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Kaayla - send me the details about your camp so we can put it on our map of camps and clincs! (more
posted 02/18/11 at 10:55am
on Kaayla Chones' Blog: I'm Back!
Working to Unmask the Identity of magicTalk/Jack/Washington Freedom SC
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posted by All White Kit All White Kit offers coverage of women's soccer around the world from a fan's perspective. AWK will feature the latest news, analysis, and commentary on the women's game. Match reports, scores, schedules, standings and opinion pieces will be on share. We aim to become a resource for any follower of women's soccer. |
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It’s funny how things happen sometimes.
Exactly ten years, two months and seven days ago, the Women’s United Soccer Association held its inaugural draft in Boca Raton, Florida. Superb Chinese striker Sun Wen was drafted first overall by the Atlanta Beat. The Washington Freedom selected Finnish international and Notre Dame midfielder Anne Makinen with the sixth overall pick.
The same year, MLS’ Miami Fusion closed up shop.
A decade on, the WUSA has since folded, both players have moved on but the two teams remain, in name at least. It seems that’s about to change too, at least for one of them.
Yesterday Our Game Magazine revealed that the team formerly known as the Washington Freedom would indeed be playing its home matches at the varsity soccer complex of Florida Atlantic University. The location? Boca Raton, Florida.
For the first time in ten years, top-flight professional soccer will return to the South Florida area. The FAU soccer stadium is approximately 20 miles away from Lockhart Stadium, the former venue of the Miami Fusion. Lockhart Stadium is also home to FAU’s football team.
The full WPS schedule is set to be released in a few hours but sources confirm that it will contain a sentence explaining that the team will play a few home games in the D.C. area.
Additionally, although the identity has changed seemingly every week, the team will henceforth be known as magicJack’s Washington Freedom.
WPS currently finds itself at a similar juncture to that which MLS experienced ten years ago. The contraction of the Fusion and the Tampa Bay Mutiny downsized the league from twelve teams to ten. WPS lost four teams in 2010. Since 2001, MLS has ballooned to 18 teams and will welcome expansion clubs the Portland Timbers and the Vancouver Whitecaps into the league this season.
Perhaps WPS can have a similar boom in expansion over the next decade. But first the league must make it through its third season, which exists largely thanks to Dan Borislow’s late resuscitation of a team that has since taken on an ever-evolving identity.
Check in tomorrow for a post that will explore the ever-evolving identity of Dan Borislow’s latest acquisition.
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