2011 Philadelphia Independence season

Philadelphia Independence

2011 season
Owner	Team Dynamics, LLC
Head Coach	Paul Riley
Stadium	Leslie Quick Stadium Chester, Pennsylvania (Capacity: 4,500)
Women's Professional Soccer	2nd
WPS Playoffs	Runners-up
Top goalscorer	Tasha Kai (9)
Highest home attendance	4,162 (Aug. 7 vs. Sky Blue FC)
Lowest home attendance	1,996 (July 6 vs. Sky Blue FC)
Average home league attendance	2,774
Biggest win	6-0 (June 19 vs. magicJack)
Biggest defeat	0-2 (July 23 at Sky Blue FC)
Home colors Away colors
← 2010
All statistics correct as of June 15, 2017.

The 2011 Philadelphia Independence season was the team's second and final season in the Women's Professional Soccer league, and its final season as a team.

Review

The Independence traded Karina LeBlanc to the Chicago Red Stars to move up to the second overall pick in the 2011 WPS Draft and midfielder Caroline Seger to the expansion Western New York Flash for their first pick in the draft's second round. The Independence selected University of Virginia midfielder Sinead Farrelly with the acquired first-round pick.^[1][2] The Independence would select seven players in the draft, more than any other team in the 6-team league. It also signed goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart on February 24, 2011, after the dissolution of FC Gold Pride.^[3]

The team also changed home venues, moving from West Chester University to Widener University.^[2]

The Independence finished second in league play, won the WPS Super Semifinal 2-0 over magicJack, then drew the Western New York Flash in the 2011 WPS championship after extra time, losing in penalties 5-4. Head coach Paul Riley was named WPS Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season, and Verónica Boquete was named Player of the Year.

This was the team's final season, as it dissolved in 2012 along with the Women's Professional Soccer league itself. Many of its players and staff would go on to other teams that moved to different leagues, while others appeared in the next fully professional women's soccer league, the National Women's Soccer League, after it launched in 2013.^[4]

Squad

2011 WPS Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Pos	Previous Team
1	2	Sinead Farrelly	MF	Virginia
1	5	Lauren Fowlkes	DF	Notre Dame
2	9	Jennifer Stoltenberg	FW	Oregon
2	11	Caitlin Farrell	DF	Wake Forest
3	15	Lauren Barnes	DF	UCLA
3	18	Bianca D'Agostino	MF	Wake Forest
4	23	Teresa Rynier	MF	James Madison

First-team squad

As of September 26, 2011^[5]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 0 FW Tasha Kai 1 GK Val Henderson 3 DF Allison Falk 4 MF Jen Buczkowski 6 MF Lori Lindsey 7 DF Leigh Ann Robinson 8 FW Amy Rodriguez 9 FW Danesha Adams 10 FW Lianne Sanderson 13 FW Laura del Rio 14 MF Sinead Farrelly

No. Position Player 15 DF Nikki Krzysik 16 DF Kia McNeill 17 MF Joanna Lohman 20 FW Gina DiMartino 21 FW Verónica Boquete 22 DF Lauren Barnes 23 GK Nicole Barnhart 24 DF Estelle Johnson 25 MF Tina DiMartino 28 DF Lauren Fowlkes 39 GK Robyn Jones

Transfers

Sources: WPS Transactions: 2011, WPS Transactions: 2010

In

Date	Player	Positions Played	Previous Club
January 31, 2011	Verónica Boquete	FW	RCD Espanyol
	Laura del Rio	FW	Boston Breakers
February 24, 2011	Nicole Barnhart	GK	FC Gold Pride[3]
March 24, 2011	Sinead Farrelly	MF	Virginia
April 1, 2011	Lauren Barnes	DF	UCLA
April 4, 2011	Lauren Fowlkes	DF	Notre Dame

Out

Date	Player	Positions Played	Destination Club	Fee/Notes
October 12, 2010	Karina LeBlanc	GK	Chicago Red Stars	Traded for 1st- and 3rd-round picks in 2011 WPS Draft.
November 8, 2010	Lyndsey Patterson	MF/FW	Atlanta Beat	Waived.
	Sarah Senty	DF		Waived.
December 21, 2010	Caroline Seger	FW	Western New York Flash	Traded for 2nd-round picks in 2011 and 2012 WPS Drafts.
January 20, 2011	Heather Mitts	DF	Atlanta Beat	Traded for 3rd-round pick in 2012 WPS Draft.
June 22, 2011	Megan Rapinoe	MF	magicJack	Traded in exchange for cash considerations.
July 25, 2011	Holmfridur Magnusdottir	MF/FW	Valur	Waived.

Squad statistics

Source: WPS

Squad statistics are of the regular season only.

