With national team stalwarts Heather O'Reilly, Yael Averbuch and Carli Lloyd, the defending champion Sky Blue FC boast a formidable midfield that make them favorites to defend the first WPS title in history. And the rest of the squad is none too shabby either. ASN's Lauren Barker takes a look at Sky Blue's 22-woman roster in this entertaining piece.

The 2010 WPS draft will be conducted this Friday, at 9:00 am CST, ending months of speculation by Women's Professional Soccer fans as to which players will be selected by which teams. For Red Stars fans who were paying close attention this past week, however, the next addition to their team's roster may have already been revealed by coach Emma Hayes herself.

Two weeks ago last Thursday, on the eve of the Women's Professional Soccer draft, Chicago Red Stars' front office staff were running around like their hair was on fire in a desperate attempt to acquire a replacement for starting goalkeeper Caroline Jönsson. The resulting trade of team captain Lindsay Tarpley to St.

The Chicago Red Stars, who have yet to score against Sky Blue FC, found the back of the net twice Saturday, only to have both goals negated by offside calls. Meanwhile the visitors, who showed little offense throughout the match, once again took advantage of a broken play to score the single goal through Natasha Kai to decide the game in their favor.

Life if often unfair. And nowhere is this more evident than in the world of sports where coaches often lose their jobs when players fail to do theirs. On Monday, the Chicago Red Stars announced that Emma Hayes was "relieved of her duties" as head coach following the team's dismal start to the season that saw them lose four of their first six games, all of them by shutouts.

In what could be considered the biggest upset win of this WPS season to date, the Chicago Red Stars, at the end of a tumultuous week of changing coaches, defeated league-leading FC Gold Pride and ended their five-game winning streak with an early second-half goal from Kosovare Asllani. Michael Kajdas reports from Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill.

Fan favorite Lindsay Tarpley, the first to score a Red Stars goal and very much "the face" of the franchise in its first year, has been traded to the Saint Louis Athletica for goalkeeper Jillian Loyden. Just one in a series of surprises on WPS draft day. Read more at our WPS page.

Women's Professional Soccer held its dispersal draft Feb. 4 for players' rights previously held by the Los Angeles Sol, whose operations were discontinued Jan. 28. FIFA World Player of the year Marta fell to FC Gold Pride with the third selection, instantly making the Bay Area club favorites in the 2010 title chase--if they can sign the Brazilian.

Women's Professional Soccer today, March 12, announced that Citigroup Inc. had signed on as a founding partner for the league. As a result of the deal, Citi's logo will be placed on the backs of all the team uniforms below the numbers, the first-ever national jersey partnership for WPS. The league also released information about ticket sales and sponsorships as part of the announcement.

Saint Louis Athletica midfielder Daniela will miss at least two more months after the club said it had placed the Brazilian on the 60-day injured reserve list. The injury is a result of Abby Wambach's tackle from last May.
Read the story on our WPS page.

On this brisk night in April and in front a home crowd, the FC Gold Pride found the back of the net three times in a huge win over reigning Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) Champions, Sky Blue FC. Whether it was due to the Pride's owner, Nancy NeSmith's pre-game and accurate 3-1 prediction, forward Christine Sinclair's new purple with pink-striped shoes, or as coach, Albertin Montoya put it, the team "put[ing] on a show for their fans," the packed stands (3,757) at Castro Valley High School in Hayward, California, were treated to quality soccer.

FC Gold Pride defeated the Atlanta Beat 2-1 at Castro Valley Athletic Stadium Saturday on a 90th minute goal by Carrie Dew. Dew herself summed up the game best stating, "It was a battle the whole game, and it wasn't necessarily the prettiest game, but I think we just kept fighting to the end.

Like an ever-recurring nightmare, the Chicago Red Stars gave up an early goal for the third time in six games and spent the remainder of play Saturday evening against the Philadelphia Independence trying to find the equalizer that just wouldn't come. Despite Coach Emma Hayes' previous admonitions to her players about defending the first and last five minutes of each game, the Red Stars failed to clear the ball from in front of their net during Philadelphia's opening assault.

The top of the ranks for Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league remained unchanged with the FC Gold Pride's 1-1 tie tonight in the game against the Washington Freedom. The big news of the week, of course, was the acquisition of Shannon Boxx (formerly of the Saint Louis Athletica) on Thursday by the Pride.

The story-line of the night should have been Christie Rampone playing the full 90 and donning the captain's armband in her return to Yurcak. Instead it was two former Boston Breakers having two very different nights and one former Chicago Red Star who was left unprotected in the expansion draft delivering a breakout performance.

The FC Gold Pride suffered their third loss of the season tonight against NJ Sky Blue. Playing in triple-digit weather seemed to have a different and opposite effect on each team, with the Pride limping into the game with heavy legs and only beginning to heat up too late into the second half while Sky Blue consistently sizzled with offensive aplomb and a composed and cool defense.

As the world focuses on the World Cup in South Africa and takes in every match in crisp, clean high definition, it's easy to forget summer days playing in the park. As the debates rage on about referees and instant replay and goal-line technology, it's easy to forget games with garbage cans as goalposts.

Many Sky Blue fans would probably want to forget the last time they saw their team play at home. Those in attendance three weeks ago saw the blue and orange upstaged by the expansion Philadelphia Independence, in an ugly 4-1 drubbing. Since then Sky Blue has been busy, handing first place FC Gold Pride their first home loss of the season, sending six players to the WPS All-Star Game in Atlanta, and then meeting President Barack Obama, who honored the team at the White House on July 1st for their 2009 WPS Championship.

Two months ago, the Chicago Red Stars fired Emma Hayes, their coach of one and a quarter seasons and replaced her with their current coach, Omid Namazi. Despite building a team that, for the most part, dominated play against its opponents, especially in the second halves of games, the complaint against Hayes was that her team was not only not winning enough games but it was not scoring very many goals either.

The Atlanta Beat came to New Jersey with something to prove. The expansion Beat currently sit in last place in the Women's Professional Soccer table and had just one win on the season coming into Sunday night's match. A win against defending WPS champions Sky Blue FC would go a long way towards making the case that the Beat are on the way up.

Some 18 weeks after breaking a bone in her knee in Sky Blue FC's final preseason match (way back on April 5th), goalkeeper Jenni Branam returned between the posts for the defending champs, but the visiting Chicago Red Stars put a damper on her first game back. A fourth minute tally from Ella Masar and a little insurance care of Karen Carney were all the Red Stars needed to hand Sky Blue their fourth consecutive loss.

In Women's Professional Soccer, parity is often the name of the game, and things were no different on Wednesday night at Yurcak Field in New Jersey. FC Gold Pride came to the Garden State to take on Sky Blue FC in the final regular season edition of "The Battle of Teams That Choose to Not Identify Geographically".

In Women's Professional Soccer, parity is often the name of the game, and things were no different on Wednesday night at Yurcak Field in New Jersey. FC Gold Pride came to the Garden State to take on Sky Blue FC in the final regular season edition of "The Battle of Teams That Choose to Not Identify Geographically".