Two former teammates and international stalwarts are left unprotected by their current NWSL teams for the 2017 Expansion Draft, where they are selected by the newly-founded Philadelphia Hearts. Amidst individual trials that seek to isolate them from...
A number of Hearts players (including the three draftees) made personal appearances at the team store in Reading Terminal Market, signing merchandise and other pieces of memorabilia, including copies of Sunday's Philadelphia Inquirer which featured an interview by Jonathan Tannenwald of the team's coaching staff, Ali, and Steph Labbe conducted at College Cup. Lauren did a couple of quick Q-and-A's with Franny and Jen Hoy as part of a statewide outreach campaign for the organization. The team's five couples were taking turns wandering the market in their kits talking with patrons and handing out magnet schedules.
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Back at the hotel, more depositions were being done. Diana Matheson was currently meeting with Brian and David concerning her interaction with Orlandini and her observations of his actions against her fellow Hearts players.
Brian: Diana, describe how you have come to be involved in this case.
Diana: At National Team camp in Vancouver, Steph Labbe and I watched the Hearts' press conference at which the defendant inquired as to Ali Krieger's sexual orientation, the first of multiple harassing acts against her. At our charity event, Hearts United, he made several approaches of our players, even to the point of disparaging one with an ethnic homophobic slur.
Brian: Was this before or after you engaged him at the event?
Diana: After. I confronted him as a means of distraction so that other members of the Hearts could get away from the facility. He chose to insult me about my height, after which I asked him why he wasn't just out-and-out asking who was gay and who wasn't if that was what he really wanted to know. He accused me of blowing hot air and then I disclosed my own sexuality and relationship status. Upon hearing that, he shouted the aforementioned slur, which caused one of the players who it was against to launch into a diatribe against him in Spanish.
Brian: Were you with the group at the airport on November 20th?
Diana: No, I was not. I had left for Toronto on Saturday the 18th.
Brian: That sums up my questioning. David?
David: During discovery, I found that you are an economics graduate from Princeton. Since this case deals in part with financial motivation and how parties can or should be compensated for losses incurred based on the defendant's actions, I want to know if you have been asked by either the plaintiffs or their legal team to delve into the financials of parties to this lawsuit, or germane non-parties?
Diana: If you mean has Wendy asked me to search Greg's accounts for dirt that can be used at trial, the answer is no.
David: What about other plaintiffs, such as Julie Johnston?
Diana: I have not been asked by her to assist in her separate claim against the defendant.
