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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’ second season in 2010.)

2009 WPS Expansion Draft

Atlanta Beat

1 – Leigh Ann Robinson – D – FC Gold Pride
4 – Amanda Cinalli – F – Saint Louis Athletica
6 – Katie Larkin – F – Los Angeles
8 – Sharolta Nonen – D – Los Angeles
10 – Sara Larsson – D – Saint Louis Athletica
12 – Noelle Keselica – F – Sky Blue FC

Beat fans may want to get the smelling salts out after reading this bit and the next on the league’s first expansion draft. Robinson would end up being a solid player…in Philadelphia, her next stop after one season in Atlanta. The Beat’s top pick in this draft ended up being the very definition of middling in her season with the club. Cinalli played a whopping three hundred thirty-six minutes in 2010 and put just two shots on goal for the club. Larkin would start eight games for the club before retiring in the middle of the 2010 season. Nonen was a tip of the cap towards nostalgia that was rather ill-advised, as she failed to make the team out of camp. Larsson would end up in Philly for 2010 and started a fair number of games for the Independence before not being retained for another season. Keselica never featured for the Beat. The fact that none of these players were on the Beat’s 2011 roster and that just one is still in WPS today probably speaks volumes about how horribly the Beat drafted.

Philadelphia Independence

2 – Lori Lindsey – M – Washington Freedom
3 – Jen Buczkowski – M – Sky Blue FC
5 – Nikki Krzysik – D – Chicago Red Stars
7 – Sue Weber – D – Boston
9 – Sarah Senty – D – Washington Freedom
11 – Danesha Adams – F – Chicago Red Stars
13 – Kelly Schmedes – F – Boston Breakers

And thus, a contender was born. Philadelphia’s top three picks formed the core of the side that reached the WPS final in their first year of existence. Before Lindsey fell out of favor last year, she was one of the 2010 season’s revelations, with two goals and seven assists to her name in an outstanding season for the Independence. Buczkowski blossomed quickly into one of the league’s top defensive midfielders and an invaluable member of the Philadelphia squad. Krzysik would soon be on her way to her status as one of the league’s most promising center-backs. Adams continues to hang around on the roster despite her rather inconsistent nature, while Senty proved a capable squad player for a season. Weber and Schmedes wouldn’t make the cut, but it’s hard to argue that the Independence didn’t knock it out of the park with this draft. Especially considering what Atlanta did beside them.

2009 WPS International Draft

Philadelphia Independence

1 – Caroline Seger – M – Sweden
3 – Charlotte Rohlin – D – Sweden
5 – Frida Magnusdottir – M – Iceland
7 – Fara Williams – M – England
9 – Lianne Sanderson – F – England

While Philly got fantastic returns out of their expansion draft, the international draft bore slightly more bittersweet fruit. Seger would be in irrepressible form last year with Western New York but showed herself to be quite the temperamental genius in her American debut with Philly. It was enough for Paul Riley and co. to trade the Swede for a high draft pick to WNY after the season. There was equal inconstancies from Philly’s other two international draft picks that stuck, in the form of Magnusdottir and Sanderson. The Icelandic Magnusdottir would entertain in her time with Philly but never hit stardom and ended up heading back over to Europe for first team football in the middle of 2010, though she’s returning to Philly this season. Sanderson would provide glimpses of real potential but could never deliver the consistency along with it in her two seasons with the club. Rohlin and Williams never made the trip over the Atlantic to the league.

Atlanta Beat

2 – Ramona Bachmann – F – Switzerland
4 – Johanna Rasmussen – F – Denmark
6 – Mami Yamaguchi – M/F – Japan
8 – Maurine – M – Brazil
10 – Therese Sjogran – M – Sweden

You really have to feel for the Beat on this one. On paper, this crop of international talent was actually very promising. Rasmussen was one of the great unheralded players in recent memory and was a shining bright spot on an awful Beat team in 2010 before putting up some nice displays for MagicJack in 2011 before heading back to Europe, probably wondering what the hell was wrong with this crazy league after two terrible experiences. Sjogran would end up making a belated trip to the WPS with Sky Blue FC in 2011, impressing in stretches for the New Jersey club in midfield.

