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Leslie Osborne will aim to solidify the Breakers' midfield this season. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.com) |
Between the draft, free agency and the folding of the Los Angeles Sol - the best regular season team last year - several new, prominent players join a core of returnees with the hope of leading the Breakers to the postseason.
Foremost among the new players are rookie forward Lauren Cheney, left back Stephanie Cox and midfielder Leslie Osborne - all with significant U.S. women’s national team experience.
The veteran of the group is Osborne, who spent last year with FC Gold Pride. It was Osborne’s first significant action after two major surgeries on her ACL and ankle (both on her left leg). The 26-year old spent part of her off-season training with German second division side Sindelfingen.
“(Last year) I was doing a lot of rehab and trying to get myself game-fit, and it took me two months in the season for me to feel back to normal,” Osborne said at the Breakers’ media day Thursday. “This preseason was actually a lot better for me and I feel more prepared for this season than I did last season.”
While she was on a different team last year, Osborne said she is familiar with her new teammates’ mindset and how things need to pick up from last season.
“Last year, [FC Gold Pride] had a team full of names that was supposed to do really well, too, so I know that feeling,” she said. “For me…looking at this team, it’s all about coming together. You can take the best players on paper, but it’s all about how you come together and I think our chemistry here on this team is the best I’ve felt between last year and this year.”
Boston head coach Tony DiCicco feels Osborne is a key part of developing that team chemistry. She was one of the most vocal players at Thursday’s training session, giving the Breakers a needed presence.
“She’s an excellent leader, and I think we lacked some leadership last year,” DiCicco said. “We had excellent leaders, but then we had a big gap in leadership. [Captain Kristine Lilly] needed some help, and I think having Leslie’s voice out there – calling people out when things need to be done and congratulating people when they do well – I think is a really positive impact.”
The coach said Cox, fellow defenders Amy LePeilbet and Alex Scott, and forward Kelly Smith have also stepped into more leader-type roles with the team.
More goals, please
The Breakers’ biggest problem last season was scoring.
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Tiffany Weimer is one of several new additions to a revamped Breakers attack. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.com) |
They scored just 18 goals in the 20-game season last year, with only Gold Pride scoring fewer. With as many low-scoring games as there were last season - and with how tight the standings were - the Breakers were arguably just a goal or two away from making the playoffs.
Kelly Smith scored six of those 18, and the Breakers will need some of their off-season additions to help support the attack.
“I don’t think we were bad last year, I just think we struggled scoring goals,” DiCicco said. “We really went after a lot of attacking personalities this year, bringing in players like Sarah Walsh, Laura Del Rio, Tiffany Weimer, Lauren Cheney will add to our attack.”
Cheney was the second overall pick in the WPS Draft in January after a standout career at UCLA. She’s recently become a fixture for the national team, and her combination of height, power and pace give the Breakers some tactical options that perhaps didn’t exist last year.
Walsh had a goal and two assists in 11 matches (six starts) between Sky Blue FC and St. Louis Athletica. Del Rio played with Frankfurt last season and has scored 40 goals with the Spanish national team.
And then there’s Weimer, a North Haven, Conn. native who played with Osborne at Gold Pride last season. She got off to a good start - she was one of the best players on the pitch in the team’s 2-1 season-opening win over Boston - but saw her playing time dwindle as the season wore on.
Weimer admits that her confidence “took a hit” because of it, and that it’s motivated her to become a better player.
“I think that a lot of good came from it,” she said. “Obviously, there were some bad spots, some moments that I’d soon rather forget. But I think, overall, it was a good learning experience and you can’t regret seasons like that, because it will make be a better person and a better player.”
DiCicco has seen Weimer at her best, as he coached her in 2007 with the SoccerPlus Connecticut Reds. She won WPSL East Player of the Year that season.
Weimer said she is looking forward to playing under DiCicco’s tutelage once again.
“This is the team I wanted to play for since I knew the WPS was going to be back in action,” Weimer said. “I love playing for Tony; I always have. Since the first day I ever trained with him, I’ve enjoyed it. I know he’s going to make me better, and make the team better.”
A new-look defense, too
Boston’s back four will have a different feel to it, also.
LePeilbet - last year’s MedImmune Defender of the Year - returns in the middle, as does fellow All-Star Scott at right back.
