Women's Professional Soccer completed its 2010 All-Star Pick 'Em event Monday night and allocated its starting 22 players to the two teams that will compete Wednesday.  Abby XI and Marta XI will take the field Wednesday to battle for league supremacy, but even as the temperatures continue to rise in Atlanta and the WPS playoff race begins to pick up, the mood was light Monday night.  Many players were hugging and dancing as they were picked, keeping spirits raised and fans upbeat.

"It's coming at kind of the perfect time - midway through the season and you know, you just kind of - being chosen to be an all-star is an honor," FC Gold Pride midfielder Shannon Boxx said.  "This has been a lot of fun.  I think we were all a little hesitant about the pick 'em and you know, we're girls.  We don't like to be picked last.  So I think we were all like 'oh how's this working,' and it ended up being really fun and the banter ended up just making it a fun environment."

Boxx will play for Abby XI in the All-Star Game Wednesday night at Kennesaw State University Soccer Stadium.  That team will be captained by Washington Freedom forward Abby Wamabach and coached by Philadelphia Independence Head Coach Paul Riley, who was beaming with happiness throughout the evening.

"It's nice to come down here and relax a little bit and actually enjoy a game where there is no pressure and we just go out and the players enjoy themselves," Riley said.  "Every week they've got to win.  Every Wednesday.  Every Saturday.  And now they have the opportunity to play together in a more relaxed atmosphere and just enjoy it and hopefully it will be a great event for the crowd to enjoy and plenty of goals."

FC Gold Pride Head Coach Albertin Montoya, who will lead Marta XI, was also in good spirits at the WPS Pick 'Em event. 

"It's going to be six, seven forwards, everyone going forward and we might even have our goalkeeper join up there," Montoya said with a smile.  "We've got some goalkeepers that can play with their feet and might make it an exciting game and we are going to send everyone forward and we'll see how it goes."

However, as much as forwards were talked about before the event, defenders and goalkeepers stole the show as Abby XI led off the evening by picking Atlanta Beat goalkeeper Hope Solo No. 1-overall.  Montoya and Marta followed by selecting Sky Blue FC goalkeeper Karen Bardsley and the six picks after that were defenders, alternating between Marta XI and Abby XI.  Eventually, the two teams selected goalkeepers, then defenders, then midfielders and then forwards, which seemed to slightly lessen the feel of making tough draft choices.  Many were anxiously awaiting to see the drama of who would be picked first and last, but selections became predictable.

Still, though, defending is largely unappreciated and its representation early in the selection process of the two All-Star teams pleased Boxx and many others.

"I loved it," Boxx said.  "Defenders win games, so I think the fact that all defenders and midfielders went first and then the forwards obviously - they are the ones who score all the goals and get the news and the media and now they are the last ones picked.  It's a first."

And of course, the scores predicted by the coaches (Riley said the score would be 7-5 and Montoya said 8-7) were just half-hearted predictions.  Wambach and Bardsley both seemed to think the goal count would total around three. Not so fast on those high scores.

"No, I was like, 'no way...I was a little offended," Atlanta Beat defender Tina Ellertson said of the high scoring predictions).

2010 WPS All-Star Game Rosters

Abby XI (green/home; