WPS Dispersal: Winners, Losers

When former Sol midfielder Aya Miyama fell to St. Louis with the eighth pick of Thursday’s dispersal, we received the first hint that the teams with international roster slots could make-out in Thursday’s Women’s Professional Soccer dispersal draft.

The draft was held to allocate the former Los Angeles Sol players to the eight remaining WPS teams, and when St. Louis acquired the draft’s first pick earlier this week, speculation as to who would be their choice ranged from Marta to Shannon Boxx to Aya Miyama.

We knew on Tuesday night that Marta was not going to St. Louis. That Athletica were able to get the other two makes them the day’s big winner.

They were able to collect Miyama and (at the end of the draft) Catherine Sorensen because few teams had international roster spots available. Athletica did, and they used them wisely, taking Boxx first knowing that – with internationals Karina LeBlanc (Philadelphia) and Marta going early – other internationals could fall.

Miyama, a player who led last year’s Sol in appearances and minutes player, did fall, all the way to the end of the first round. There was a danger of Washington, who took Nigerian Faith Ikidi in the second round, snatching the Japan international; however, when Washington had Brittany Bock fall into their laps at seven, they took the United States’ defender.

You could argue that Miyama would have gone higher had the dispersal draft been held earlier in the offseason – before international signings had taken many team’s foreign player slots. Miyama’s salary concerns may have also been more palatable before teams started allocated next season’s budget to new players.

St. Louis’s ability to take on Miyama in addition to Boxx, Sorenson, and trading up to get Tina DiMartino saw Athletic make the biggest improvements through the dispersal.

For getting Marta, FC Gold Pride could also be seen as a dispersal draft winner, though her salary makes that a more debatable contention.

Washington had a good defender fall to them at seven, and Boston could say the same with Stephanie Cox at five. Each club got strong value with their picks.

Sky Blue took two recent draftees – Nikki Washington at six, Kiersten Dallstream at 11 – a possible indication that they did not want to take on a more established veteran’s wages. It could also indicates they think highly of Washington and Dallstream.

Atlanta’s first pick was at number nine, where the Beat got good value with Manya Makoski. They surprisingly took an international with their final pick, selecting Pavlina Scasna at sixteen.

If there was a loser in today’s draft, it was only a relative one.

Chicago took Casey Nogueira – ahead of players like Cox and Bock – and then opted out of the draft, picking up two 2011 second round draft picks in trading down from thirteen to fourteen (with FC Gold Pride, who took Kiki Bosio) and then trading the fourteenth pick to St. Louis (the DiMartino trade).

Red Stars ended up with only Nogueira while each other team picked up multiple players, many of whom are more accomplished than the former Tar Heel, who has great potential.

Chicago opting out of their remaining picks hints at an unwillingness to take on players and their salary commitments.

That may be a viable long term strategy, but relative to the other teams in the league, Chicago lost ground in 2010.