What The Heart Wants

Seven Days And Counting

The final week of preseason for the Hearts started off on the wrong foot, as a kitchen fire at 4am combined with adjusting to new beds after five nights in Cary resulted in a good portion of the team experiencing the Monday morning blahs. Once loaded on the bus, a few of the players nodded off for the 15-minute trip to Germantown Soccer Park, home of the Washington Spirit. Jim Gabarra chose to move his team's training to the afternoon for today and tomorrow, to better replicate game conditions for their match against the Hearts on Wednesday, leaving the main field free for their guests from Philadephia. Erica worked with the team on a handful of different player combinations that she would be attempting to have on the field together in the friendly. The team's bullish front pairing of Lindsey and Steph McCaffrey caused Cari and Emily a bit of trouble in terms of physicality, while the four center mid scheme (Becca, Morgan Andrews, Lindsey, and Diana) was effective in making their midfield opposition (Cari, Jen Hoy, Nickolette, and Kristie) ball-chase and open gaps for them to exploit. Following  a short-sided 7v7 scrimmage with the goals moved up to the edge of the 18s, time was called and the team hopped their bus for the trip back to the Hilton to shower and change before splitting up for the afternoon.

While the team was at practice, Lauren and Wendy were in the hotel's business center making preliminary decisions on the groupings for Heart-to-Heart as well as soliciting members of the media and other soccer insiders to attend and assist with their plan to keep the players protected. By the end of the morning, Lauren had a list of 19 people who were either already part of the guest list or agreed to come out for the evening. Those individuals were:

Jason Dambach; Bill Palladino; Brian O'Hara; Julie O'Hara; Aaron Donahue; Tyler Wise; Michael Bridges; Amy Mahan (Hearts store manager); Sean Bell (FOX 29); Jamie Apody (ABC 6); Marisa Pilla (NBC Sports Philadelphia); Joe Giglio (Urban Outfitters Stadium PA announcer); Jonathan Tannenwald (Philly Inquirer); Danielle Colaprico; Ryan Berley (Franklin Fountain); Molly Berley; Trish Donnelly (CEO, Urban Outfitters Group); Bill Malizia (Shissler Recreation Center); George Dunbar (Head women's soccer coach, Thomas Jefferson University).

With a good start made, Lauren moved her attention to pairing up the twenty players, Erica, and Carm into their sets for the two Q-and-A's and which support persons would be embedded with their groups. As she made headway on that, Wendy read through updates from today's negotiations between the NWSLPA and the league's owners on a collective bargaining agreement. The sides looked to be much closer to one another than they seemed 24 hours earlier, with ownership willing to convene the rules committee to discuss the two Laws of the Game modifications proposed by the players (dressing the full roster and four substitutions for each team) and the players amenable to keeping the current salary structure in exchange for multi-year contract agreements, which ownership wished to tie to performance-based benchmarks. Both sides would have the early afternoon to discuss among themselves the current proposals and re-convene at 3pm with the hope of having something to present to the Board of Governors and the non-national team members of the NWSL's twelve teams worked out by the end of the day.

***

Alone in their room, Kristie and Steph McCaffrey called Sam and Abby to get an update on their preseason in Chicago and what good rumors they've heard from around the league.

Steph M.: Lindsey and I are having a good time ragging on you in front of Kristie.

Sam: Should I be scared about how far you'll take it?

Kristie: I had to break out the leash when we met Lindsey and Emily's plane at the airport on the 16th, as the two of them were ready to throw down.

Abby: Glad I'm not part of your twisted little world, Kristie. How's the team in Philly coming together?

Steph: The on-field product is pretty good. Lindsey playing the 8 behind Savannah Jordan and myself looks like it can create problems for teams that choose not to man-mark her. Kristie is, well, Kristie and I'm planning to benefit from her field vision and crossing skill. The back line is a little bit of a work-in-progress. Cari and Emily in the middle are solid, and Becca Quinn and Ali can fill in there if need be. The outside backs aren't at their level and it's probably where we can be most exposed. What's the word with you guys and the Red Stars?