Very odd choices here.

The Red Stars passed on players who’d had a major impact in the league for Los Angeles in the league’s premier season, such as Stephanie Cox, Chicago native Brittany Bock, and Aya Miama. Instead, they selected rookie Forward, Casey Nogeuria , from North Carolina.

For Nogeuria , it was her second experience of being drafted in three weeks, as she had just been taken by Los Angeles during the league’s General Draft on January 15th . Nogeuria joins two other Tarheel teammates taken by Chicago in the general draft: Defender Whitney Engen and Nikki Washington.

One can only speculate why Chicago opted for Nogeuria rather than one of the Sol’s best established players. Either they’d already spent the cookie money on personnel already signed, or they were confident enough in their ability to win with the existing roster, that they didn’t need to add any weapons.

The expansion draft confused me as a fan. I’m sure Nogie’s a great player but it seems that the Red Stars are a bit offensive-heavy, which is the style of Coach Hayes. The roster breaks down like this:

F: Asllani, Carney, Cristiane, Masar, McDonald, O’Sullivan, Weissenhofer
M: Chapman, Igwe, Klein, Nogueira, Rapinoe, Santacaterina
M/F: Reiser
D/M: Sitch
D: Dalmy, Dieke, Engen, Markgraf, Spilger
GK: Davis, Loyden

Personally - I would have taken Bock, especially since we have a new GK and since the D was a weak point last year.

Good. As long as I was not the only one scratching my melon, I feel better.