Breakers blast 'travesty of justice'
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Jun 19, 2012
[WPSL ELITE] The Boston Breakers fell out of a tie for first place in the WPSL Elite League when they had to forfeit their 3-2 win over the Western New York
Flash for starting striker Melissa Henderson, whose International Transfer Certificate from a Russian club had not yet been cleared by U.S. Soccer. Breakers
management blasted the situation, saying Henderson's initial transfer was done "without any authorization" and "communication issues" led the Breakers to use the former Notre Dame star when she was
ineligible.
“It is unfortunate that in the process of the WPS suspending their season, ITCs for a number of U.S. players were issued to clubs that had no interaction and no contract
with these players, which has held up the clearance of U.S. players’ status in the U.S.," Boston Breakers managing partner Michael Stoller said in a
statement released on Tuesday. "Unfortunately, we understood that this player of ours was cleared before the game and found out only after the game that was not the case. More frustratingly, we now
understand that the ITC has still not been issued despite the player’s rights having been inappropriately sent to a club in Russia without any authorization, documentation or other required
forms. This is a travesty of justice for the player, who is our only concern. It is a shame such a situation has been allowed to happen and we at the Boston Breakers are disappointed it has affected
the standings, the player, and that the process has not been corrected even to this date. As an organization, we work towards the absolute highest standards of professionalism and followed the
specific directives given to us in this matter, but the fundamental issue of the improper ITC caused confusion and we understood that the player had been cleared to play. In a perfect world, these
communication issues would not have occurred and the player would have been held out of the game.”
The loss dropped Boston's record from 6-1-0 to 5-2-0 and into fourth place with 15
points, behind the Chicago Red Stars (18 points), Western New York (17) and New York Flash (16).
The forfeit wiped out a Katie Schoepfer hat trick
for Boston.
-- Chicago suffered its first loss of the season when the Flash beat the Red Stars, 3-0. Jamaican international Omolyn Davis had a goal
and an assist to break her season-long slump. Katy Frierson and Spanish international Adriana also scored as the Flash
tripled the previous number of goals allowed all season by Chicago’s Jamie Forbes. The Red Stars came back to down the New England Mutiny, 4-0, and move
to the top of the standings.
-- The Mutiny signed forward Tiffany Weimer for the remainder of the 2012 season. The former Penn State star concluded
her season with Fortuna Hjorring of Denmark's Elitedivisionen, where it finished second and qualified for the UEFA Women's Champions League. She played in WPS for FC Gold Pride and Boston and
previously in the WPSL for SoccerPlus CT. She has also played for teams in Brazil, Canada, Finland and Sweden.
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