Bachmann was a mini-disaster. The teenager had no end of talent, but also had chronic back problems that kept her on the training table at times. She also had the unfortunate habit of being a whiny, sulky, cheating prat who fell over in the presence of a slight breeze and who didn’t seem to acknowledge the presence of the teammates around her on the pitch as she dribbled at masses of defenders and inevitably shot high, wide, or straight at the keeper. (Can you tell I wasn’t a fan?)

Yamaguchi worked her socks off for the club but just couldn’t replicate her form that she showed in college with Florida State and headed back to Europe. Maurine would eventually show up in WPS in 2011 alongside Marta in Western New York. The Brazilian with the hairstyle resembling The Flintsones’ Pebbles also played like she had rocks in her feet, rotting on the bench for much of the year and not impressing when she did make it onto the pitch. It’s safe to say she probably won’t be back.

And a special mention for German attacker Shelley Thompson, who may be one of the worst players to ever suit up in WPS. Generally running around with the tactical nous of a chicken without a head and the effort of a line worker between smoke breaks, Thompson couldn’t get off the bench for a team that couldn’t score and didn’t manage a shot on goal in a hundred twenty-six minutes. When some of the Athletica players were scooped up, Thompson was hurriedly ushered out the door, with the Beat higher-ups likely hoping nobody would remember the entire embarrassing fiasco.

2010 WPS Rookie Draft

Atlanta Beat

1 – Tobin Heath – M – North Carolina
21 – Blakely Mattern – D – South Carolina
23 – Shameka Gordon – D – West Florida
30 – Jill Hutchinson – F – Wake Forest
39 – Mallori Loften-Malachi – GK – South Florida
48 – Kasey Langdon – F – Oklahoma State
57 – Shaneka Gordon – M/F – West Florida

Ugh. Where to begin? OK, you can hardly blame Atlanta for taking Tobin Heath, who was the clear number one in the eyes of almost everyone, though her career has paled in comparison to the three players taken right after her. Who knows how different history might’ve been had Heath not been injured so early into her rookie season in WPS? What wasn’t understandable was the Beat’s decision to jettison Heath to Sky Blue FC before 2011 in a clear salary dump.

But there’s really no excusing the horrendous drafting by the Beat after that first pick. Trades may have meant that Atlanta didn’t pick again until #21, which made it slim pickings, but the Beat struck out on every one of their six other picks. Mattern hung around for awhile making it past the initial in-season purge of players when the Beat management realized they had done such an awful job of putting the team together but eventually was axed in mid-season after the club started to sign some of the Athletica players, eventually ending up with Dutch champions FC Twente. Loften-Malachi ended up traded to Philly and then back with Atlanta again as the team’s third keeper but moved to Europe after the 2010 season.

Neither of the Gordon twins, Hutchinson, or Langdon stuck. In short? Disaster.

Boston Breakers

2 – Lauren Cheney – F – UCLA
11 – Alyssa Naeher – GK – Penn State
16 – Jordan Angeli – M – Santa Clara
34 – Katherine Reynolds – D – Santa Clara
43 – Cynthia Morote-Ariza – F – Loyola (Ill.)
52 – Carly Peetz – D – Nebraska
56 – Gina DiMartino – F – Boston College
61 – Casey Brown – D – Boston University
65 – Taryn Hemmings – F – Denver

Hard to find a whole lot of fault with this draft by the Breakers. Cheney has been a lot better for country than club but may have made a breakthrough this past season after her great displays in Germany before frustratingly being injured upon her return to the States. Naeher’s been a bit of a roller coaster ride but may also be rounding into form coming off an improved season in the league and a successful loan spell in Germany. Angeli was one of the league’s most pleasant surprises in 2010 but was injured in 2011′s first game. Getting her back healthy could be a big boost for the team in the future. Persistence ended up paying off for Reynolds, who finally established herself at her third stop, being one of the lone bright spots for Atlanta last season. Gina DiMartino has bounced around a bit, ending up on Philly’s bench most recently, while Morote-Ariza, Peetz, and Brown never made it for the Breakers. Hemmings most certainly did though and showed there were gems available late for those with a keen eye. The former Pioneer star turned into a nice utility player for the Breakers, able to fill in up front or even on the backline.

