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(As a part of AWK’s WPS Draft coverage, we’ll be taking a look back at the drafts of the past three seasons, including some of the more forgotten ones like expansion drafts and international drafts. Today, we’re featuring the drafts before WPS’ inaugural season in 2009.)

2008 International Draft

FC Gold Pride

1 – Formiga – M – Brazil
8 – Christine Sinclair – F – Canada
15 – Eriko Arakawa – F – Japan
22 – Erika – D – Brazil

Formiga was a good, if not foreboding, pick given Gold Pride’s early struggles in scoring goals and considering Kelly Smith and Marta were the next two picks off the board, though they also took Sinclair in the international draft. A midfield with Formiga and Leslie Osborne just never looked threatening going forward. Of course, it didn’t help that the team ended up relying on Arakawa for offense. The Japanese international had big hair but not the game to back it up, scoring just once. Before Erika was flopping around like a fish in Germany, she was riding the pine for Albertin Montoya’s inaugural squad for much of the year.

Boston Breakers

2 – Kelly Smith – F – England
9 – Fabiana – F – Brazil
16 – Maycon – M – Brazil
23 – Shinobu Ohno – F – Japan

Smith ended up working out pretty well for the Breakers and is still puffing along into her fourth year with the club in WPS. Fabiana spent much of 2009 recovering from a knee injury before coming back strong in 2010. The explosive wide player was a big loss for WPS after its sophomore season. Maycon and Ohno never played in the league.

Los Angeles Sol

3 – Marta – F – Brazil
10 – Aya Miyama – M – Japan
24 – Han Duan – F – China
27 – Margret Lara Vidarsdottir – F – Iceland

The Sol struck gold with their first two international picks, Marta living up to the hype and then some, though she didn’t walk away with a title until a season later. Aya Miyama was almost as impressive and gave hints as to the quality she’d display later on a world stage. Those two picks probably made it a little easier to accept Han Duan’s somewhat underwhelming season. Vidarsdottir never played in the league, a shame considering her form in Europe.

Saint Louis Athletica

4 – Daniela – M – Brazil
13 – Renata Costa – M – Brazil
17 – Lotta Schelin – F – Sweden
20 – Melissa Tancredi – F – Canada

Hard to evaluate this class considering Daniela’s career was effectively ended by THAT tackle by Abby Wambach. Costa and Schelin never made it over to these shores, while Tancredi wasn’t all that effective in her brief WPS run and soon hopped back over to Europe to continue her professional career.

Chicago Red Stars

5 – Cristiane – F – Brazil
12 – Heather Garriock – M – Australia
19 – Karen Carney – F – England
26 – Caroline Jonsson – GK – Sweden

Cristiane would end up symbolizing Chicago as a whole, a frustrating template of potential unfulfilled in the Windy City before excelling elsewhere. Heather Garriock was a walking injury bug and the Red Stars let her walk after one season. Karen Carney spent two solid, if not exactly explosive, seasons with the Red Stars before heading back over to England. Jonsson was ever-present in goal for Chicago in 2009 before heading back over to Sweden after the inaugural WPS season.

Washington Freedom

6 – Homare Sawa – M – Japan
11 – Sonia Bompastor – D – France
18 – Lisa De Vanna – F – Australia
25 – Louisa Necib – M – France

Though the Freedom couldn’t lure Necib over stateside, they did knock it out of the park with their three other international picks, all of whom became starters for the club in their maiden WPS voyage. Bompastor brought a distinct touch of continental class to the club with six assists to lead the team, while De Vanna showed her explosive goalscoring ability, finishing just behind Abby Wambach for the team lead. And Sawa was one of two Freedom players to start every game, giving a small hint of the form that would see her lead Japan to glory in 2011.

Sky Blue FC

7 – Sarah Walsh – F – Australia
14 – Rosana – F – Brazil
21 – Ester – M – Brazil
28 – Kelly Parker – M – Canada

Not so good. Walsh ended up flopping badly before being dealt to Saint Louis where she didn’t exactly set the world on fire either. She’d end up injured and out of the league soon after in 2010 in Boston. Rosana showed some tantalizing flashes in two seasons in Jersey but could never really put it all together and left for Brazil before 2011. Ester never played in the league, while Kelly Parker holds the dubious distinction of having played nearly nineteen hundred minutes in the league without having scored a goal.

2008 General Draft

Washington Freedom

1 – Sarah Huffman – M
3 – Becky Sauerbrunn – D
17 – Lori Lindsey – M
28 – Emily Janss – D

The Freedom would get unlucky with their top pick in the general draft with Huffman missing all but the team’s playoff game in 2009 with an ACL injury but would see her return for 2010 and in 2011 under the MagicJack brand. Sauerbrunn ended up being an immense success story for the club and has forced her way into the USWNT. Lindsey started most of 2009 for the Freedom but would be left unprotected for the expansion draft a season on and ended up in Philadelphia. Janss had played in WUSA for New York before featuring for some of the Freedom’s W-League teams and played in a handful of games in 2009 for the club’s WPS debut.

