The Wait Is Over

Rounding Up The Ranch Hands

Wednesday morning around the NWSL started with emails from Laura Harvey to the fourteen NWSL clubs' general managers, the seven preceptors for the upcoming National Team camp (Alyssa Naeher, Julie Johnston Ertz, Emily Sonnett, Sam Mewis, Lindsey Horan, Rose Lavelle, and Christen Press), and the six USWNT alumnae joining the group for the week in Portland (Tobin Heath, Meghan Klingenberg, Allie Long, Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, and Ashlyn Harris) with a run-down of the schedule for their time together in the Rose City ahead of the first match against Belgium. Because of meetings involving the preceptors and coaching staff on Sunday morning, Mewis, Lavelle, and Sonnett will have to either fly overnight following their match in Atlanta or be scratched from the NWSL fixture. When word trickled down from Lee Billiard and Carlos Bocanegra to John Herdman and Rebecca Nolin, naturally the coaches felt as though Harvey was placing an undue burden on their players and indirectly their teams. With the options available bad and worse, Herdman decided to let his two players miss the match against the Storm and fly out to Portland on Friday afternoon if they so chose. As deputy skipper, Sonnett was required to stay for her team's Friday afternoon walk-through, but could leave after that if she so desired. She chose to book a flight for Saturday morning instead of Friday night and with that, everything was resolved for the three players.

In Orlando, Alex Morgan and Ashlyn Harris were rankling one another about their upcoming time together in Portland.

Alex: With us going to National Team camp after our game in Vancouver, we'll be rooming together for like nine or ten nights straight. Have you done that with anyone other than Ali in the past?

Ashlyn: No, not even when we went deep in the NCAA tournament. We would always go back to Chapel Hill for a day or two between rounds. Whit and I were housemates at home, but weren't roommates on the road because Anson wanted us to be more available to the team when we were away from UNC.

Alex: I hope I measure up to your wife's standards of adorableness and good humor.

Ashlyn: We've been rooming together on the road for the past couple of seasons, so I'm used to you.

Alex: True, but that's two or maybe three nights at a time, not a week-and-a-half.

Ashlyn: Are you saying you might get on my nerves by the time next Saturday comes?

Alex: I KNOW you'll be tearing your hair out with my "woe is me" routine and princess vibe after putting up with it for that long.

Ashlyn: If I couldn't handle it, I would have asked Tom to get me a different roomie long ago.

Lindsey overheard a bit of the conversation and walked over to speak with her teammates.

Lindsey: Did I hear the two of you are coming to camp next week?

Ashlyn: Yes. Laura wants some of us old-timers who are still playing there to look over the new players and play against them in a closed-door scrimmage during the week.

Lindsey: So are you leaving Vancouver right after the match like me?

Alex: No. We're staying Saturday night and coming down on Sunday since our first official activity in camp isn't until Monday morning.

Lindsey: Those of us who are preceptors have meetings with Laura and Joy on Sunday morning, so we have to fly out after our games on Saturday.

Alex: Wonder how those with games on the east coast are handling this?

Ashlyn: Red-eye, probably, since none of the teams are required to release them before the conclusion of their matches this weekend.

Lindsey: I should call Emily and find out, since her, Sam, and Rose would be flying out together following the Breakers/Storm match.