FC Gold Pride

3 – Kelley O’Hara – F – Stanford
10 – Ali Riley – D – Stanford
12 – Becky Edwards – M – Florida State
20 – Kaley Fountain – D – Wake Forest
32 – Erin Guthrie – GK – Rutgers
41 – Ashley Bowyer – M – Ohio State
50 – Liz Harkin – D – Arizona State
59 – Lauren Wilmoth – D – UCLA

Gold Pride certainly learned from their mistakes rather quickly. They fleeced the Atlanta Beat out of their second first round pick in a lopsided trade to end up with three of the first twelve picks in a strong draft. The 2010 WPS champs would get it right and resoundingly so, with O’Hara, Riley, and Edwards all big parts of the team’s title run and currently all some of the league’s biggest stars. The rest of the draft was a bit of a wash for the team though. Fountain would struggle to make an impact at either Gold Pride or Atlanta later in the season. Catching on with WNY a year later, the former Demon Deacon would struggle with injury and only featured sparsely. Guthrie has been buried on various depth charts thus far and spent last season as a reserve for Sky Blue FC. Bowyer, Harkin, and Wilmoth all didn’t make it.

Chicago Red Stars

4 – Whitney Engen – D – North Carolina
15 – Jessica McDonald – F – North Carolina
24 – Kelsey Davis – GK – Portland
33 – Michele Weissenhofer – F – Notre Dame
42 – Sophie Reiser – M/F – Columbia
51 – Fiona O’Sullivan – F – San Francisco
60 – Jackie Santacaterina – M – Illinois

A lackluster draft from the Red Stars in their final season of existence as a WPS side. They hit it big with Engen at the #4 spot, the former North Carolina star starting in defense for Chicago right away and rounding into a potential star of the future after another big year in 2011. Other than that? Very little to speak of. McDonald came out a season early from college in a shocking move considering she would’ve likely been a first round pick if she had stayed in school. She was bitten by the injury bug and disappeared to Parts Unknown after the 2010 season. Davis has struggled with injury since and is coming off another ACL tear going into this season. Weissenhofer ended up in Germany before playing for Chicago’s WPSL incarnation in 2011. Reiser actually ended up re-signing with the team in the middle of the year and played twenty-two minutes for them before playing well for Seattle’s W-League team last year. O’Sullivan ended up in Europe, while Santacaterina was another who ended up with the WPSL Red Stars last year.

Los Angeles Sol

5 – Nikki Washington – M – North Carolina
8 – Casey Nogueira – F – North Carolina
9 – Kiersten Dallstream – D/F – Washington State
14 – Michelle Enyeart – F – Portland
22 – Kiki Bosio – F – Santa Clara
25 – Estelle Johnson – D – Kansas
38 – Mary Casey – GK – Maryland
47 – Lindsay Browne – F – Clemson

We’ll never really know what would’ve come of this group had they played in Los Angeles with the team folding soon after the draft. But based on what this group’s accomplished since, you might wonder if anyone could’ve put together a more mercurial draft class. Washington battled injury early and has frustrated at every stop since and will be in Atlanta this season after showing more flashes of potential with MagicJack last season. Casey Nogueira has been about as frustrating in Chicago and New Jersey and is currently still on the market. Dallstream will likely go down along with Kerri Hanks as one of the biggest busts from an WPS draft and was axed by Boston, not long after they had rather insanely traded a second round pick for the former U-23 player. Enyeart was never able to recover from injuries suffered late in her college career. Bosio was a fine contributor for Gold Pride before choosing to stay in California in WPSL when the team folded after 2010. Johnson has been a starter in Philly for the better part of a year. Casey’s been close to a WPS job on multiple occasions only to be derailed by injuries among other things. Browne was snapped up by Gold Pride in the dispersal draft but didn’t stick.