FC Gold Pride

2 – Jill Oakes – D
13 – Kandace Wilson – F/D
16 – Liz Bogus – F
27 – Traci Hamm – D

It’s a little amazing to look back at their first year of play considering how well things ended up after year two on the pitch for FC Gold Pride. There were some truly awful, awful decisions in the building of this team and the general draft follies were just one example of that. Oakes may go down as one of the worst picks by any team in any WPS Draft, getting cut by the team before the regular season (though she would start most of the year in Chicago). Wilson would go on to become a fine contributor in time but only played in eight games in 2009. Bogus and Hamm would never play for the club. In other words, this was a disaster.

Boston Breakers

4 – Amy LePeilbet – D
11 – Nancy Augustyniak Goffi – D
18 – Sue Weber – D
25 – Kristin Luckenbill – GK

For all of her recent international struggles, LePeilbet turned out to be a great pick for the Breakers, the rock at the heart of the team’s defense for the past three years. After that, it was a lukewarm draft for Tony DiCicco’s inaugural WPS effort. Augustyniak Goffi and Weber both stuck and combined for fifteen starts but were both out of the league a season later which should tell you something. Kristin Luckenbill ended up being the bane of many a Riptide member’s existence, such was the depth and breadth of her gaffes in goal.

Los Angeles Sol

5 – Karina LeBlanc – GK
10 – Kendall Fletcher – D
12 – Christie Welsh – F
19 – Manya Makoski – D

The Sol would pick wisely with their first selection in the general draft, with Karina LeBlanc starting all but one game for the club in their only season of existence. Fletcher ended up being a bit of an odd footnote in the team’s short history, traded after just one match and ending up a solid performer for Saint Louis. Welsh ended up going to Saint Louis in that same trade after making a minimal impact with the Sol. There was more luck for L.A. with Makoski who was a pleasant surprise, starting fifteen matches for the WPS runners-up.

Chicago Red Stars

6 – Danesha Adams – F
9 – Ella Masar – F
20 – Marian Dalmy – D
23 – Ifeoma Dieke – D

It’s safe to say that the Red Stars struck out with this draft, at least in the short-term. Expected to be big factors offensively, top ten picks Danesha Adams and Ella Masar combined for seven starts and zero goals in Chicago’s first season. Both would go on to bigger things, Masar for Chicago even, but neither was a difference maker in 2009. The Red Stars were saved from this draft being a total failure by their second two picks, with Marian Dalmy and Ifeoma Dieke starting most of the season for the club. Dieke would fall out of favor a season later and end up in Boston, but Dalmy was a key part of the club until they went bust after the 2010 season.

Sky Blue FC

7 – Cori Alexander – GK
8 – Keeley Dowling – D
21 – Kacey White – M
22 – Jenny Anderson-Hammond – D

This draft ended up being an above average one in the short term but rather empty in the long term. Dowling and White were both crucial members of SBFC’s shock triumph in the league’s inaugural season but then ended up gradually falling out of favor and form in 2010 and eventually ended up in Atlanta by the end of 2011. Alexander was something of a wasted pick at seven, ending up as the team’s third keeper for 2009 before dropping out of the league a season later. Anderson-Hammond didn’t make the squad.

Saint Louis Athletica

14 – India Trotter – D
15 – Angie Kerr (nee Woznuk) – M
24 – Joanna Lohman – D
26 – Amanda Cinalli – F

This…didn’t work out so well for Saint Louis. Trotter abruptly retired before the 2009 season (then unretired before 2010 and was promptly traded away after a cup of coffee with the Athletica). Lohman ended up as a bit player in Washington before moving onto better things at Philly. Kerr and Cinalli would both end up in Atlanta after starting for much of 2009 in Saint Louis, neither exactly reaching the heights some might have expected for them. Kerr would continue to bounce around the league, ending up at Sky Blue FC for 2011, while Cinalli would wash out of the league after failing to impress in Atlanta.

2009 WPS Rookie Draft

Boston Breakers

1 – Amy Rodriguez – F – USC
15 – Kasey Moore – D – Texas
29 – Jennifer Nobis – F – Missouri
41 – Kelly Schmedes – F – Texas
42 – Ariel Harris – D – North Carolina
43 – Lindsay Vera – F – NC State
56 – Ashley Nick – M – USC
57 – Allison Martino – M – Texas A&M
69 – Stacy Bishop – M – Florida
70 – Jaimel Johnson – GK – Tennessee

Unfortunately for Boston’s reputation, much of this draft must be judged on the first overall pick, Rodriguez. The mercurial USC product entered the pros with a reputation as a frustrating but talented product and lived up to that billing early, scoring just one goal and having the Boston coaching staff tearing their hair out by the end of the season. It was all enough for Boston to trade her to Philadelphia before 2010 where her career was revived. Kasey Moore was really the only lasting product from this class, having turned into one of Boston’s most dependable squad players. Nobis started seven matches and scored a pair of goals as a WPS rookie before getting hurt and ending up continuing her career overseas. Schmedes was heavily involved in 2009 but only scored once and dropped out of the league after being selected by Philly in the 2009 Expansion Draft. The only one of the Breakers’ later picks to stick was Stacy Bishop who looked out of her depth for both Boston and later Atlanta.

