WUSA Teams Miss Out on Drafting Larson

Yesterday, the inaugural draft of the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) came to a bittersweet conclusion for Harvard women's soccer.

A draft made memorable by the selection of Beth Zotter '00 by the New York Power in the fourth round on Sunday became even more momentous when the Washington Freedom selected 2000 Crimson volunteer assistant coach Carrie Moore in the 14th round with the 107th overall pick.

But when the entire draft--15 rounds plus a compensation pick for a total of 121 players--was finished, fullback Jessica Larson '00 was nowhere to be found on the draft board.

"I was pretty disappointed, but I'm not going to give up," Larson said. "I feel I really have a chance. The teams aren't full yet."

Zotter was confident that Larson, her fellow Crimson co-captain in 1999, would find her way onto a WUSA Roster eventually.

"She's not finished," Zotter said. "She definitely deserves to be on one of those teams. She just was at a big disadvantage because she hasn't had as much national exposure. If she had, things would be different."

Larson lacked the national exposure that the Olympic Developmental Program (ODP) had provided to Zotter, who was once in the U.S. Under-20 National Pool.

"A lot of coaches had seen players beforehand, and had players in mind," Larson said. "I hadn't been in ODP before, and I was really relying on the combine."

But Larson found it difficult to distinguish herself at the crowded WUSA Combine, in which the 200 invited players competed in a series of games in Boca Raton, Florida throughout the week preceding the draft. Both Zotter and Larson suggested that coaches were picking mainly based on name recognition in the end.

Larson will now rest her hopes on making the league through the individual tryouts held by the eight teams. At each team's training camp, there will open tryouts, on dates yet to be determined. The teams' present rosters--composed of 15 recent draftees, two foreign draftees and three initial U.S. National Team player allocations--are hardly set in stone.

"We would have the opportunity to try out with the individual teams," Larson said. "I'm definitely going to keep in touch with the league and [Commissioner] Tony DiCiccio. I have to send teams my resume, and figure out which teams need defenders."

Larson was the sweeper of a Crimson defense that gave up the fewest goals in the nation during the 1999 regular season. In 1998, she was a first-team All-Ivy selection, and she was Ivy Player of the Year in 1999.

Dartmouth's Kristina Luckenbill and Jessica Post, the Ivy Players of the Year in 1998 and 2000 respectively, were both late-round draft selections.

Larson expects that coaches will evaluate players more accurately in the training camp environment than they could at the combine.

"I think these individual team tryouts are a lot more appealing to see how you can play," Larson said. "There were 200 people at the combine, and you only got to play in four games. I don't know if that was enough. In individual tryouts you'll get to see how much you can play."

Zotter believes that Larson will be able to earn a WUSA roster spot by distinguishing herself in the smaller training camps.

"I'm totally behind her," Zotter said. "Anyone who'll see her in an intimate environment will pick up on her skill."

Harvard Coach Tim Wheaton is certain that Larson has the skill to play in the league, but her ability to make a roster will depend on how she fits in with what each individual coach wants.

"She's good enough to play," Wheaton said. "But it's the coaches' choice. We're disappointed for Jessie, but we're very happy for Beth and Carrie as well."

Moore, listed as a midfielder and defender on the draft chart, scored 21 career goals in her four-year career at William & Mary before becoming an assistant coach at Harvard.

"She's a really smart organizer," Wheaton said. "She's athletic. She comes forward well, reads the field well, and she's a great one-on-one defender."

Moore played a valuable role this season in furthering the maturity of the younger players on the team.

"She stepped in and played a lot with the kids," Wheaton said. "She played the role of the opposing star in our pre-games. She had a lot of experience, little subtleties that she was able to pass on to our kids. That helped because we were really young this year."

Moore will be teammates in Washington with all-World forward Mia Hamm and top U.S. goaltender Siri Mullinix.

According to Larson, Emily Stauffer '99 and Ashley Berman '00 might also consider playing in the league someday, although both Crimson alumni were too busy with other pursuits this year. Stauffer is presently working with Teach For America, and Berman is spending time in Australia on a work visa.

Larson, like Berman and Zotter, spent considerable time overseas following graduation.

"I was in San Diego for four months, and I was also in Sydney working with NBC for the Olympics," Lasrson said. "I was a runner, I worked for Hannah Storm in the morning show. Then I came home and trained for six weeks [before the combine]."

The absence of Larson from the draft board brought Zotter back down to earth, after her high from Sunday.

"Jessie getting drafted today would have been the icing on the cake," Zotter said. "Yesterday was a big up, now this brings me down a little bit."

Although Larson's undrafted status leaves her WUSA career less certain than she would like, she will get her second chance in the coming months. The WUSA aims to begin play in April.