Sky Blue FC

6 – Brittany Taylor – D – UConn
26 – Katie Schoepfer – F – Penn State
29 – Melissa Clarke – M – LSU
35 – Danielle Johnson – D – Ole Miss
44 – Meagan Snell – F – Santa Clara
53 – Kelly Isleib – F – Utah
62 – Dani Collins – D/M – William & Mary

There’s only so much you can do when you’ve got just one pick in the top twenty-five, even in a deep draft. SBFC still managed to do well for themselves by picking Taylor, who rapidly proved her worth on the backline and who’s mysteriously fallen out of international contention. It got grimmer after that though for the first league champs. Schoepfer, a terror at U23 level, hasn’t been able to make the jump to the next level with any success and continues to struggle in front of goal despite getting opportunity after opportunity, first with SBFC and more recently with Boston. Johnson has hung around as a squad player for two years, while Snell was buried on the bench in 2010. Clarke and Isleib were total busts, while Collins is probably more famous for other reasons.

Washington Freedom

7 – Nikki Marshall – D – Colorado
18 – Carly Dobratz – M – Washington State
27 – Beverly Goebel – M – Miami (FL)
36 – Kristi Eveland – D – North Carolina
45 – Lauren Robertson – GK – Ohio State
54 – Mara Osher – D/M – Boston University
63 – Caitlin Miskel – M/F – Virginia

Mixed fortunes for the Freedom in their last draft before the MagicJack Misadventure. Marshall would end up being a contributor both on the backline and up front for the club until being traded away for a pittance in 2011. Goebel ended up being one of this draft’s most pleasant surprises, fighting her way into the lineup her rookie season before moving to WNY and impressing there last season. Eveland and Miskel would both hang around for a season as squad players. Eveland looked to have a bright future and followed Gabarra to New Jersey before oddly dropping off the map. Dobratz ended up as a major bust, not making it out of camp, being joined by Robertson and Osher as players who didn’t feature for the club.

Philadelphia Independence

13 – Malorie Rutledge – M – LSU
31 – Kelly Henderson – D/M – Boston College
40 – Carrie Patterson – F – Georgia
49 – Jenifer Anzivino – D/M – Rutgers
58 – Caitlin Farrell – D – Wake Forest

Ye gods. As right as Philly may have gotten it in the expansion and international drafts, they got it so, so wrong in their first rookie draft. Rutledge was a reach at the beginning of the second round, and the Independence were left looking extremely foolish when she didn’t make it past the first cut in training camp. It didn’t get much better from there. Henderson ended up hanging around on Philly’s WPSL reserve team last year after a few appearances in 2010. Patterson ended up being traded to Atlanta, cut by the Beat, and then re-signed by Philadelphia (don’t ask), only to be cut at mid-season with no appearances to her name. She was last seen on Vancouver’s W-League team in 2011. Anzivino was traded to Sky Blue, where she didn’t make it, while Farrell played with FC Twente in Holland…though her story with Philly was far from over.

Needless to say, this was a pretty awful draft.

Saint Louis Athletica

17 – Kristina Larsen – F – UCLA
19 – Ashlyn Harris – GK – North Carolina
28 – Amanda Poach – M – Santa Clara
37 – Veronica Perez – F – Washington
46 – Carolyn Blank – M – West Virginia
55 – Sarah Teegarden – M – Milwaukee
64 – Elisabeth Redmond – F – Duke

Like Los Angeles’ draft class, it’s pretty difficult to analyze this bunch in whole because of the ultimate fate of the franchise. Taken in context with this group’s future performance, it was a bit of a mixed bag. Harris turned out to be an astute pick and was WNY’s #1 on their way to a title last season and is on the fringe of the USWNT. Blank has turned into a pitbull in the center of midfield for Sky Blue FC, and has also been capable of the odd goal here and there. The other picks were rather less successful. Larsen was injured in camp and caught back on with Atlanta in 2011 but was rather infamously released mid-season despite looking like one of the team’s most dangerous players going forward. Poach ended up going back to college with a year of eligibility left. Perez would become a lot more famous for her exploits with the burgeoning Mexican WNT. Teegarden and Redmond would fade into obscurity.

