Two Gators Listed Among Top 5 Picks for 2011 Women's Professional Draft
Tuesday, January 4, 2011 | Soccer
Two who finished their Gator careers in the fall of 2010 are listed among the five in the depth chart for the upcoming Women's Professional Soccer Draft.
Goalkeeper Katie Fraine (Titusville, Fla.) shares the No. 2 spot with Notre Dame's Niki Weiss while defender Ashlee Elliott (Corona, Calif.) is listed fifth on the defenders' depth chart. The depth charts were developed after consulting some of the nation's top women's soccer experts, which includes contributors to ESPN.com, SI.com and writers for women's soccer websites such as AllWhiteKit.com and EqualizerSoccer.com.
Here are the consensus top five picks put together from votes by the women's soccer experts:
| Top Five Goalkeeper & Defenders Picks for 2011 Women's Professional Soccer Draft | ||||||
| Goalkeepers | Defenders | |||||
| Rank | Name | School |
| Rank | Name | School |
| 1 | Kristin Arnold | Texas A&M | 1 | Elli Reed | Portland | |
| 2 | Katie Fraine | Florida | 2 | Lauren Barnes | UCLA | |
| Niki Weiss | Notre Dame | Lauren Fowlkes | Notre Dame | |||
| 4 | Kerri Butler | West Virginia | 4 | Hannah Cerrone | Boston College | |
| 5 | Alex Lostetter | Army | 5 | Ashlee Elliott | Florida | |
| Other Notables: Michelle Dalton, GK, Wisconsin; Mollie Patton, GK, South Carolina | Other Notables: Rachel Givan, North Carolina; Jessica Tsao, Portland | |||||
Both played key roles as the Gators claimed their fifth consecutive Southeastern Conference title and helped UF to a top-10 national ranking in 10 of the 12 National Soccer Coaches Association of America polls during the 2010 season.
Fraine ended her UF career with the school record for career solo shutouts with 27. She made her second consecutive appearance on an All-South Region team as a senior. In 2010, Fraine missed just one start due to an injury and finished second in the SEC with a goals-against-average of 0.71. She led the SEC in 2010 by matching her career-high season total of 10 solo shutouts.
In 2010, Elliott returned from a medical redshirt to become an All-Southeastern Conference first-team selection, marking her third career appearance on the league's first team. Elliott earned her second All-Region honor in 2010, earning a spot on the All-South Region first team as a senior. In 2010 she started every match at center back and she finished her UF career with 14 goals, 13 assists and 41 points.
The 2011 WPS Draft is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. ET on Friday, Jan. 14 in Baltimore, Md. The 2011 selections can be followed in real time via a live league webcast on www.WomensProSoccer.com . The live webcast will include chats, interviews and analysis from WPS experts for fans to follow along.
Two former Gator All-Americans have been on WPS rosters since the league's inception – Heather Mitts (Philadelphia Independence) and Abby Wambach (Washington Freedom). One other Gator – Stacy Bishop (Atlanta Beat) was on a 2010 WPS roster.