Chicago Red Stars

2 – Megan Rapinoe – M – Portland
13 – Nikki Krzysik – D – Virginia
14 – Brittany Klein – M – Santa Clara
16 – Natalie Spilger – D – Stanford
27 – Jenni Branam – GK – North Carolina
28 – Chioma Igwe – M – Santa Clara
30 – Stacey Tullock – M – Arizona State
44 – Lauren Sesselmann – F – Purdue
56 – Kat Tarr – D – Missouri
58 – Jessica O’Rourke – M – North Carolina State

More than one player from this class would end up finding success…just not in Chicago. Rapinoe proved to be an unbelievably frustrating figure for the Red Stars in her two seasons with the club, delivering some incredibly inconsistent stretches of play but still giving slight hints at the potential for superstardom in the process. Krzysik would feature intermittently with ten starts for the Red Stars before breaking out with Philadelphia a year later. Klein looked to be on the precipice of something special after starting every game for Chicago in 2009 but then saw her professional career tail off puzzlingly. Spilger (and her hair) ended up being one of the club’s icons, though her pro career all but ended when the club folded. Branam would land on her feet with Sky Blue FC after failing to catch on in Chicago. Igwe would start eleven games with the Red Stars before heading to Boston and eventually the Bundesliga. None of the later picks stuck, though Sesselmann rather amazingly has hung around and become a Canadian international, while Tarr and O’Rourke both ply their trade overseas.

FC Gold Pride

3 – Christina DiMartino – M – UCLA
12 – Carrie Dew – D – Notre Dame
17 – Tiffany Weimer – F – Penn State
26 – Marisa Abegg – D – Stanford
31 – Ameera Abdullah – M – Florida
40 – Leigh Ann Robinson – D – San Diego
45 – Brandi Chastain – M – Santa Clara
54 – Allison Whitworth – GK – Auburn
59 – Alissa Oldenkamp – F – Arizona State
68 – Stacie Alberico – F – San Jose State

You could probably look at Gold Pride’s first rookie draft a couple of ways. In a sense, they did well by hitting on seven players that would stick with the club for the season. In another sense though, the team wasn’t very good overall and perhaps could’ve done a better job of taking more talented players. DiMartino immediately stepped into the lineup, starting eighteen games, though she wouldn’t truly blossom until future seasons. Dew was a constant for the club in their two seasons of existence in defense and midfield. It was more hit or miss for the team’s other picks that made it. Tiffany Weimer started ten matches but never developed into the goalscorer she was in college. Leigh Ann Robinson was a pleasant surprise with fifteen starts before seeing her career stall in Atlanta before a reinvigorating move to Philly. Marisa Abegg would see limited minutes and was last seen playing for the D.C. United Women W-League team. Whitworth has had a checkered WPS career, ending up in Atlanta, Chicago, and then Atlanta again, finally shining a bit towards the end of last season. The less said about Chastain’s comeback, the better. Abdullah, Oldenkamp, and Alberico didn’t make it.

Sky Blue FC

4 – Yael Averbuch – M – North Carolina
11 – Meghan Schnur – M – UConn
18 – Karen Bardsley – GK – Cal State Fullerton
25 – Christie Shaner – D – Notre Dame
32 – Julianne Sitch – DePaul
39 – Jen Buczkowski – M – Notre Dame
46 – Zhang Ouying – F – None
53 – Mary Therese McDonnell – D – Illinois
60 – Mele French – F – Oregon
67 – Fanta Cooper – D – Wisconsin-Milwaukee

A good if not great draft for the team that would lift the trophy in WPS’ first season. Averbuch was a constant in the lineup for SBFC but never developed into the star first round picks are expected to turn into. Schnur started out strongly for the club before slowly getting sucked into the vortex of insanity that was MagicJack last year. Bardsley was a constant for three seasons, trading the starting spot in goal with Jenni Branam with great frequency. The long line of SBFC coaches ended up getting decent seasons out of Jen Buczkowski and Julianne Sitch, though both were gone a season after, moves that worked out well for the former and not so well for the latter. French played all of eleven minutes in 2009 before catching on with the (then) Buffalo Flash in 2010′s W-League season and then seeing a little time with their WPS incarnation last year. Shaner was traded to Los Angeles early in 2009 and then broke her leg in a tackle with Abby Wambach. Ouying, McDonnell, and Cooper never featured for the club.