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Kasey Moore will get the first chance to partner Amy LePeilbet in central defense. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.com) |
Gone, however, are left back Heather Mitts and central defenders Candace Chapman, Sue Weber and Nancy Augustyniak-Goffi, who all saw significant playing time in the back last year. Mitts and Weber are now with Philadelphia, while Chapman joined Gold Pride and Augustyniak-Goffi retired.
Cox, a starter with the Sol last season and Boston’s first pick in the dispersal draft of L.A. players, will slide right in at left back.
“I’ve been really impressed with Steph. I think she’s going to be one to watch this year,” Scott said. “She’s got a great left foot that can ping a ball and pick out a pass, and I’ve been really impressed with her this preseason.”
DiCicco is looking to avoid the “revolving door” of center backs that played alongside LePeilbet last year. Kasey Moore gets her shot in tonight’s season opener against Washington.
“I want to find somebody who lays claim to the position,” DiCicco said. “I like Kasey because of her heading presence and her ability to serve long balls, and she’s hard. She gives up a little bit in pace and we’ll have to see if we can avoid being exposed. This first game will be a good test for her because she’ll have Lisa DeVanna trying to get in behind the defense.”
Moore was a starter at the beginning of last season as a holding midfielder, a position she struggled to adapt to before DiCicco went in a different direction after the first month of the year.
Moore, 22, saw time off the bench toward the end of last season in central defense, the position she’s played most of her life.
“Holding mid, I think I could have excelled at that, but in this league you have to have your position down pat,” Moore said. “It was a learning experience last year, and I think I’m more comfortable at center back. I think that’s the position that’s best suited for me, so I’m excited I’m playing there again this year.”
The University of Texas grad said she’s been learning during the preseason from the other starting defenders.
“The other three are just amazing defenders; I’m trying to learn from them every step of the way,” Moore said. “If I can just take out any little thing from practice that I can from these three, it’s just going to help me become a better defender.”
Waiting in the wings is Jordan Angeli, a second round draft pick out of Santa Clara.
This and that
The Breakers touched on a variety of subjects during Thursday’s media day, including:
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Alex Scott in action during Thursday's practice. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.com) |
Scott, on last summer’s Euro tournament that saw England fall to Germany in the final…
“When you look back at it, we passed all expectations to even get to the final. But when we were there, we really did believe that we could do something. We were in the game for 60 minutes, and then the Germans kind of took over, like they do.
“Looking back, we were disappointed. But, hey, we got a silver medal and we passed everyone’s expectations. We have to be proud of that.”
Scott, on the Premier League hopes of her beloved Arsenal…
“I don’t know; it’s a close one. We’re there, and then we keep slipping up. But I’d have to say it’s been a successful season. Everyone wrote them off as well, and they’ve always been in amongst it…I’ll keep watching out for them.”
Moore - who spent most of her off-season completing her degree in sport management at Texas - on how her off-season training regimen at Competitive Athlete Training Zone (where she was also a marketing intern) has put her in better shape for this season compared to last…
“It’s not even a comparison. I put in so much time in the off-season. All I know is there was running up hills, pushing cars, all these horrible, horrible things. At the time, I was like, ‘This is torture,’ but it’s all paying off now.”
Osborne, on the Sol folding…
“It’s unfortunate; people lost jobs. Girls that had positions on this team may have gotten bumped down because we got three players from L.A. We feel very lucky. We know that our effort off the field to get fans to the games, to sell tickets, has just risen because we don’t want this league to fold.
“We’re going to do everything we can here in Boston to make sure this team stays afloat, because we know now that it can happen at any second.”
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Tony DiCicco is looking for more goals this season from his Breakers team. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.com) |
Osborne, on establishing a team identity…
“I want our team to be known for something. So when we’re playing against somebody, I want them to be scared of Boston because we’re known for our work ethic or our mentality. I think we need to have that be our foundation as a team.”
Weimer, on wearing No. 88 (after wearing No. 8 last year)…
“I knew Cheney was going to take No. 8, that’s her number. I’m OK taking a back seat to Lauren Cheney, but I kind of had to have No. 8 in there somehow. I have it tattooed on my wrists, so it would look kind of silly if I had any other number on the back of my jersey. Eight’s been a part of my family for a long time and it means a lot to me, so I had to have it in there.
“It’s a bit high and kind of like a football or a hockey number, but hopefully people will be interested in that jersey…I’m trying to convince myself it’s cool, and then I’ll try to convince everyone else.”
Mark Goodman can be reached at newsdesk@soccernewengland.com.
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