Draft Predictions

By: Melissa | January 14th, 2009

…and I’ll tell you what, I’m not going to make any. In fact, I’m now not even going to be around when the draft takes place on Friday. Blame my job and my job’s build-up for Obama’s National Day of Service (in case you weren’t already aware). But, in the meantime, I did find two articles with some pretty well-informed draft predictions; Gerald Barnhart over at USL’s W-League site and Stacy Wahlberg of Beulah Sports (girl, you really need a rss feed) writing for The WPS site.

And while the two predictions look a bit different, the writers can agree on one thing: Boston will take Amy Rodriguez in the first round. And I think Wahlberg puts it best when she says: “It doesn’t matter that Boston seems pretty stacked at forward, it would be a mistake to bypass Rodriguez. I wouldn’t want to be the coach or GM who took someone else because they didn’t “need” a forward.” Which totally leads me to wonder… who’s gonna get traded out of Boston? And the two writers pretty much agree the teams will really be looking to stock up on midfield and defense in this draft. Barnhart believes Chicago’s first pick will be Brianna “remember me?” Scurry and both writers see central defender Carrie Dew picked in the first round. Here’s a quick look at their first round predictions below and if you have a few moments, go ahead and read their articles to feel a little bit more informed ahead of Friday’s event.

Boston Breakers
Barnhart: Amy Rodriguez, F
Wahlberg: Amy Rodriguez, F

Chicago Red Stars
Barnhart: Briana Scurry, G
Wahlberg: Megan Rapinoe, M/F

FC Gold Pride
Barnhart: Carrie Dew, D
Wahlberg: Christina DiMartino, M

Sky Blue FC
Barnhart: Fanta Cooper, D
Wahlberg: Jen Branam, GK

Los Angeles Sol
Barnhart: Sasha Andrews, D
Wahlberg: Carrie Dew, D

St Louis Athletica
Barnhart: Kerri Hanks, F
Wahlberg: a defender, any defender (no seriously, that’s what she wrote)

Washington Freedom
Barnhart: Kele Golebiowski, M
Wahlberg: Greer Barnes, D