Los Angeles Sol

5 – Brittany Bock – M – Notre Dame
10 – Allison Falk – D – Stanford
19 – Katie Larkin – M – BYU
24 – Greer Barnes – D – West Virginia
33 – Val Henderson – GK – UCLA
38 – Katie Hooker – M – Denver
47 – McCall Zerboni – M – UCLA
52 – Brittany Cameron – GK – San Diego
61 – Erica Janke – D – Cal State Fullerton
66 – Lisa Sari – M – Portland

Bock ended up as one of the top rookies for this class for the Sol before and injury plagued year for the Freedom before getting back on track with title winners WNY Flash in 2011. Allison Falk would be equally important to L.A.’s run to the final and played a contributing part to Philly’s run to the title game a year later before struggling through injuries in 2011. Larkin ended up as one of the team’s best reserves in 2009 before retiring midway through the 2010 season in Atlanta. Henderson’s been unfortunate to end up behind Karina LeBlanc in L.A. and then Nicole Barnhart in Philly as she pursues a starting spot in between the pipes. After playing a bit part in her rookie season, Zerboni grew into a cult hero in Atlanta before playing a big role in WNY’s title last year. Sari managed five appearances in her only WPS season. Barnes had a cup of coffee with FC Gold Pride before disappearing from the league. Katie Hooker managed a few games for Sky Blue FC in 2009, while Cameron has been a well traveled backup so far with stops at FC Gold Pride and Western New York so far.

Saint Louis Athletica

6 – Kerri Hanks – F – Notre Dame
9 – Kia McNeill – D – Boston College
20 – Stephanie Logterman – D – Texas
21 – Elise Weber – D – Notre Dame
34 – Niki Cross – D – UConn
37 – Jillian Loyden – GK – Villanova
48 – Lisa Stoia – M – West Virginia
51 – Megan Kerns – F – Florida
62 – Sheree Gray – D – Penn State
65 – Lydia Vandenbergh – M – Clemson

Though the Athletica actually ended up doing decently for themselves, picking up mostly contributors with this draft, it’ll unfortunately be most remembered for picking Kerri Hanks. Hanks wouldn’t last the season in Saint Louis, being traded to Sky Blue in the middle of the season. Hanks would see her WPS career end with just two goals and one season, going down as a colossal bust and one of the bigger mysteries in women’s professional soccer history. The rest of the draft turned out much better. McNeill was a brick wall at the back as a rookie and has improved still after getting to Philadelphia in 2011. Weber ended up starting fourteen matches for the club though she hopped over to midwest rivals Chicago for 2010. Logterman, Cross, and Stoia all started their fair share of games though none were able to make a lasting impression on the league. Loyden also made the jump to the Red Stars after serving as Hope Solo’s understudy and continued to bounce through the league, ending up in Boca Raton with MagicJack most recently. Gray was a seldom used reserve here and recently cropped up with Sky Blue FC. Vandenbergh didn’t catch on here but did make some appearances for the Red Stars before ending up in at MagicJack as well. Considering Kerns was the only player not to end up making any impact in WPS whatsoever, you might argue that from a long-term point of view, this ended up being one of the more solid drafts of this class.

Washington Freedom

7 – Allie Long – M – North Carolina
8 – Alex Singer – D – Virginia
22 – Jill Gilbeau – D – Texas
23 – Parissa Eyorokon – M – Purdue
35 – Brianna Scurry – GK – UMass
36 – Rebecca Moros – D – Duke
49 – Sarah Senty – D – Virginia
50 – Katie Jo Spisak – GK – Texas A&M
63 – Claire Zimmeck – F – William & Mary
64 – Christen Karniski – D – Illinois

Considering that the first nine players taken by Jim Gabarra and co. made the team and made appearances in 2009, you’d have to believe that the Freedom certainly did fine for themselves in a short-term sense. But looking back, it’s shocking to see how little of an effect this draft had on the league long-term. Long has been solid but unspectacular, hardly what was expected from a top ten pick. Rebecca Moros has arguably had the bigger impact and picked up a winner’s medal for the WNY Flash last season after signing in the middle of the season. After that? Eek. Zimmeck and Spisak have hung around on the periphery for the past few seasons, both in Boston last season. Singer went from starting thirteen games in 2009 to out of the league a year later. Gilbeau would similarly drop off the map after becoming marginalized a season later. Senty would move on to Philadelphia in 2010 but failed to make an impact and is gone from the league, as is Parissa Eyorokon, who couldn’t crack the Freedom lineup with any consistency in 2009. Scurry was well past her best by this point and only featured in three matches. Karniski wouldn’t feature for the WPS Freedom after having played for the organization’s W-League team.

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