i don’t care much for national teams. but i do care when players from teams i support play – especially when they commit acts of ruleage! way to be julie johnston and christen press.
for what it’s worth – i do generally wish for good results for the uswnt. particularly this summer when a good result at the world cup could go a long ways in helping boost the popularity of the nwsl teams. so, do it. that said, i generally wish for good results for every women’s national team on the planet.
Let me introduce a brand new feature. One that I’ve been doing all along, but will now give an official name to:
I googled that shit so you don’t have to!
Yesterday the Red Stars revealed who their preseason camp guests are. Let’s get to know them, shall we?
First up is Jayden Barrett. A forward/midfielder who played for University of Tennessee and Slammers FC out of Newport Beach, California.
If I learned anything from these two videos, she is massively strong, look at those pushups. Holy shit! And it seems like her style of play is similar, aggressive, ball winning in the final third and creating dishing the ball out to receive it back and finish. Again, look at those pushups.
Next up is goalkeeper number one – Michele Dalton. She of Mount Prospect fame. Played for UW Madison (2011 Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Year) and Philadelphia Fever and UMF Selfoss in Iceland.
Then there’s Jackie Esterkamp, a midfielder, who played with Cincinnati Christian University and the Cincinnati Saints. That’s all I know. Mystery.
Our other guest goalkeeper is Monica Gonyo. Monica Gonyo from New Berlin, Wisconsin (too bad not New Glarus, but that’s just me) who played for Loyola University here in Chicago, who has a twin who also is a guest of the Red Stars, who has a highlight video.
Valerie Gonyo, who is the twin sister of Monica Gonyo, who is a defender who played for Loyola Chicago as a centerback and center forward, who has a write up about her twinsie lifestyle here, who, most importantly is trialing as a defender.
Another defender, Natalie Horner. University of Kentucky team captain and University of Michigan, but most recently University of Kentucky where she played as a forward, but here in Redstarlandia she will be trialing as a defender – I would guess outside back, but I don’t know what I’m talking about. Never do.
Watch her score a goal in this quick video. Do it!
Another defender – I love defenders right now. Leigh Jakes. Out of McDonough, Georgia. Has a wikipedia page, dig? Although she’s got Northwestern roots, she’s been kicking it in Scandinavia the past few years with Falköpings KIK in Sweden, Kokkola F10 and most recently NiceFutis, both in Finland. Most importantly though, she was a Red Star back in 2011 WPSL days.
Old timey college highlight reel? Yes.
We’re getting there, we’re getting there, don’t worry. Three more, starting with midfielder Kelley McCloskey, who was also a guest at camp Red Star, last year. University of San Diego. And that’s about all I know.
Interview from her senior year? Why not.
Giuleana Lopez is another University of Kentucky type who is trialing as midfielder/forwarder. From Beach Park or Waukegan, IL, so local. But mysterious.
And finally, which is good, cuz I’m a little burned out and ready to get off the computer. Lillie Toaspern. From Denver. Currently in her senior year at Washington University where she played attacking mid/forward.
Highlight video? Check.
Another senior interview? Sure thing.
So there you go, for real. That’s all I got for now. But, you should check all white kit for updates, cuz he will break all this down much better than I with thoughtful analysis and all. But, at least I compiled some google for you. Word up.
Kecia Morway
So the big news of the off season, aside from the draft, is the retirement of three Red Stars.
First, Kecia Morway announced her retirement a few weeks back. While it sucks to see her go, her retirement doesn’t leave a huge hole in our roster. She was solid defensive depth and could play on either side. Then today came the news that draftee and Canadian national, Nicole Setterlund would be retiring due to concussion issues. Again this one doesn’t hurt too much considering she never played with us or even officially signed. But I had figured she would be one of our starting center backs, pairing up with Samantha Johnson while Julie Johnston is off at the turf cup. So that is kind of a knock to our depth/roster needs.
