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Alex Scott in action during a preseason scrimmage against Chicago. The regular season begins Sunday against FC Gold Pride. (Photo by JC Ridley) |
The Breakers will start their Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) season Sunday at 6 p.m. against FC Gold Pride in Santa Clara, Calif. Boston will play its first home game at Harvard Stadium Saturday, April 11 at 7 p.m. against Saint Louis Athletica.
“Boston is a great sports city, and we want to be part of the success that Boston has every year,” said Breakers head coach Tony DiCicco Monday. “We have brought to Boston a group of great young women that will serve as wonderful role models for our fans and will make the experience of coaching and hopefully following the team an enjoyable one.”
The Breakers’ goal of trying to make a name for themselves in the city’s intense sports atmosphere was a theme throughout the team’s Media Day Monday at Harvard.
“There are so many great things happening in the Boston sports scene; it will be nice to add a women’s touch to it,” said midfielder Kristine Lilly, a Wilton, Conn. native now making her home in Needham, Mass.
A noteworthy beginning
Well before the Breakers’ full roster began to take shape, the team was clearly going to have its share of familiar names from the women’s soccer scene, starting with DiCicco.
“In putting our team together, it was a real simple first selection for me,” said Joe Cummings, Boston’s president and general manager. “The coach selection was real simple, and it involved one phone call.”
Soon thereafter, Lilly, midfielder Angela Hucles and defender Heather Mitts joined the fold through the national team allocation Sept. 16, 2008. Lilly and Hucles both played with the Breakers in the WUSA for all three seasons.
Mitts was with the Philadelphia Charge, but when it came time for the allocation - each national team player submitted a list of three teams they’d prefer to join - the former University of Florida standout said Boston was one of her preferred destinations.
“I can remember coming to play against Boston, who always had some of the best fans,” Mitts said.
International flavor
With a defender and two midfielders in the mix, the Breakers looked for what DiCicco likes to call “attacking flair” in the WPS Initial International Draft.
With the second pick in that draft, the Breakers took Kelly Smith (the Los Angeles Sol selected Brazilian superstar Marta with the first pick). Smith was already quite familiar with U.S. soccer, having played for the Charge in the WUSA after scoring 76 goals in just 51 matches for Seton Hall in her collegiate career.
Smith, 30, went on to big things in her native England. She scored four goals in four games during the 2007 Women’s World Cup, and was a two-time finalist (2006, 2008) for FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year.
With the Arsenal Ladies, Smith scored 103 goals in 114 matches and led the Gunners to the quadruple in 2007 (Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and the UEFA Women’s Cup, the continent’s top club competition).
Smith said that while joining the Breakers eventually became a “no-brainer,” it wasn’t an easy choice at the beginning.
“When the league (WUSA) was suspended, it was devastating. There was talk of it coming back but nothing ever came of it, so I just put it to the back of my mind,” she said. “It was a tough decision to make, coming from a great team like Arsenal. There were conversations back-and-forth about organization and players.”
Smith has since been joined by Arsenal and England teammate Alex Scott, whose rights the Breakers acquired from the Chicago Red Stars during the Jan. 15 WPS Draft. For the 24-year old defender, leaving North London also required some thorough deliberation.
“It was a really hard decision,” Scott said. “We had a great set-up at Arsenal, and I’d been playing for them since I was 8 years old.”
During the International Draft, the Breakers also added Fabiana, a Brazilian striker who is recovering from an ACL injury. DiCicco said Fabiana is “training pretty hard” now in the advanced stages of her recovery, although “visa issues” remain to be solved before she joins the team.
Making some noise
Kristin Luckenbill was at a public library in Middlebury, Vt. on Oct. 6, 2008, while the WPS General Draft was being conducted.
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Kristin Luckenbill will be starting in goal for the Breakers. (Photo by JC Ridley) |
In town to coach at a local clinic, Luckenbill was following the draft online. The 29-year old Dartmouth grad watched as the Breakers took defenders Amy LePeilbet, Nancy Augustyniak Goffi and Sue Weber in the first three rounds of the four-round draft.
