’s 3-0 win over FK Energiya, Casey Nogueira scored two goals for Sky Blue FC.
As far as the latest in WPS roster moves, three players who were cut from one team ended up on another. Mercede Koning and Analisa Marquez, who both started preseason with the WNY Flash, are now with Atlanta. Tara MacDonald, who also began with the Flash, is now in camp with the Boston Breakers. In other moves, magicJack added Brett Maron, Jillian Loyden, and Sophie Schmidt, the Philadelphia Independence added Jennifer Jeffers, and the WNY Flash added Gina Lewandowski, who comes over from FFC Frankfurt of the German Bundesliga.
Sky Blue FC released Lauren Alkek and Kristin Medeiros, and Boston released Sasha Andrews. The Breakers added Michelle Betos, and they also mutually terminated its contract with Czech international Pavlina Scasna. The team said that after two days of training, she was unhappy with the way her knee was responding to the intense requirements of WPS training camp. The Breakers had their first official preseason match Tuesday, taking on magicJack in West Palm Beach, Florida. Christen Press, Abby Wambach, and Ella Masar scored to lead magicJack to a 3-2 win over Boston. Claire Zimmeck and Kasey Moore scored for Boston.
The WNY Flash beat the University of Buffalo, 2-0, and St. Bonaventure University, 5-0, in games played last week. Rebecca Edwards and Mele French each scored two goals and Kaley Fountain added another in the win over St. Bonaventure’s.
The Atlanta Beat opened its preseason with a 5-0 win over the University of South Florida. The Beat got a goal each from Megan Jesolva, Kristina Larsen, Vendula Strnadova, Cat Whitehill, and Kylie Wright.
Updated Preseason Rosters (alphabetical by team)
Atlanta Beat
Katie Bethke
Kerri Butler
Lori Chalupny
Keeley Dowling
Colleen Flanagan
Megan Jesolva
*Mercede Konning
Kristina Larsen
Meghan Lenczyk
Allison Lipsher
Carli Lloyd
*Analisa Marquez
Heather Mitts
Katherine Reynolds
Angela Salem
Lauren Sesselmann
Vendula Strnadova
India Trotter
Catherine Whitehill
Allison Whitworth
Kylie Wright
Boston Breakers
Jordan Angeli
*Michelle Betos
Leah Blayney
Liz Bogus
Rachel Buehler
Lauren Cheney
Stephanie Cox
Niki Cross
Kelsey Davis
Gina DeMaio
Ifeoma Dieke
Taryn Hemmings
Amy LePeilbet
*Tara MacDonald
Ally McCann
Ahkeela Mollon
Kasey Moore
Alyssa Naeher
Kelley O’Hara
Leslie Osborne
Whitney Palmer
Katie Schoepfer
Alex Scott
Kelly Smith
Tanya Taylor
Nikki Washington
Keelin Winters
Claire Zimmeck
magicJack
Shannon Boxx
Diane Caldwell
Amanda DaCosta
Marian Dalmy
Omolyn Davis
Lisa DeVanna
Tina Ellertson
Ashlee Elliott
Katie Fraine
Sarah Huffman
Meghan Klingenberg
*Jillian Loyden
*Brett Maron
Nikki Marshall
Ella Masar
Rebecca Moros
Shannon Myers
Christen Press
Christie Rampone
Johanna Rasmussen
Becky Sauerbrunn
*Sophie Schmidt
Meghan Schnur
Hope Solo
Lindsay Tarpley
Abby Wambach
Kacey White
Philadelphia Independence
Danesha Adams
Lauren Barnes
Nicole Barnhart
Veronica Boquete
Jen Buczkowski
Bianca D’Agostino
Laura del Rio
Christina DiMartino
Gina DiMartino
Allison Falk
Caitlin Farrell
Sinead Farrelly
Lauren Fowlkes
Val Henderson
*Jennifer Jeffers
Estelle Johnson
Tasha Kai
Nikki Krzysik
Lori Lindsey
Joanna Lohman
Holmfridur Magnusdottir
Kia McNeill
Megan Rapinoe
Leigh Ann Robinson
Amy Rodriguez
Teresa Rynier
Lianne Sanderson
Jen Stoltenberg
Sky Blue FC
Eniola Aluko
Kristin Arnold
Anita Asante
Karen Bardsley
Carolyn Blank
Jenni Branam
Kiersten Dallstream
Carrie Dew
Kendall Fletcher
Erin Guthrie
Tobin Heath
Danielle Johnson
Lindsey Johnson
Laura Kalmari
Angie Kerr
Allie Long
Alyssa Mautz
Kim Newsome
Casey Nogueira
Heather O’Reilly
Therese Sjögran
Brittany Taylor
Kika Toulouse
Michelle Wenino
Western New York Flash
Rose Augustin
Yael Averbuch
Brittany Bock
Ashleigh Bowers
Kim Brandão
Brittany Cameron
Candace Chapman
Gemma Davidson
Becky Edwards
Whitney Engen
Kaley Fountain
Mele French
Beverly Goebel
Ashlyn Harris
*Gina Lewandowski
Marta
Alex Morgan
Kelly Parker
Elli Reed
Ali Riley
Alex Sahlen
Christine Sinclair
Caroline Seger
Kandace Wilson
McCall Zerboni
*New addition to team
2011 Preseason Roster Cut-down Dates
March 14: First roster cut to 28 (announced on March 15)
March 25: Second roster cut to 26 (announced on March 26)
March 30: Regular season 24-player roster due to league office (announced on March 31)