Philadelphia Independence: Training Camp Roster Rounding Into Shape

Over the past year or so, the Expansion Philadelphia Independence has left no tuft of grass unturned when it comes to putting together a roster for their inaugural journey into Women’s Professional Soccer.

That process included the scouting of players at last spring’s Algarve Cup in Portugal and a trip to Sweden to talk with Swedish superstar, Caroline Segar.

They have also utilized their international allocations, the expansion draft, the college draft and more recently open tryouts—and for those of you who think open tryouts are something that teams do just for show, think again.

Independence General Manager Terry Foley told me the team was very serious about their open tryouts and were looking for players that would challenge the senior members of the team.

Twenty-five players, including 10 who had been invited back from previous combines, recently attended the team’s final tryout.  End result, five Independence hopefuls earned a call-back for their efforts and have been invited to join the team when preseason kicks off in March.

Those five players include the following:

Natalie Capuano	MD	University of Pennsylvania
Kimberly Francis	F/M	University of Maryland
Robyn Jones	GK	Rutgers/Franklin & Marshall
Kimberly Boulos	F	University of S.C./Fordham
Vanessa Valentine	D	California State Fullerton

Capuano and Francis have local ties to the Philadelphia area with Natalie playing her high school soccer at Sun Valley in Aston, PA, while Kimberly attended Council Rock High School in Bucks County, PA.

Francis, a former two-time captain at Maryland, is the Terrapin’s third all-time scorer with 67 points and sixth all-time goal scorer with 22.  Since graduating from Maryland, she has played forward/midfielder in the W-league for the Washington Freedom and worked as an assistant coach at Old Dominion University.

Robyn Jones has a rather interesting story; after starting her college career on a partial scholarship at Division I Rutgers, the goal keeper transferred to Division III Franklin & Marshall University, in the middle of Pennsylvania Amish country.

Apparently after attending a small private high school in New Jersey, Jones never quite felt at home on the Rutgers campus and longed for a smaller, and more student friendly atmosphere like F&M.

The addition of the Capuano, Francis, Jones, Boulos and Valentine bring the number of players on Philadelphia’s current roster to 28.  Independence GM Terry Foley tells me the club will probably play this season with 18 on the full roster and four developmental players.

Remaining players could be asked to train with the club's WPSL (Women’s Premier Soccer League) reserve team, formerly the Philadelphia Liberty now rebranded under the Independence name.

As the team gets ready for their spring training sessions, it should be noted that the club is lining up a very interesting series of exhibition games which at the moment includes defending NCAA women’s champ North Carolina, Penn State Women’s soccer and the Washington Freedom. The club is still working on a fourth and final exhibition opponent.