Luckenbill had to leave for a training session before the draft’s conclusion, but had just enough time to stick around for the Breakers’ final selection. When her name came up, Luckenbill says she jumped around and started yelling in excitement.
“A woman in the library came over and said, ‘What happened?’” Luckenbill said. “I told her I just got drafted, and she said something like, ‘I hope you don’t mean for the military.’ I said, ‘No, it’s much better than that.’”
The former four-time All-Ivy League keeper - who helped lead the Carolina Courage to the 2002 WUSA title - made no bones about where she wanted to play in WPS.
“This is 100 percent where I wanted to be, and I made that quite clear to Joe and Tony,” Luckenbill said. “I’m excited to be in New England; New England is home to me.”
As happy as Luckenbill appears to be joining the Breakers, the feeling is mutual, says assistant coach Lisa Cole.
“We’re really excited about Kristin,” said Cole, who served as head coach for the University of Rhode Island women’s team in 2003 and 2004. “She was probably a little unlucky not to be one of the goalkeepers with the (2008) Olympic team… We think we picked up one of the most successful keepers we have in the U.S. and, hopefully, she can get back with the national team.”
Top billing
Oct. 15, 2008 can be looked at as the day the rich got richer in WPS.
The league held its lottery that day to see which team would get the first pick in the WPS Draft. The Breakers won, giving them a chance to add the best college player in the country.
Meanwhile, at the University of Southern California, Amy Rodriguez was finishing a tremendous college career.
In 2007, her junior season with the Trojans, Rodriguez scored 10 goals to lead USC to a national championship - including two goals in a semifinal win over archrival UCLA. “A-Rod” scored eight goals in her senior season, but only after winning a gold medal with the national team at the Olympics in Beijing.
As the draft approached, it became increasingly clear to most experts that Rodriguez would be the top pick. Being the first draft selection in a new league comes with high expectations, but the 22-year old striker says she ready.
“It’s not pressure, but I want to prove that I’m that player,” Rodriguez said. “I want to prove that I deserved to be the No. 1 pick.”
Growing up in southern California, Rodriguez regularly attended San Diego Spirit games during the WUSA’s three seasons. She said the players she looked up to most on that team were national team stars Julie Foudy and Shannon MacMillan.
“I just felt that they were always in the spotlight and always wanted to go around and talk to the fans and be role models,” Rodriguez said.
Let the games begin
On Sunday, all the talk of a new league, various drafts and everything else will finally take a back seat to the action on the pitch.
The league held its opening act Sunday in Carson, Calif., where the Sol topped the Washington Freedom, 2-0, before 14,832 fans at the Home Depot Center. A lot of eyes were on Marta, and she didn’t disappoint, assisting Camille Abily’s 87th minute goal.
“The game was fast and I think the top players played really well,” Scott said. “That’s what the league needs. The league needs players like Kelly (Smith) and Marta to shine in the big games.”
While the scouting book on Los Angeles and Washington (who are led by national team striker Abby Wambach) is now open, that’s not the case for the rest of the league - including FC Gold Pride, Boston’s opponent Sunday.
“No one has been able to scout anybody else; there’s no game tapes,” DiCicco said. “I think those first games will be more about feeling out the opponents. Obviously, you still want to win those games. But as the regular season goes on, you’re going to see more specific tactics implemented.”
While the consensus among coaches and players Monday seemed to say that the Breakers’ attack is still working out the kinks, the back line has already jelled smoothly.
“I think our defense is solid,” Mitts said. “Amy LePeilbet is just a solid player. With Nancy Augustyniak Goffi, we knew we were getting a very experienced player. And then we added Alex Scott who’s very attack-oriented and plays great for the English national team. I think we’re playing well, and playing cohesively.”
Added Luckenbill, “I think we have a pretty good unit of defenders. There are a lot of smart players back there, as well as talented players.”
Mark Goodman can be reached at newsdesk@soccernewengland.com.
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