And then in the same press release came the news that our back up goal keeper, and starting goal keeper for a chunk of this season, Taylor Vancil, was retiring from professional soccer.
Suck city.
Taylor Vancil
This is a problem. With LeBlanc also gone at the turf cup, I wasn’t worried because Vancil has been outstanding whenever she was called on to play. I thought this would be her time to shine and get a ton of experience and fight for first team minutes and all that. But, the economics of women’s sports reared its head again and now we are left in a bind. A while back there was a facebook post that mentioned that two goalkeepers from the open tryouts were invited to join the Red Stars for the preseason and as of now it seems like that one or both of them will be the backup keeper while LeBlanc is away. I really, really hope they work out. Really. I hadn’t been too concerned going into the season, but now, I’m a little concerned. We will see. Hopefully there will be a bunch of news coming out starting next week since preseason officially starts on Monday. Hopefully. It’s been so so quiet. around these parts. You thought I’d put a Bjork song here cuz of that didn’t you. Well. I thought about it. Now you can think about it.
Anyways. Massive thanks to Taylor Vancil for her amazing number two ways!
And big ups for Kecia Morway, here’s two for her!
Note – I wrote this before Taylor Vancil and Nicole Setterlund retired. But I spent a few minutes on it, so here it is.
Normally the offseason is a time for ridiculous speculation and comings and goings and news upon news. But this offseason has been a time of silence. A time for isolation and endless winter. Introspection? Maybe. But there hasn’t been much to introspect. We’ve had news of our draftees when that went down, but nothing since then. All we really know is that half our team is out playing with their national teams. Karina LeBlanc, Adriana Leon and Melissa Tancredi are off with Canada. Abby Erceg is off with New Zealand. Shannon Boxx, Lori Chalupny, Julie Johnston, Christen Press are with the US team. And Vanessa Dibernardo and Danielle Colaprico are with the US U23 team. Did I miss anyone?
There were the open tryouts a little while back, but we haven’t heard anything about that. No signings – not from our draftees, tryouts, splashy internationals or anything. There just isn’t that much to talk about. Which is why I’m writing about nothing. At least the preseason starts on Monday. Maybe we’ll know something then. In the meantime here are some meaningless formations. Cuz I love meaningless formations. Who should play where.
4-2-3-1 Stylee:
Hoy
Bywaters / Dibernardo / Colaprico
Hemmings / (I wish we had Santacaterina)
Gilliland / Setterlund / Johnson / Wenino
Vancil
It could be all the Swansea soccer I’ve been watching for the past few years, but I really like the 4-2-3-1 system. I think because it allows for a lot of pressing and attacking. However given that we are kind of depleted for world cup reasons, I don’t know if we have the right midfield for it. I think Hemmings could move up into a holding midfield role, someone to disrupt the plays. She started as center back for us before moving out to right back last year. She’s good with the ball at her feet, has speed and likes to get forward. I think she would be comfortable in the midfield. Who to play next to her though. That I’m less sure about. One thing I know is that I wish we had Jackie Santacaterina these days. She would’ve been an aces destroyer. As it is, maybe it would be best in this scenario if we did
Hoy
Bywaters / Colaprico / Mautz
Hemmings / Dibernardo
Gilliland / Setterlund / Johnson / Wenino
Vancil
This would allow Hemmings to stay as holding mid and Dibernardo could be a deep lying playmaker and Colaprico could be an advanced playmaker. I kinda like the potential of this one.
4-4-2 Stylee:
Hoy / Huerta
Bywaters / Colaprico / Dibernardo / Mautz
Gilliland / Setterlund / Johnson / Hemmings
Vancil
I think we will probably kick it 4-4-2, cuz that seems to be how we roll. Always. Flat 4-4-2. Maybe this year will be different. But if not, I think we’ll see something like this. Colaprico has mentioned that Rory Dames wants her out wide, but given our lack of center mids during world cup I think she and Dibernardo would pair up best in the middle.
