Thursday, February 07, 2013

FC Kansas City Adds 2 Free Agents and 6 in Supplemental Draft

It was a busy day for FC Kansas City today as they continued to add to their roster.  FCKC announced today the signing of two more of their free agents, and also had the NWSL supplemental draft that saw them add 6 more players ahead of the start of their preseason.

First announcement of the day was the official announcement of two more players signed from the Blues free agent list.  The first was the signing of Melissa Henderson a forward from Notre Dame.  She scored 70 goals in her career for the Fightin' Irish.  She was the number 2 overall pick by Sky Blue FC in the 2012 WPS draft.  The league folded before she got to play a game though.  But the Blues have added arguably the best player in this year's draft class and the number 2 overall pick in last year's class, definitely a nice addition on paper.

The second player added is defender, Leigh Ann Robinson.  Robinson went to San Diego for college before being drafted by Gold Pride FC.  She played with the Atlanta Beat and Philadelphia Independence as well in the WPS in her career so far.  She'll help to solidify the defense for FCKC.

Later in the day, the NWSL held their supplemental draft, a six round draft for teams to select players from a preset list that each team added players to.  FCKC had the 6th pick in each of the rounds.  In the first round, they selected Courtney Jones, a forward from the University of North Carolina.  Jones also played for the Boston Breakers.  She's also been a member of the US youth system in her career.

In the second round, KC took Bianca Henninger a goalkeeper from Santa Clare.  She'll be coming in as the back up to Nicole Barnhart.  Henninger is an accomplished goalkeeper in her own right, having won the Golden Glove award while playing with the US U20 team.

In the third round, KC took Merritt Mathias, another forward, this one from Texas A&M.  Another player with youth national team experience, Matthias played last year for the New York Fury.

In the fourth round, Kansas City grabbed another midfielder, and another player from North Carolina.  They picked up Casey Nogueira.  Nogueira the daughter of Victor Nogueira, an indoor soccer player played previously in the old WPS for both the Chicago Red Stars and Sky Blue FC.

In the fifth round, the Blues selected Christina DiMartino.  DiMartino had previously played for Gold Pride FC, St. Louis Athletica, and the Philadelphia Independence.  She becomes another midfielder it what is becoming a crowded midfield for KC.

In the final round of the draft, Kansas City selected Casey Berrier a defender from Loyola Chicago.  She recently was playing for PK 35 in Finland and played in the UEFA Women's Champions League for that club.

After the draft, FC Kansas City has the rights to 19 players, with the pending announcement of Sinead Farrelly bringing the total to 20.  They also still have plans for an open tryout and invitational tryout.

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