Draft Day Pictures

By: Melissa | January 20th, 2009

I promised someone I’d get a little analysis up on the intertubes but it didn’t happen today. Instead I bring you draft day pictures! I’m trying to find only draft-day photos of all the first-round picks. Unforch I’m not looking very hard so it appears I’m still missing Christina DiMartino (drafted by FC Gold *ahem* Pride) and Allie Long (drafted by the Washington Freedom). But anyways, please enjoy…

Amy Rodriguez, Boston Breakers with coach Tony. Picture lovingly stolen from the WPS Fanzone. Number one pick. We all knew. Not much more to say, really.

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Megan Rapinoe, Chicago Red Stars with coach Emma. Even more lovingly stolen from Amanda Vandervort’s Flickr set from the draft. Two observations here. One, girl has “I’ve been living in Portland” written all over her and Two, if anyone is gonna blow the eff up because WPS is here, mark my words, she is the one. I’ve got a feeling. Also, her blog post about the experience is an entertaining read.

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KIDDING!

I have no idea why Christina DiMartino’s name made me think of doing a Google image search for “bear frog” but there you go and that’s what I found. Star midfielder formerly from UCLA. I gotta tell y’all, I still am a leetle bit clueless when it comes to FC Gold Cougar’s player picks strategy. But thankfully, WPS Offside will be welcoming it’s very own FC Bay Area Pride blogger very very sooon to sort all of this out for us.

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Oh wait… that’s her mom at the moment her daughter got called! (cheers yet again to Amanda!)

Yael Averbuch, Sky Blue FC with coach Ian. And I think I’m going to have to hand this one over to DC DC who writes about Sky Blue over at Blogger: “Occasionally there’s a good reason for hiring your relatives, and this is nepotism at its best. A top college holding/attacking midfielder, NJ native, possesses the ability to fly, related to the SBFC PR Manager. She was called up for the U-23 US WNT camp this month. We were hoping SBFC would take her, so now all we need is Tobin Heath in the 2010 draft. Then WPS domination. In related family news, Julie Foudy was not drafted even though she is the coach’s wife.” Indeed. The pull of ESPN is too strong.

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Brittany Bock, Los Angeles Sol. On a side note, doesn’t it look like – especially in this photo – that GM Charlie Naimo could easily punch you in the face and not even care? Midfielder. Formerly of FC Indiana and most recently Notre Dame. Also, gotta say the La Sol logo is my fave so far.

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Kerri Hanks, Saint Louis Athletica with coach Jorge. Another Notre Dame-er. My god this girl is a goal scoring machine – both in college, and for the US youth national teams. My guess is she’ll be a top scorer in the new league too. Also, nice scarf, eh?

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That’s not Allie Long! That’s Allie Bear of Allie Bear’s Long Ranch Ropes! The working ropes tested and used by real buckaroos.

Allie Long, Washington Freedom. And a Tar Heel. Has a propensity to fill out those “getting to know…” blurbs on various websites. Lessie – she was in the movie “One Fine Day,” before she graduated from college she wanted to win an NCAA championship (check), one of her favorite tv shows is “I Love New York” (mine too), and she can’t live without her cell phone (so true).

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And there you have it folks round one of the WPS draft in pictures! Now remember these names and remember these faces because unlike the MLS draft – where maybe one or two picks per year make it, the WPS top picks are already some of the best players in the sport and will probably become future stars of the league. For reals.