4-3-3 Stylee:
Hoy / Huerta / Colaprico
Bywaters / Dibernardo / Mautz
Gilliland / Setterlund / Johnson / Hemmings
Vancil
I kinda dig this one. It could provide a lot of fluidity and pressing action. That’s a lot of offense though and puts a lot of pressure on Dibernardo to hold the midfield defense together. Don’t know if she can or not.
What about you? How do you think we should line up? Y’know, without really knowing anything?
cricket music by walter de maria.
It is said that US and Canadian national players will theoretically be playing in the first three to four games of the season. The NWSL season starts on April 10 but Red Stars don’t start until the following week on the April 18. Which means that we’ll have a little bit longer to incorporate our players after they return from national team duties. But then there are those May friendlies (Ireland – May 10; Mexico – May 17; Korea – May 30) that take them away again and then the World Cup starts on June 7. Although there will be a break during the group stage that ends on June 19, I assume Canada and the US will progress out of their groups – meaning that they could both continue on in the knockout stage for the rest of June. Out of the group stage or not, my hope is that the national players will start the season off as subs since they won’t be spending much time with us during the pre-season. That way the players who will be here for the whole season will have ample time to season and gel.
So again, here is everyone who is potentially going to go off to the turflandia cup:
1 Karina LeBlanc GK
6 Abby Erceg DEF
7 Shannon Boxx MID
8 Julie Johnston DEF
9 Melissa Tancredi FWD
11 Rachel Quon DEF
17 Lori Chalupny MID
19 Adriana Leon FWD
23 Christen Press FWD
And here, again, are our draftees:
Arin Gilliland DEF
Danielle Colaprico MID
Sofia Huerta FWD
Cara Walls FWD
Nicole Setterlund DEF
Rachel Tejada FWD
We did do pretty swimmingly in the draft and our many of our depth problems were solved. The only glaring exception is goalkeeper and if I had to guess we will take an un-drafted, under-the-radar type. And/or someone who came up through the Eclipse system. Or something.
So here’s my current (and without any pre-season performance based knowledge, gut-level only) preferred starting XI:
Hoy / Huerta
Bywaters / Colaprico / Dibernardo / Mautz
Gilliland / Setterlund / Johnson / Hemmings
Vancil
And that leaves Walls, Setterlund, Tejada, Morway, Wenino and Brock as reserves. Not bad. I’m still hoping we can find a few international veterans to help out all the youth. I’m a fan of all the youth for sure, but I think they can use some veteran knowledge, presence and composure when the shit goes down. And it will. Of everyone who will definitely be around all season, I think Hemmings is our elder statesperson, which is crazy cuz she’s only cuz she’s 28.
There is one problem with all this. Our roster is currently at 25 and unless the roster limit is magically increased (and it fucking should!) sometime before the season starts we need to be down to 20. Which means, so much for depth. Who will be forced out? I have no idea. I hate to see any of them go, cuz I like everyone on this team so far. I wonder if there will be some sort of loophole thing where some of our draftees are technically signed with with our reserve/youth team and then we can call them up as needed during the time of absenteeism without them counting against our roster limit. Or something. What say you?
Here is what we know as of now going into this officially official NWSL new year off season thing.
Players In for Awesomeness reasons
2 Jen Hoy FWD
3 Kecia Morway DEF
4 Alyssa Mautz M/F
5 Zakiya Bywaters MID
7 Shannon Boxx MID
10 Vanessa DiBernardo MID
11 Rachel Quon DEF
13 Michelle Wenino DEF
14 Taryn Hemmings DEF
16 Samantha Johnson D/F
20 Taylor Vancil GK
21 Hayley Brock FWD
Players Out for World Cup reasons
1 Karina LeBlanc GK
6 Abby Erceg DEF
8 Julie Johnston DEF
9 Melissa Tancredi FWD
17 Lori Chalupny MID
19 Adriana Leon FWD
23 Christen Press FWD
The line up as of now – assuming that Boxx and Quon don’t go.
