Five FC Kansas City Players Called Up by the US

US Soccer announced the women's roster for three upcoming friendlies in October. The first of the three matches, on October 20th in San Antonio against Australia. Then on the 27th in San Francisco against New Zealand, before closing out against New Zealand again on the 30th in Columbus.

Five FC Kansas City players have received the call up for these games. All three of KC's allocated players, Nicole Barnhart, Lauren Holiday, and Becky Sauerbrunn are all called up. They are joined by KC's first round draft pick, Kristie Mewis, and Leigh Ann Robinson. FCKC's five representatives are the most of any team on the roster.

Catching Up on FC Kansas City

Apologies for the lack of posts regarding FC Kansas City not just in the last week, but the season as a whole. Life has been catching up with me a bit and I had to cut down a little bit in some of my coverage, unfortunately it was the Blues that had to get chopped a bit.

Year End Awards

While FC Kansas City's season ended last weekend against Portland in the NWSL semifinals, FCKC did clean up when it came to the end of season awards.  FCKC swept all the individual awards and put seven players on the first and second team Best XI.

In goalkeeper of the year, Nicole Barnhart won the award, finishing the season with 10 shutouts, the most in the league and finished 3rd in goals against average with .95.

Erika Tymrak won the league's rookie of the year award. After starting the season as a substitute off the bench, Tymrak established herself as key to the Blues attack as the season went on. She finished the season with six goals and four assists.

Another award FC Kansas City won was defender of the year, which was award to Becky Sauerbrunn. Sauerbrunn helped to anchor the defense in front of goalkeeper for the year, Barnhart.

Coach of the year in the NWSL went to the Blues coach, Vlatko Andonovski. In his first season coaching at this level, Andonovski led FC Kansas City to an 11-6-5 record, tied for the most points in the league, and second in the table.

In the award that probably surprised people the least, Lauren Holiday was named the NWSL MVP. Holiday also won the league's Golden Boot, scoring 12 goals while also adding 8 assists. Basically Holiday contributed in 59% of the Blues goals this year, and also missed four games with US call ups and getting married.

Barnhart, Sauerbrunn, and Holiday were all named to the Best XI first team, along with defender Leigh Ann Robinson. On the second team Tymrak was joined by Lauren Sesselmann, and Desiree Scott.

National Team Call Ups

Also recently announced was the call ups for the US women's team game against Mexico on September 3rd. FC Kansas City led the way in players on the roster with six.  KC's three allocated players, Barnhart, Holiday, and Sauerbrunn were all named to the roster, along with Kristie Mewis, who has become a regular on the national team.

Two new Blues players will get the chance to earn their first caps against Mexico.  Robinson and Tymrak were called up for the first time.  Both had stellar seasons for Kansas City, Robinson established herself as one of the better outside backs in the league, while Tymrak won rookie of the year.

Offseason Loans

Speaking of Tymrak, rumors started to make the rounds yesterday on Twitter of Tymrak going out on loan to German club Bayern Munich during the NWSL offseason. Thad was able to confirm this rumor.  He also mentioned that Blues' back up goalkeeper, Bianca Henninger will be joining Tymrak at the German club. There's also mention of more loans coming up.

FC Kansas City Clinch Playoff Birth

FC Kansas City continues to write the National Women’s Soccer League record books.  In front of the largest crowd of the season at Portland’s JELD-WEN Field at 17,619, Kansas City extended their unbeaten streak to 10 games, their winning streak to four games and they have become the first team in league history to clinch a spot in the NWSL postseason.  Lauren Holiday scored goals from Leigh Ann Robinson and Erika Tymrak while Kristie Mewis scored her first professional goal on the way to a 3-2 FC Kansas City victory.  FC Kansas City (11-4-5) remains in first place with 38 points, four points ahead of Portland Thorns and Sky Blue FC.

In what was billed as a matchup of league heavyweights, FC Kansas City and Portland Thorns entered tonight’s matchup looking to settle their season-long series and put their first step towards the playoffs.  A win for either team would secure their spot in the post-season and a draw would see both teams qualify.  This matchup has seen some of the most exciting games of the season so far.  Tonight’s game, broadcast nationally on Fox Soccer Channel, might have topped them all. 

The two teams at the top of the NWSL table played a fairly even game, with each team seeing spurts of possession dominance throughout the first half.  FC Kansas City got on the board first when Leigh Ann Robinson sent a cross that squirted out to a wide open Lauren Holiday.  At that range, Holiday does not disappoint and found the back of the net before Portland goalkeeper, Karina LeBlanc, had a chance to react.

The second half was another battle.  Portland was determined to get themselves into the game while KC saw their playoff berth within reach.  Portland equalized the game when Kansas City was unable to properly clear a set play in the 51^st minute.  Portland’s Rachel Buehler collected the missed clearance and her shot careened off the side of her foot to her teammate, Danielle Foxhoven.  The Thorns forward was left open and was able to put her side on the board.

The tie was only temporary though as FC Kansas City answered four minutes later.  The most dangerous midfield combination in the NWSL put their team back in the lead when Tymrak’s one touch pass with her back to the goal found Holiday driving into the Thorns’ penalty box.  Her shot went under the outstretched arms of LeBlanc and trickled into the goal. 

