Yesterday, the inaugural draft of the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) came to a bittersweet conclusion for Harvard women's soccer.
A draft made memorable by the selection of Beth Zotter '00 by the New York Power in the fourth round on Sunday became even more momentous when the Washington Freedom selected 2000 Crimson volunteer assistant coach Carrie Moore in the 14th round with the 107th overall pick.
But when the entire draft--15 rounds plus a compensation pick for a total of 121 players--was finished, fullback Jessica Larson '00 was nowhere to be found on the draft board.
"I was pretty disappointed, but I'm not going to give up," Larson said. "I feel I really have a chance. The teams aren't full yet."
Zotter was confident that Larson, her fellow Crimson co-captain in 1999, would find her way onto a WUSA Roster eventually.
"She's not finished," Zotter said. "She definitely deserves to be on one of those teams. She just was at a big disadvantage because she hasn't had as much national exposure. If she had, things would be different."
Larson lacked the national exposure that the Olympic Developmental Program (ODP) had provided to Zotter, who was once in the U.S. Under-20 National Pool.
"A lot of coaches had seen players beforehand, and had players in mind," Larson said. "I hadn't been in ODP before, and I was really relying on the combine."
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