Hoy / Brock
Bywaters / Boxx / Dibernardo / Mautz
Quon / Hemmings / Johnson / Wenino
Vancil
Depth
Morway – who can spot left or right fullback
I’m just using a 4-4-2 as a baseline, I have no idea as to how we will actually line up. Although, personally, I always love some variation of a 4-5-1. We’ll see. Also, maybe this year, this little tidbit can be included in broadcasts for us line up nerds.
I feel like our starting xi as of now is decent. Filled with decency from top to bottom. And in a season where it will be a battle for utility supremacy, this is a good place to be in. I think a combination of Brock as target / holdup forward and Hoy as speedy all out striker could be good. They both have shown that they can play those roles well. The question will be if they can do it over the long haul.
A midfield of Bywaters on the left being speedy and footwork crafty, working her way to the touchline, feeding into the forwards and taking shots herself; Mautz doing a more direct thing and also attacking on the right; Boxx as holding mid and Dibernardo as defacto CAM has potential.
I have no qualms about our backline as this exact backline has worked well before. Hemmings and Johnson are both solid centerbacks and Quon and Wenino are both solid fullbacks. Solid.
Vancil as starting goalkeeper doesn’t concern me too much. She has shown that she has what it takes to be a, again, decent goalkeeper. I think it’ll take her a few games to get her flow going, but I think that will come. I expect it to take a few games for all back up keepers.
The problem for us and for all the other teams comes from the lack of depth. And I mean lack. LACK. We have Morway who can play both fullback positions and can and will probably spot at centerback as well. And that is it. For real. No more depth as of now. Where will our depth come from? From the big fancy ass draft that’s going down on Friday the 16th.
Where do we need backup help the most? Fucking everywhere! So it’ll be tough. Hopefully we can also get some international players as well. Some diamond in the rough types who won’t be turfing it up in Canada. The Red Stars have the following five picks as of now:
Round 1 – 5th and 8th
Round 3 – 23rd and 27th
Round 4 – 32nd
With those five, I would like to see us try and get three midfielders, one pure defender and one goalkeeper. I feel like we can convert a midfielder to an fullback or forward if need be and help with our depth there. Popular opinion seems to be that this particular class is weak in the forward department, so I don’t feel like we need to use one of our picks there. Popular opinion also seems to be that this class is good in the fullback department. So, let’s get one! And then a decent goalkeeper.
What others are saying:
Our Game’s take on what the Red Stars need:
What Chicago Needs
With possibly seven players missing time because of the World Cup, the Red Stars will need to make the most of their first-round picks. And with Lori Chalupny back into the U.S. National Team fold, getting a rock in the central midfield is crucial. The problem is there isn’t a guarantee a deep-lying midfielder like Sam Mewis (UCLA) will be on the board when Chicago’s first pick rolls around.
Do the Red Stars try and convert someone to a holding midfield role or do they worry about that later and add a creative midfielder like Shea Groom (Texas A&M) or Danielle Colaprico (Virginia)? I wouldn’t be overly surprised if Chicago uses one of its third-round picks on a goalkeeper. Taylor Vancil is a solid goalkeeper to take over when Karina LeBlanc is unavailable but Chicago will need to add a reliable number two that can step in when needed.
A mock draft over at playing for 90 has us going for midfielder Danielle Colaprico and defender Kristin Grubka with our first round picks. I’m cool with that. The Equal (don’t read the comments) lizer says this about Colaprico –
Danielle Colaprico certainly saved the best for last. The Virginia player saw time at all four positions in the midfield and showed that she can excel no matter where she lines up. Despite her small stature she’s shown she can more than hold her own against much taller players.
Once A Metro concurs that we will go for Kristin Grubka and adds Arin Gilliland to the mix saying –
Gilliand is responsive both as a scorer and sweeper, so in a World Cup year, she’s the perfect antidote if Lori Chalupny and certainly Christen Press are off to this summer’s World Cup. Gilliand is also currently training with the U-23 USWNT squad so there’s room for real growth here. She’s a desirable choice at no. 8.