Kristie Mewis, whose versatility has been integral in making FC Kansas City the best defensive team in the NWSL, stepped up offensively in the 74^th minute.  “We did an awesome switch of the field to catch the other team on their heels.  I hadn’t taken anyone on all game so I just went for it,” the rookie explains, “…I put it on my favorite foot and shot…it was really just a great build up.”  Mewis scored her first professional goal on the biggest stage of the season to date.  It ended up as the game-winner too.  Alex Morgan, one of the finalists for FIFA’s award given to the best female soccer player in the world, was given just a bit too much open space in the 89^th minute and used her left foot to sneak a shot to the far post just outside of the reach of Nicole Barnhart.  The FC Kansas City defense stood tall throughout the remainder of the match, which included five minutes of additional time, to secure the 3-2 victory.

Although Portland scored two goals, goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart was one of the best players on the field all night.  She faced sixteen shots in the game, seven of them on goal, and made five saves.  Her spectacular play frustrated the Portland forwards all night long.  She saved three point-blank shots and directed her defense to the league’s longest undefeated streak (10 games) and the team’s longest winning streak (four games).  By contrast, her counterpart for the Thorns faced four shots on goal, making only one save.

FC Kansas City retains the first spot in the NWSL table with the win.  They also clinched a spot in the playoffs that begin on August 24^th.  They next travel to Boston to face the Breakers on August 10^th at 5:00p.m. CT before returning home for the final regular season game on August 18^th against the Chicago Red Stars at 3:10p.m. 

Four FCKC Players Called Up for Algarve Cup

US Soccer today announced the roster for the Algarve Cup in Portugal coming up in March.  The tournament runs from March 6th through the 13th, causing players to miss the start of the NWSL preseason.  That means that four players from FC Kansas City will miss the start of preseason training while away at the tournament.  Goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart, defender Becky Sauerbrunn, and midfielders Lauren Cheney and Kristie Mewis have all been called up.  All four had been on the roster that had taken on Scotland in two games in Jacksonville and Nashville.

In the tournament the US will take on Iceland, China, and Sweden in group play before their placement match on the 13th. 

FCKC Sign 4th Free Agent, and 4 Get Caps for USA

FC Kansas City announced their fourth free agent signing today, Sinead Farrelly.  Farrelly was apparently the first free agent to commit to play for the Blues. Farrelly is a midfielder from Pennsylvania who attended Virginia.  She was the number 2 overall pick by the Philadelphia Independence.

The signing of Farrelly gives Kansas City the number 2 overall selection in the 2012 WPS draft (Melissa Henderson), 2011 draft (Farrelly), and 2010 draft (Lauren Cheney).  Add that to getting the number 3 overall pick in 2009 draft (Tina DiMartino) and FCKC looks to be continuing to build a strong roster.  And that's before mentioning this year's number 3 pick, Kristen Mewis.

Speaking of Mewis, she earned her first cap for the full US national team today in their 4-1 win Scotland tonight in Jacksonville, Florida.  Mewis was one of 4 Blues players that earned caps tonight.  Becky Sauerbrunn was the only one of the 4 that started the game tonight.  Sauerbrunn played 83 minutes before being replaced by Julie Johnston.  KC's other 3 players came on as substitutes.  Nicole Barnhart was a halftime substitute in goal.  She conceded the lone goal scored by Scotland in the 54th minute, only 2 minutes after the US had taken a 3-0 lead.  Cheney entered the game in the 55th minute right after the goal, for Abby Wambach.  Mewis was the last player to enter the game from Kansas City, coming on in the 72nd minute for Christen Press who scored the first two goals.

Four FCKC Players Called Up

Today, US women's national team coach Tom Sermanni called in 29 players ahead of the team's first two matches of the 2013 season.  The roster is filled with many of the players that were allocated to the NWSL teams.  It's FC Kansas City that leads the way with selections to the team though.  The Blues have four selections on the roster for the camp.  The team's 3 US allocated players, Nicole Barnhart, Lauren Cheney, and Becky Sauerbrunn are joined by FCKC's first round pick Kristie Mewis.  All the other NWSL teams have 3 representatives except for Chciago and Western New York who both just have two. 

The camp is in preparations for two friendlies in early February, on the 9th against in Jacksonville and 13th in Nashville, both against Scotland.  The camp will also likely be a chance to impress before the Algarve Cup coming up in March.

FC Kansas City Add 4 in First Draft Class

FC Kansas City picked up their first 4 draft picks today in the first NWSL draft.  FCKC had the 3rd pick in the draft, which was figured by a panel that compared the strength of their allocated players.  Today at the NSCAA convention KC made their 4 picks.

In the first round, the Blues selected Kristie Mewis from Boston College.  Mewis is a midfielder who was a MAC Hermann award semifinalist and first team All-American.  Mewis has been a member of the US U-17 and U-20 national teams.

In the second round, FCKC selected Erika Tymrak.  The midfielder from the University of Florida has been selected as an All-American and is in the US U-23 pool and a MAC Hermann award semifinalist.

In the third round, the Blues selected a local player, Whitney Berry from the University of Kansas.  The first team All Big 12 midfielder/forward led KU in assists this year and finished as the leader for KU in assists for her career.

In their final selection, Kansas City went with another local option, drafting Nia Williams from Missouri State.  Williams is the daughter of FCKC assistant coach, Huw Williams.  Williams was a 4 time All Missouri Valley player and was the MVC Defensive player of the year.

The four players will join the seven that were originally allocated to FCKC.  The rest of the Blues roster will be filled through free agent signings, and from Twitter today, a dispersal draft of other pros.