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Sky Blue FC Passes Milestone: First Three Players Join WPS Team

September 16, 2008 - Women's Professional Soccer (WPS)
Sky Blue FC News Release


NEW YORK (Sept. 16, 2008) - Sky Blue FC - the new women's professional soccer team for the New Jersey/New York area - reached a major milestone today for the second time in a week. First the fledgling franchise officially announced its name, now the team has its first three players.

Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) announced today that Olympic gold medalists Natasha Kai, Heather O'Reilly, and Christie Rampone have been assigned to Sky Blue FC through an allocation process. The allocations for all seven teams that will participate in the inaugural 2009 season were announced at a ceremony at the Sports Museum of America in downtown Manhattan. The announcement was hosted by NBA All-Star and WPS part-owner Steve Nash and presided over by WPS Commissioner Tonya Antonucci.

All 21 players allocated to the WPS teams are members of the United States Women's National Team. Kai, O'Reilly, and Rampone were all key members for the USWNT in its recent run to the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. O'Reilly and Rampone are both New Jersey natives and will have the privilege of playing in front of their hometown fans while Kai is from Hawaii and will travel the farthest of any of the allocated players to join her WPS team.

"We're delighted and I think we've got a great combination - we've got great character, great leaders, and exciting players," said Sky Blue FC Head Coach and General Manager Ian Sawyers. "To have two of the New Jersey girls able to come play in their home state is phenomenal and getting a lightning rod kind of player like Kai is exciting."

An East Brunswick, NJ native, Heather O'Reilly grew up just a few miles down the road from Sky Blue FC's home stadium of Yurcak Field in Piscataway, NJ. The former University of North Carolina All-America selection is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and has been a member of the USWNT for six years, since the age of 17. O'Reilly just recently celebrated her 100th appearance with the national team serving as team captain for the occasion against Ireland in a 2-0 victory this past Saturday.

Rampone is a USWNT mainstay after joining the team in 1997. The Point Pleasant, NJ native played every minute of every game at the Beijing Olympics serving as team captain for the gold medalists while also earning her 200th cap to make her one of only six US players to achieve the feat. Rampone - formerly known as Pearce - starred at Monmouth University before becoming a founding member of the WUSA. She played all three seasons for the New York Power in the former women's pro league.

Kai is a relative newcomer to the USWNT having joined the team in 2006 but she has been a legitimate goal-scoring threat ever since joining the team. The Kahuku, HI native and former University of Hawaii star has scored an impressive 22 goals in her 57 appearances with the national team. Easily recognizable because of her many tattoos, Kai scored an important goal for the US at the Olympics, heading in the game-winner against Canada in a 2-1 overtime victory in the quarterfinals.

"The excitement for WPS allocation has been building for months as fans, coaches and even the players have been speculating about which athletes will be dispersed to each WPS market," said Antonucci. "This is a big day for Women's Professional Soccer, as teams now have Olympic gold medalists from Beijing allocated to their home cities along with other talented national team players. These are the first building blocks for the teams as the league begins the countdown to the inaugural 2009 WPS Season."

Following this week's U.S. Women's National Team allocation will be the international draft of top global stars the week of September 22nd which will assign teams the rights to negotiate with four premiere international players. That will be followed by a draft of remaining players in early October and again in January. The order of the international draft will depend on the weighted rankings voted on by teams following the U.S. Women's National Team allocation with the weakest-rated team selecting first and the strongest-weighted team selecting last.

"The allocation process was developed to give players the chance to provide their input on where they wanted to play, allow for dialogue between league and teams about marketing potential and to give the best opportunity for a level playing field among teams come April 2009 and the start of the WPS Season," said Antonucci.

The allocation process began with members of the U.S. National Team player pool submitting their city preferences to the League. After reviewing the athletes' lists, the teams likewise forwarded their player preferences to the League.

A WPS committee examined both lists and considered League and team marketing initiatives before sending an allocation recommendation to the teams. Prior to the Sept. 16 announcement, the WPS Board of Governors held a 48-hour closed-door meeting in New York City to determine the final allocation results. During this time, the Board of Governors consulted with players, teams and league in order to accomplish the best possible dispersal for all parties. At the conclusion of the closed-door meeting, the Board of Governors forwarded its allocation decisions to Commissioner Antonucci for final approval.

Season tickets for Sky Blue FC are on sale now by visiting Sky Blue Soccer on the internet at www.SkyBlueFC.com or by calling 888-SBFC-TIX.



Women's Professional Soccer Stories from September 16, 2008


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