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2001 WUSA waiver draft
Reference material by Wikipedia contributors. This retains its source identity and is not 411 news reporting.
August 2023
The WUSA waiver draft, held before Women's United Soccer Association's initial 2001 season, distributed up to four additional players to the league's eight inaugural teams.
The draft occurred on March 20, 2001. This took place after each team had already been allocated three national team players, two foreign players, had each made 15 selections from the main draft held on December 10 and 11, 2000, and four selections from the supplemental draft for recent graduates and late entrants to the draft pool.
Round 1
Pick Player Pos. New WUSA team Previous WUSA team1 Amber Reynolds DF Bay Area CyberRays Bay Area CyberRays
Round 2
Pick Player Pos. New WUSA team Previous WUSA team1 Danielle Dion GK Philadelphia Charge Boston Breakers2 Stephanie Loehr DF New York Power Washington Freedom3 Janine Szpara GK Bay Area CyberRays Bay Area CyberRays
Round 3
Pick Player Pos. New WUSA team Previous WUSA team1 Laurie Pells GK Bay Area CyberRays Philadelphia Charge2 Beth Keller FW Carolina Courage Philadelphia Charge3 Nicole Williams GK New York Power New York Power4 Melissa Ribaudo DF San Diego Spirit San Diego Spirit5 Erica Iverson DF Philadelphia Charge New York Power
Round 4
Pick Player Pos. New WUSA team Previous WUSA team1 Gayle Smith FW Philadelphia Charge Washington Freedom2 Holly Broome DF San Diego Spirit San Diego Spirit3 Kara Brown MF New York Power San Diego Spirit4 Carlene Stenson FW Carolina Courage New York Power5 Kelly Wilson FW Bay Area CyberRays Bay Area CyberRays
Draft notes
Teams were required to cut their pre-season rosters to a maximum of 24 players by March 18, 2001 (with an additional slot for one injured player). Only teams with fewer than 24 players could participate in this draft, to bring their roster back up to the 24-player cap for training camps from 22 to 31 March, after which a final cut to 20-player rosters (with three additional reserve players) would be made.WUSA Preseason: C-Rays pick first? Power wins again https://old.socceramerica.com/publications/article/12967/wusa-preseason-c-rays-pick-first-power-wins-agai.html 23 August 2025 Soccer America 16 March 2001 Washington Freedom coach Jim Gabarra declined to take part.
Team-by-team
WUSA Preseason: All eight teams announce cuts https://old.socceramerica.com/publications/article/13018/wusa-preseason-all-eight-teams-announce-cuts.html 23 August 2025 Soccer America 19 March 2001
Atlanta Beat
On 18 March Atlanta waived Bryn Blalack, Kim Engesser, Melissa Roth, Wynne McIntosh and Abby Gillard. They still had 24 players on their roster, so were unable to participate in this draft.
Bay Area CyberRays
Bay Area waived Amber Reynolds, Janine Szpara, Tami Pivnick, Lindsay Nohl, Christina Harsaghy, Kelly Wilson and Iliana Moskoff. This reduced their roster to 20 players, making them the only team allowed to participate in all four rounds of this draft. They used three of the four picks to reclaim players they had released two days earlier.
Boston Breakers
Boston waived Ashley Berman, Holly Pierce, Danielle Dion, and Ally Wagner, but still had a 24-player roster and were therefore unable to participate in this draft.
Carolina Courage
Carolina had waived Kelly Berrall, Tracy Grose, Ásthildur Helgadóttir, Megan Jeidy, Jessica Post, Staci Reynolds and Erica Westrich. With 22 remaining players they were permitted two picks in this draft.
New York Power
New York waived Becky Hornbacher, Nicole Williams, Melissa McBean, Carlene Stenson, Erica Iverson, Jessica Larsen and Vanessa Rubio. With 21 players they were permitted to take three more in this draft.
San Diego Spirit
After waiving Holly Broome, Erica Strey, Kara Brown, Michelle Maitland, Melissa Ribaudo and Sara Streufert, San Diego had 22 players. They participated in two rounds of this draft, which they used to bring back Ribaudo and Broome.
Philadelphia Charge
Philadelphia waived Laurie Pells, Angela Harrison, Tracey Spinelli, Beth Keller and Courtney Saunders. They had 20 players going into the draft but since Laurie Hill had retired rather than been waived they officially had 21 and could only participate in three rounds.
Washington Freedom
Washington Waived Stephanie Loehr, Robin McCullough, Rikki-Ann Serrins and Tanya Vogel. They had 23 players but decided not to use their permitted one pick in this draft.
See also
Women's association football Sports Association football
List of top-division football clubs in CONCACAF countries
List of professional sports teams in the United States and Canada
List of WUSA drafts
2001 WUSA season
References
External links
Inaugural WUSA Waiver Draft
Category:Women's United Soccer Association drafts
Draft