What The Heart Wants

Homecoming

Wednesday's training at WakeMed Park for the Hearts consisted of several game scenarios and lineups that Erica and Carm wanted to test before giving Wendy their opinion on the current roster and how she should go about filling the roster opening that existed. Aside from Kristie, all the other attacking-type midfielders (Lindsey, Diana, Morgan Andrews) spent time both at center mid and right mid. Becca and Ali alternated between center back and defensive midfield, with Cari and Emily swapping in and out to partner them. The session ended with a 10v10 scrimmage that included Erica and Carm, with the three goalkeepers cycling between the two teams. Following some rotating of players, the two coaches settled on the following grouping for the "provisional starters" team: Steph Labbe; Liz, Cari, Emily, Cami; Diana, Lindsey, Kristie; Steph McCaffrey, Savannah. With this combination, the front five dominated the fivesome of Steph Ochs, Carm, Ali (DM), Becca, and Morgan Reid, leaving Sammy Jo to deal with more business than she expected. A shot from Lindsey forced her to make a fully-outstretched save, after which she grabbed the back of her left shoulder, having felt a small twinge. Being extremely cautious, Erica had Steph move over to her and Carm's team and EJ take over in the other team's net, pulling Sammy Jo for the last 20 minutes of practice.

***

Following lunch, Erica, Carm, Kristin, Steph, Ali, and Diana met in the Cardinal Room to break down today's training session and to lay out what Carm and Wendy had discussed on Monday morning.

Erica: The group we put together at the end of the scrimmage, with the addition of Ali at the 6, I feel will be our opening day starting lineup. In terms of on-field movement, if Lindsey presses up through the middle, Diana would slot inside, then Liz pushes forward on the right, with Ali providing cover either centrally or in the space which was vacated. As for the remaining players, here is what I'm thinking in terms of who they will shadow on the roster.

Erica walked to the white board and wrote out the following list:

Sammy Jo ---> Steph Labbe

EJ ---> Steph Labbe

Morgan Reid ---> Cami, Cari

Steph Ochs ---> Liz

Jen ---> Savannah, Diana (RM)

Frannie ---> Steph McCaffrey

Becca ---> Ali, Emily

Morgan Andrews ---> Diana, Lindsey (CM), Ali, Kristie

Erica: We have Sarah coming in mid-May, and she will shadow at all four midfield spots. So where is our greatest need with the open spot we currently have, or do we just leave it open until she arrives?

Carm: When Wendy and I talked on Monday about this trip, I asked her whether she had heard anything out of Portland related to our getting an additional player from the trade for Lindsey and Emily. The Portland/Orlando trade was announced while we were together, and after seeing who the Thorns received, we pondered whether we could finish off the deal by sending them our international roster spot for one of the players they got from the Pride.

Erica: Who do you have in mind?

Carm: Nickolette Driesse.

Ali: Awwww. I LOVE her. Such a great teammate and hard worker.

Erica: True, Ali. She played for me at Penn State and is from Wayne, NJ, about 2 hours from Philly. That would give us another player who can play the flanks, another sort of local player, and it would allow her and Frannie to reunite since they had developed some chemistry together in Happy Valley their two seasons together.

Carm: So you good with that?

Erica: Definitely. I'll call Wendy after we finish and ask her to get the wheels moving. Hopefully she'll be able to join us here before we depart for DC, but if not I'll have Wendy direct her to meet us there on Sunday afternoon.

Ali: How do we squeeze Sarah in when she arrives?

Carm: By that point, we'll have played five games and I'm sure SOMEONE will have picked up a bit of a ding that might require time on the 45-day list. Otherwise, we can move one of the rookies to the Reserves until a spot opens up, or just delay signing her until that happens. Let's worry about that when the time comes.

Kristin: Sammy Jo's shoulder thing doesn't look too serious, but I'll keep an eye on her in case she did do something to it on that save and it tightens up or she begins favoring it in training.

Erica: Carm, what's the plan for tomorrow?

Carm: Some of the players will be joining Becca and EJ when they go to Wilson to check out wedding venues. As for the others, the two options I've come up with are the Hurricanes/Coyotes hockey game and rock-climbing and the like at Triangle Rock Club.

Steph: I'd say we go with the hockey game. Less chance of getting hurt and the ones that go to Wilson I would guess might end up out at the Proctors' following their venue touring.

Ali: Sounds good. I'm going with Becca and EJ. Diana?

Diana: I'm going as well. Need to get SOME kind of idea of what we're getting into when we do ours next February.

Erica: We're finished for the time being. GET OUT OF HERE and enjoy the rest of the day.

***

Wendy: Erica. How was the first day of training in Cary?

Erica: It went really well. I think we have our opening-day first XI set. Carm, Kristin, and I along with Steph Labbe, Ali, and Diana met afterwards to go over the roster and see where our bench players fit in. Carm told me that, when you and her met on Monday, the topic of completing the trade with the Thorns came up.

Wendy: Yes. They got one of your former Penn State players in the trade and also picked up an international player that they'll need a spot to roster, I believe.

Erica: Get the ball rolling. She told me who you two were considering, and I'd like to have her with this squad in Philly. If you can, see if she can come to Cary and meet us before we leave here for DC. Otherwise, have her meet us there on Sunday afternoon.

Wendy: Will do. Anything else?

Erica: We'll need Hearts gear for her when we get to Washington. Can Amy and you work on making that happen and sending it to our hotel there?

Wendy: Consider it done.

Erica: I ought to go take advantage of this nice weather to do more than just sit around the hotel and work. Are you coming down for the game on Saturday?

Wendy: Planning to fly in with Bill and Zach on Friday, spend some time Bill and Suzi that evening and Saturday before the game, then ride back up with the team to DC and then Philly.

Erica: See you then, boss.

After hanging up with Erica, Wendy called Gavin Wilkinson at the Thorns and the future considerations from last Tuesday's trade were finalized. Following that, she texted Erica that the deal was done, leading her to contact Nickolette to inform her of the trade and ask when she would be able to meet up with the team. Still in Orlando, she told Erica that she could be on the road in a couple of hours and make it to Cary by around 1am, preferring to do that instead of flying in tomorrow or going part-way today and the rest in the morning. She told her to contact her once she got to the Doubletree and that she'd be staying with her for the night before being paired with Frannie for the rest of the trip.