Friday started out with the announcement of allocated players through out the league with the Dash receiving Whitney Engen (USA), Melissa Tancredi (CAN) and Teresa Noyola (MEX). The expansion draft is set for January 10 where the Dash will have the opportunity to draft two more USWNT players after ending up with only one through allocation. It was also reported Friday that Houston will receive the number two pick in the college draft which will take place on January 17.
Whitney Engen currently plays in Sweden and has 10 U.S. National team caps. A defender, the California native played college soccer for the University of North Carolina before eventually making the move to play overseas.
Melissa Tancredi will bring a veteran presence to the team already having 88 caps with the Canadian National team. Playing in two World Cups as well as two Olympics, she previously played in Sweden but sat out the 2013 season to finish college. She played college soccer at Notre Dame under Randy Waldrum, more about him in a minute, while earning All-American honors. U.S. National team fans may remember her from the the last Olympics where she had a 'run in' with Carli Lloyd and her post game statements about the USWNT and match fixing.
Teresa Noyola is the youngest of the three but has 10 caps for the Mexican National team. In the first year of the NWSL she played for the Seattle Reign before being traded to Kansas City. The midfielder played her college soccer at Stanford University leading the team to a 2011 National team title.
In the second big Dash announcement of the day Notre Dame's Randy Waldrum was named head coach after signing a three year contract with the organization. While at Notre Dame Waldrum posted a record of 279-50-16 since taking the position in 1999. He will be formally announced as head coach on Monday in a press conference.
With the announcement of allocated players the trade freeze officially ended and teams are now free to trade until Jan 6. Teams are not allowed to waive players until after the expansion draft next Friday.
Now that the team has their first players in place and a coach how are you feeling about the Dash in 2014?