So far this WPS season the L.A. Sol looks to be the cream of the crop.  But in the race for second place, Cat Whitehill and her Washington Freedom teammates look to be a strong contender and she tells Soccer365's Lars Lifrak not to hand L.A. the title just yet.  She also discusses the breakout season of teammate Sonia Bompastor and the mark former North Carolina players are making on the league.

by Lars Lifrak

365:  First question, how do you think the season is going so far?
Cat Whitehill:  It’s definitely been an interesting season.  We started out playing well but not getting the results we wanted.  We were in the lower end of the standings and pretty down as a team, but then we had a five game unbeaten streak and we were starting to feel really encouraged.  Then we go to LA and play our worst game of the year, so it’s been an up and down season.  But it’s been a really good learning experience, especially playing LA again this early in the season at their place, because now we are coming up on the halfway point of the season and I’m hoping with all my heart that was our worst performance of the year and we can just focus on getting better for the rest of the year and we can move forward from here.

365:  At this point with the way the playoffs are set up (regular season champion advances directly to and hosts title game) it looks very much like the Sol will be hosting the championship game.  After losing out there two times, do you feel like you still have a chance to beat them if you get that far?
CW:  Well the first game we played against them was the inaugural game of the season so if they lost that game it… they had a ton of pressure on them.  Personally I feel like we let the pressure get to us but they didn’t and that’s why we lost that game.  The time we were playing a lot better but we didn’t perform as well as we should have and we had in the previous games.  But don’t forget, LA has played two more games then we have, and while they look like they’re way up there in the standings, but we have two games in hand.  Also we have yet to have our full squad on the field.  We just got Ali Krieger in, Lori Lindsey was sick, Erin McLeod just came in, Abby was suspended so it’s been crazy for us and I think we’ll finally all be together soon.

365:  Tell me about your thoughts on how the league is going so far and the potential for the future.
CW:  I’m encouraged so far because I have a huge hope that this league will succeed.  Even people who don’t even like soccer can cheer for this league to happen, because a lot of people who don’t like soccer have daughters who play soccer.  You just hope that this will stick around for the long haul.  The good thing is we had a league before where we learned a lot.  We are starting small, which is encouraging.  We have goals that we are attaining still, which is encouraging in this economy.  And as for the soccer, it’s been way beyond my expectations.  The game is faster, my friends are all telling me this is the fastest they’ve seen women’s soccer.  It’s because the women’s game has evolved to an all time high.  Other countries are putting forth effort for their women.  Our country of course has the college training and the speed of play is just tremendous.  The competition has been amazing, it’s a lot of fun to play in, so I thoroughly enjoy playing in this league.

365:  Actually the next question I wanted to ask is about an international player on your team who I think has been the biggest revelation of the season so far, Sonia Bompastor.  Were you expecting her to have such an impact?
CW:  To be honest, I didn’t think she’d have such an impact.  We’ve played France a lot and I’ve never really seen one specific player stick out.  When you play Brazil, Marta really sticks out in your head.  For France you never really get that sense.  So when we started out I was like, ‘Ok we’re going to have a French girl’.  But I trust (head coach) Jim (Gabarra’s) judgment, so I was like ok this is going to be exciting.  After the first day of practice and I told Jim, ‘Thank you so much for taking Sonia.’  You could tell right away she was going to be a great player.  Lori Lindsey and I looked at each other and said, ‘I bet she is going to be the international MVP of this league’.  This was like in the first week.  She just blew our minds.  She is one of the most creative and technical players.  She has been such a blessing to our team and to this league just because of how great she can play.

365:  Going into this season the biggest story for Washington was Abby Wambach coming back from the big injury.  Do you think she is 100% and have you gotten a sense the fact she is one goal away from 100 internationally is a big deal for her?
CW:  Yeah, I think she’s 100%.  I think she is frustrated with not scoring but when it comes to chemistry it takes a little while.  When she was suspended and then was off with the national team she lost a few weeks of practice so now she’s starting to get it back.  I think physically though she thinks she’s 100%.  As for that 100th goal, I haven’t actually talked with her about it but I know it’s a lot of pressure on her.  I think she just wants to get the 100th goal so she can get it out of the way so she can then go on and keep scoring goals.  It’s one of those things where the only way she knew she had 99 goals was because our press officer told her.  She’s not keeping stats in her head so now she’s got this extra pressure that she didn’t realize.  It’s going to be important to get that goal so she can be grateful for all the accomplishments she’s had so far but then move on and just keep playing soccer.

365:  The last question I have for you is about the impact former Tar Heels has on this league.  Is it so prevalent that you don’t even notice when your opponents have former UNC players on the roster, or is there sort of a nice bond throughout the league?
CW:  I definitely notice it.  I personally take a lot of pride in the fact that there are a lot of Tar Heels out there.  We’ve created quite a tradition down there.  Anson Dorrance and Bill Palladino created it from square one and they’ve built such a dynasty.  I had the privilege to be part of that.  Because I feel that honor I look to see how my other Tar Heels are doing.  But if there’s a bigger fan of the UNC people, it’s Anson.  He calls me after every TV game just to talk and rehash.  He called me after the Freedom/Boston Breakers game and he said, ‘I wanted both teams to win because there are Tar Heels on both teams.  But since there are two Tar Heels on the Freedom and one on the Breakers (on the field) I guess I wanted it to be 2-1, but I don’t really care because I want the Tar Heels to win and do well.’  There is a special bond because when I watch the games I always make sure that the Tar Heels are doing well and I always cheer them on.

365:  That’s all I have for you.  Thank you.
CW:  Thank you very much.