Yanks join foreign influx in Frauen-Bundesliga

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Mar 29, 2012

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Germany's Frauen-Bundesliga, which includes two UEFA Women's Champions League semifinalists, has seen an influx of Americans since its restart at the end of February. A dozen players are on First Division rosters for the remainder of the 2011-12 season that has six games remaining. Most have had professional experience in WPS or Scandinavia, but Wisconsin-Milwaukee Sarah Hagen, a 2011 Soccer America MVP at Wisconsin-Milwaukee, jumped right from the college ranks to Bayern Munich, for which she scored two goals in her debut, a 3-0 win over Freiburg.

Former Penn State star Alyssa Naeher arrived after the 2011 WPS season at Turbine Potsdam and re-signed with the Frauen-Bundesliga leader when WPS suspended its 2012 season. She has been starting in goal for Potsdam, which has advanced to the semifinals of the Women's Champions League along with FFC Frankfurt.

More generally, German women's soccer has seen an influx of foreigners. Naeher and fellow Yank Alex Singer are among 10 foreigners at Potsdam. Injured Ali Krieger first joined Frankfurt in 2009, but Alex Singer arrived last summer at Frankfurt, which now has seven foreign players.

Turbine Potsdam (1st, 38 pts.)
GP/G PLAYER, COLLEGE
12/- Alyssa Naeher, Penn State
4/0 Alex Singer, Virginia

FFC Frankfurt (T-3rd, 34 pts.)
13/0 Gina Lewandowski, Lehigh
11/0 Ali Krieger, Penn State

SC Freiburg (5th, 22 pts.)
6/0 Chioma Igwe, Santa Clara

Essen-Schoenebeck (T-6th, 20 pts.)
3/0 Katarina Tarr, Missouri

Bayern Munich (T-7th, 20 pts.)
5/2 Sarah Hagen, Wisconsin-Milwaukee
2/0 Niki Cross, Connecticut

Lokomotive Leipzig (11th, 9 pts.)
5/1 Katie Kelly, Marquette
5/1 Jenista Clark, Minnesota
0/0 Kelly Eagan, Villanova

Bayer Leverkusen (12th, 8 pts.)
4/1 Katie Bethke, Minnesota

Note: Jaime Souza left Wolfsburg at the end of February to move to Japan.