Apparently she’s played at forward and fullback which definitely helps out with our depth concerns.
I will admit I don’t know any more about the draftees than you do, so I’m not going to hazard my own mock draft. I suggest that for an overview of the draftees and / or the various needs of the teams, you should check out the following articles:
our game
all white kit
equalizer (don’t read the comments)
What do you all think? What are our needs? Who should we go for? Any thoughts about non-turf internationals? Let’s do it?
from the fine people who brought you a brief interview with vanessa dibernardo, comes a brief interview with jen hoy! (who has been called the beyoncé of soccer by some)
2. You attended college at Princeton, so you clearly had a difficult academic schedule. What were some things that you learned about balancing the demand of your academic and soccer requirements?
Jen: The combination was overwhelming at times, but I wouldn’t have traded it for anything. Over time I learned that (1) you shouldn’t take life too seriously but live in the moment and enjoy everything that life throws at you, (2) take advantage of all the resources available to you and (3) always embrace new opportunities to grow and meet new people.
It’s easy to lose perspective with such a demanding schedule, but a healthy balance is definitely possible and it was much easier to find and maintain that balance when I kept these things in mind.
read the whole thing here.
holy shit. it may be an unpopular opinion, but i do love marta. so check out her hat trick against the us. also – christen press made a second half appearance and created a good chance for herself. but my favorite part of it was her dummy look to the right. like, i’m looking hard to make a pass, but not really, surprise, i’m not even gonna look at the goal to take this shot. yes! also also, lori chalupny played for thirty minutes in the first half. hooray for her!
currently reading this awesomeness by gabriel kuhn. a birthday present from my amazing partner. so far, it’s the book i’ve been waiting for and didn’t even know i was waiting for it. a quick bit that took my attention this morning on the train –
“Perhaps even more troubling is the false sense of unity that soccer victories produce. Graciela Daleo remembers celebrating with “the guy who had tortured you with electric drills” after Argentina’s Men’s World Cup victory in 1978. She says:
The football thing becomes the dominating thing even in the concentration camp. The torturer who had tortured you when you were kidnapped, if he supported the same club as you did, this terribly mad ghostly bond would be established. Whenever I hear that song by [Joan Manuel] Serrat, “Fiesta,” where he sings, “the villain and the rich man shake hands, the differences don’t matter”… I don’t know. I’ve got an anger that has less to do with a sociological analysis and is more a gut reaction: I hate World Cups because they dissolve the class struggle. In a way, during the World Cup it seems wea are all the same. We are not all the same.
Soccer Vs. The State – Gabriel Kuhn, page 57.
this is a new one for me. as i found myself getting burned out on soccer this summer, i could only watch, i couldn’t write or discuss as much as i wanted. but i did find that i was still writing journal things and i ended up writing three little poem type dealy-bobs about some red stars games. so, for better or worse this is kinda like my end of the season recap/summary.
i (6/16)
They run the field
in the afternoon
sun and clouds
a small crowd
the ball in the air
and trees blowing
loudly in the wind
ii (7/16)
She with ball
drops in front of her
space
Two in red
trail then run parallel
gravity tethered
rush toward post
Symmetry
as the third
confronts her direct
and falls turned
She with ball
bounce three times
then roll to her
left foot
Green grass
lights flashing
rose city make some no…
behind it all
And no one can stop it
iii (8/4)
Loss
with only seconds left
what had been accepted
not ideal but practical
resigned to even
Is ripped out
in one soul crush second
millisecond
fraction
As it arcs over sublime
wall of people
caught by surprise
A failure of tenths, hundredths, thousandths
Diving to the right
but all too late
And contentedness blows away
damp wind that left
the grass wet
Left sitting on the couch
alone with overtired eyes
and a disappoint lump stomach
too amped to sleep
it comes slow
red the house down 