N	Pos	Player	GP	GS	Min	G	A	PK	Shot	SOG	SOG%	Foul	FS	YC	RC
0	F	Tasha Kai	17	16	1234	9	1	0	49	28	57.14%	9	19	1	0
4	M	Jen Buczkowski	18	18	1620	0	0	0	7	3	42.86%	18	9	1	0
6	M	Lori Lindsey	9	1	254	0	0	0	5	3	60.00%	2	1	0	0
7	D	Leigh Ann Robinson	17	17	1530	0	2	0	5	0	0.00%	4	4	0	0
8	F	Amy Rodriguez	10	6	641	2	0	0	19	8	42.11%	5	9	0	0
10	F	Lianne Sanderson	17	8	670	3	3	1	19	12	63.16%	5	9	1	0
13	F	Laura del Rio	15	3	471	2	3	0	29	19	65.52%	2	4	0	0
14	M	Sinead Farrelly	14	13	1101	1	2	0	13	8	61.54%	7	5	1	0
15	M	Nikki Krzysik	18	18	1620	0	0	0	0	0	—	14	3	1	0
16	D	Kia McNeill	17	17	1453	1	0	0	7	6	85.71%	12	6	1	1
17	D	Joanna Lohman	9	6	495	0	2	0	11	4	36.36%	6	11	1	0
19	M	Danesha Adams	13	8	703	3	1	0	20	13	65.00%	6	12	1	0
21	F	Verónica Boquete	11	10	902	5	4	0	29	21	72.41%	5	12	0	0
24	D	Estelle Johnson	15	13	1194	1	1	0	5	2	40.00%	4	4	0	0
25	M	Tina DiMartino	18	18	1429	2	1	0	18	8	44.44%	4	9	0	0
26	F	Holmfridur Magnusdottir	12	6	586	1	1	0	10	3	30.00%	11	1	2	0
Team Total			230	178	15903	30	21	1	246	138	56.10%	114	118	10	1

N	Pos	Goal keeper	GP	GS	Min	GA	GA/G	PKA	PKF	Shot	Sav	Sho
23	GK	Nicole Barnhart	9	9	810	10	1.11	1	2	49	37	3
1	GK	Val Henderson	9	9	810	8	0.89	1	1	28	20	4
Team Total			18	18	1620	18	2.00	2	3	77	57	7

Club

Management

Position	Staff
Head coach	Paul Riley
Assistant coach	Paul Royal
Assistant coach	Skip Thorp
Strength and conditioning coach	Mike Demakis

Competitions

Women's Professional Soccer

Regular season

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Ground	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	H	H	A	A	A	H	H	A
Result	D	W	L	W	W	D	L	D	W	W	W	W	W	L	W	W	W	L

Last updated: August 22, 2011.
Source: WPS
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

Home/away results

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
18	11	3	4	31	18	+13	36	7	1	1	21	8	+13	4	2	3	10	10	0

Last updated: August 22, 2011.
Source: WPS

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or qualification	Head-to-head
1	Western New York Flash !Western New York Flash (A)	18	13	3	2	40	18	+22	42	2011 WPS Championship
2	Philadelphia Independence !Philadelphia Independence (A)	18	11	3	4	31	18	+13	36	2011 WPS Super Semifinal
3	magicJack !magicJack (A)	18	9	2	7	29	29	0	0281	2011 WPS Playoffs
4	Boston Breakers !Boston Breakers (A)	18	5	4	9	19	24	−5	19		BOS: 7 pts SKY: 4 pt
5	Sky Blue FC !Sky Blue FC	18	5	4	9	24	29	−5	19
6	Atlanta Beat !Atlanta Beat	18	1	4	13	7	32	−25	7

Classification rules: 1) points, 2) goal difference, 3) head to head result. Source: soccerway

• (P) = WPS Premiership (best regular season record); (A) = Advances to 2011 Women's Professional Soccer Playoffs
• ¹ - magicJack were deducted a point for various league violations.^[7]

WPS Playoffs

Awards

Player of the Week

Week	Player of the Week	Week's Statline
Week 11	Verónica Boquete	3 A, 1 G
Week 13	Natasha Kai	3 G
		1 G
Week 14	Verónica Boquete	1 G
Week 16	Verónica Boquete	1 G, GWG
		1 G, GWG

WPS year-end awards

Award	Player	Notes
Michelle Akers Player of the Year	Verónica Boquete	Also earned league’s top honor as MVP
WPS Coach of the Year	Paul Riley	Led his team to a seven-game unbeaten streak and playoff final
Citi Sportswoman of the Year	Nikki Krzysik	Team captain selected by her peers for exemplary leadership

Source: 2011 WPS Year End Awards

2011 WPS Best XI

Player	Position
Kia McNeill	Defense
Nikki Krzysik	Defense
Verónica Boquete *	Midfield
Jen Buczkowski	Midfield

* – unanimous selection
Source: WPS Announces Best XI of 2011

See also

• 2011 Women's Professional Soccer season
• 2011 Women's Professional Soccer Playoffs

References