2010 WPS Dispersal Draft

Saint Louis Athletica

1 – Shannon Boxx – M
8 – Aya Miyama – M
14 – Christina DiMartino – M
24 – Cathrine Paaske-Sorensen – M

Pity the poor souls on this list who lost two clubs in one year and likely ended up living out of a suitcase for the season. Boxx and Marta were considered the prime talent available for this draft, but (ironically) lingering concerns about being able to take on the latter’s salary saw the Athletica snap up Boxx with the first pick in this draft. Boxx would then move back out west to Gold Pride once Athletica went under. Miyama moved on to Atlanta, while DiMartino fled north to Philadelphia. The rights to Paaske-Sorensen went unclaimed.

Philadelphia Independence

2 – Karina LeBlanc – GK
15 – Estelle Johnson – D

Philadelphia passed on Marta as well, and it worked out decently for them. LeBlanc may have traded the starting job with Val Henderson for much of the season, but she was still a good addition to the first-year club. Johnson was one of the most astute additions by any team and enters 2012 as an established member of Paul Riley’s squad.

FC Gold Pride

3 – Marta – F
13 – Kiki Bosio – F
19 – Lindsay Browne – F

Gold Pride may have immolated their balance sheet by picking up Marta, but they also used the Brazilian to win the title in their final season of existence. Whether it was a good trade-off is certainly up to interpretation. Bosio was a solid contributor as well for the team, making this specific draft a success for FCGP, despite Browne not making it.

Chicago Red Stars

4 – Casey Nogueira – F

OK, I’m going to go out on a limb here, but maybe Chicago, a team which had been struggling with inconsistent but talented forwards, shouldn’t have taken on another inconsistent and talented forward in Nogueira. The former North Carolina forward bounced in and out of the starting lineup and was no less frustrating than most of the team’s other options, chiming in with just two goals and three assists as a rookie in the league.

Boston Breakers

5 – Stephanie Cox – D
12 – Michelle Enyeart – F

The Breakers ended up getting two pretty good years out of Cox, so it’s hard to argue against this pick, even if she did miss a big chunk of 2011 due to international commitments. Enyeart had a promising career shuttered by injuries.

Sky Blue FC

6 – Nikki Washington – M
11 – Kiersten Dallstream – F

A total washout for the WPS’ inaugural champions. Washington ended up in Chicago and played sparingly for the Red Stars, afflicted with injury. She would play for Boston and MagicJack in 2011, before signing with Atlanta this offseason, adding to her long, long WPS CV. Dallstream also struggled with injury but was utterly unimpressive when she did make it onto the pitch and dropped out of the league after being released by Boston last season.

Washington Freedom

7 – Brittany Bock – D
10 – Faith Ikidi – D/F

Washington were desperately unlucky here. Bock was racked with injury problems in 2010 after an impressive rookie season with the Sol in 2009. She’d catch on with Western New York in 2011, and healthy, was again an important contributor on a contender. Ikidi never appeared on these shores.

Atlanta Beat

9 – Manya Makoski – D
16 – Pavlina Scasna – F

The Beat also were very unlucky with their dispersal draft. After trading their first round pick to Saint Louis for Kia McNeill and Angie Kerr, they looked to have made a solid choice with Manya Makoski at the nine spot. Makoski would tear her knee up early in camp though and never played for the club. Scasna never agreed to terms and tried an ill-fated comeback with Boston a year later that ended in training camp.

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