BATON ROUGE – Friday is an important day for five LSU soccer seniors looking to continue their careers on the professional level as Women’s Professional Soccer will hold its 2010 draft in Philadelphia in conjunction with the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Annual Convention.
Among the Tiger standouts who will be keeping an eye on the day’s events include All-American Malorie Rutledge, All-SEC performers Melissa Clarke and Chelsea Potts, Katherine Lagow and Rachel Yepez.
The 2010 WPS Draft is slated to begin at 9 a.m. CT and will include seven rounds and 65 picks in all. The first round will feature 11 picks with the league’s two expansion teams – the Atlanta Beat and the Boston Breakers – each receiving two picks in the round. Each of the nine WPS clubs will receive one pick in the remaining six rounds for a total of 65 draft picks in all.
Fans are encouraged to follow the 2010 WPS Draft live on Twitter at @LSUsoccer as the team will tweet each draft pick in real-time on what will be a historic day for the LSU soccer program.
“We’re excited about the progress each of these seniors has made in our program over the last four years and the opportunity they now have to possibly continue their careers on the professional level,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “Women’s athletics have come so far and this is a tremendous opportunity for our student-athletes to continue their development in a great professional league like the WPS.”
The 2010 WPS regular season is scheduled to begin April 10 when the Washington Freedom play host to the Boston Breakers. Seven other clubs compete in the WPS, including the Atlanta Beat, Chicago Red Stars, FC Gold Pride, Los Angeles Sol, Philadelphia Independence, Sky Blue FC and St. Louis Athletica.