Spring Break
ND Women's Soccer: Quartet of seniors hopes to be picked for new league
Fran Tolan
Issue date: 10/2/08 Section: Sports
Seniors Brittany Bock, Carrie Dew, Kerri Hanks and Elise Weber might want to think about canceling their post-graduate job hunts.
The newly-formed Women's Professional Soccer league opens play in April and those four Irish players are prime candidates to be drafted at the conclusion of their college careers.
The league will originally consist of seven teams, which Irish coach Randy Waldrum said will force the nation's elite players to compete for the limited roster spots.
"It's gonna be really small with the few reserve players they have - you know, just 4 or 5 reserves on each team - roster spots are gonna be at a premium," he said. "Each team also gets roster space for five foreign players and when you start adding the foreign players to the mix, there's not a whole lot of roster spots left."
Still, Women's Professional Soccer - WPS, for short - should have a strong Notre Dame contingent. Three former Irish players - Melissa Tancredi, Kate Markgraf and Shannon Boxx - have already joined teams as the nation's top players were allocated to the seven squads. And they will surely be joined by at least a few other Domers.
Jen Buczkowski and Amanda Cinalli, both Notre Dame graduates, worked out at the WPS combine last week and hope to be chosen in the general draft next Monday.
Waldrum said the heavy Irish presence in the WPS helps the current players evaluate their own chances of making the league.
"It's easy sometimes to take [Notre Dame] for granted if this is what you're used to but when you see those [players] … making this a career it certainly gives these [current] players hope and inspiration to seize the opportunity," he said. "Like these girls are role models for the little girls that come to our games, those older girls are role models for them."
Bock, Dew, Hanks and Weber will not be draft-eligible until they finish their NCAA careers but all have strong enough resumes to garner consideration from the professional teams.
The newly-formed Women's Professional Soccer league opens play in April and those four Irish players are prime candidates to be drafted at the conclusion of their college careers.
The league will originally consist of seven teams, which Irish coach Randy Waldrum said will force the nation's elite players to compete for the limited roster spots.
"It's gonna be really small with the few reserve players they have - you know, just 4 or 5 reserves on each team - roster spots are gonna be at a premium," he said. "Each team also gets roster space for five foreign players and when you start adding the foreign players to the mix, there's not a whole lot of roster spots left."
Still, Women's Professional Soccer - WPS, for short - should have a strong Notre Dame contingent. Three former Irish players - Melissa Tancredi, Kate Markgraf and Shannon Boxx - have already joined teams as the nation's top players were allocated to the seven squads. And they will surely be joined by at least a few other Domers.
Jen Buczkowski and Amanda Cinalli, both Notre Dame graduates, worked out at the WPS combine last week and hope to be chosen in the general draft next Monday.
Waldrum said the heavy Irish presence in the WPS helps the current players evaluate their own chances of making the league.
"It's easy sometimes to take [Notre Dame] for granted if this is what you're used to but when you see those [players] … making this a career it certainly gives these [current] players hope and inspiration to seize the opportunity," he said. "Like these girls are role models for the little girls that come to our games, those older girls are role models for them."
Bock, Dew, Hanks and Weber will not be draft-eligible until they finish their NCAA careers but all have strong enough resumes to garner consideration from the professional teams.