Sports Then and Now

After playing on 2010 WPS Champion FC Gold, Christine Sinclair will look to have similar success with the Western New York Flash.

The Western New York Flash of Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) has announced that it has agreed to terms with four players for the 2011 season, all of whom come to the Flash with experience in WPS.

As promised in their launch press conference, the club has signed a key Canadian player, Christine Sinclair, in an attempt to reach out to fans north of the border. The acquisitions were plucked from a rich pool of free agent talent made available by the dissolution of WPS 2010 Champion FC Gold Pride.

Along with Sinclair, Gold Pride defenders Ali Riley and Candace Wilson will make their way across the country from the West Coast. The Flash also agreed to terms with free agent Brittany Bock, who spent the 2010 season with the Washington Freedom.

Sinclair, one of the top strikers in the world comes to the Flash after an outstanding 2010 year. After winning the WPS Championship with FC Gold Pride, Sinclair went on to lead Canada in being crowned CONCACAF Champions after defeating Mexico, 1-0, in the final. Sinclair had the game-winning goal in the match and ended with six goals in the tournament. Sinclair has extensive international experience, with 140 caps and 107 goals and is currently the all time leader in goals in Canadian history. Sinclair spent both years in WPS with Gold Pride, appearing 40 times for the club with 16 goals and 10 assists in two seasons. Read the rest of this entry →

Team to be called Western New York Flash, Owner’s Story is Classic Buffalo Tale

If this isn’t a classic Buffalo story, I don’t know what is.

Joe Sahlen, owner of a multi-generational family owned meat packing company and maker of the local favorite Sahlen’s Hot Dogs (the official hot dog of the Buffalo Bills) has made his apparently large amount of money honestly. True, he inherited the company from his father and grandfather before him, but he’s done a good job keeping the business from running into the ground like a lot of subsequent generation executives often do. He’s scrappy, intuitive, flies by the seat of his pants, and does things because he wants to.

When his daughter, Alexandra Sahlen, was having to commute all the way to Rochester to play minor league soccer for the Rochester Rain, Sahlen did what any good soccer Dad would do— he bought his daughter a team and brought it to Buffalo, calling it the Buffalo Flash, making sure the team logo looked a lot like the Sahlen company logo, lest anyone forget the connection.

Alexandra had made a friend in Rochester. A man named Aaran Lines, a former New Zealand international was finishing his pro career in the US minor leagues, playing finally, for Rochester Rhinos. Lines had been a decent player but had never coached at any level. Sahlen must have had a good feeling about Lines, because he hired him as the Flash’s head coach.

The team first took the field in the 2009 season in the developmental “W-League.” Despite having difficulty recruiting the best players due to the inception of a new major league for women, Womens Professional Soccer (WPS), Sahlen was able to assemble a good enough team to make the playoffs in their first year. And apparently Lines was a good enough coach to get them there. They lost in the first round but they made the playoffs. Not bad at all for a first year team with a first year coach. Read the rest of this entry →