April 2, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--The Penn State women's soccer team learned on Thursday that six of its former players, including two of whom played under head coach Erica Walsh, earned places on opening day rosters of their respective Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) teams. Katie Schoepfer (Waterford, Conn.) and Alyssa Naeher (Seymour, Conn.) made the rosters of Sky Blue FC and Boston Breakers, respectively.
Four other Nittany Lions also were named to their club's 18-player roster on Thursday as standouts Christie Welsh, Tiffany Weimer, Erin McLeod and Joanna Lohman made their respective teams. Welsh, who was drafted and led the Saint Louis Athletica in scoring a year ago, signed with the Washington Freedom, 2005 alum McLeod, the starting goalkeeper.
Weimer signed with the Boston Breakers over the offseason joining forces with her old club coach and former U.S. National Coach Tony DiCicco. Weimer will get to team up with Naeher, who looks to patrol the net for the Breakers in her rookie campaign.
Lohman was a force last night in a 1-0 win over Penn State as she scored the match's only goal for expansion side Philadelphia Independence in an exhibition match in Downingtown, Pa. Lohman was a member of Washington for part of the year last season before taking over the general manager position in November of the team's reserve squad, the Washington Freedom Futures of the W-League. Lohman also is a real estate specialist as vice president of Tenant Consulting, LLC in addition to being a professional soccer player.
Schoepfer, who was a third-round draftee in this winter's WPS Draft, made the Sky Blue FC team on Thursday as well. She will look to earn a starting spot in the forward position for the defending WPS Champions. Schoepfer was one of two Nittany Lions to go in the draft in January as Naeher went in the first round to Boston.
Behind North Carolina and Notre Dame, Penn State was tied for third for the most alumni that made opening day squads with six. UNC had 17 and Notre Dame eight, while Portland, Santa Clara and Virginia matched Penn State with six alumni as well.
Opening Kick for WPS starts on Saturday, April 10, when Washington plays host to Boston at 7:00 p.m. Four Nittany Lions will be in action as Welsh and McLeod square off against Naeher and Weimer in a pair of great striker-goalkeeper combinations. Play continues on Sunday, April 11 with three more games including Schoepfer and the Sky Blue FC hosting Chicago, a game that will be shown live on Fox Soccer Channel. Philadelphia hosts fellow expansion team Atlanta in West Chester, Pa. in the two team's first appearance in the WPS.
Two weeks from now, Penn State returns home, hosting a jamboree of exhibition games at the Jeffrey Field Training Complex. PSU will take on the Penn Quakers at 1:00 p.m. in a 90-minute game, while Pittsburgh plays Penn in a 60-minute match at 3:00 p.m. The day will wrap up with a 60-minute 4:00 p.m. game between Pitt and Penn State. All of those matches will take place on Saturday, April 17.
The Nittany Lions wrap up the spring schedule against Maryland on Friday, April 23 at 7:00 p.m. The game, hosted at the Training Complex, will take place as part of Blue-White Weekend, which features the Penn State Football Spring Game the following day in Beaver Stadium.
For more information the Penn State Sport Camps 2010 visit CAMPS
For complete coverage of Penn State women's soccer, please visit http://www.GoPSUsports.com/sports/w-soccer.
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--NITTANY LIONS--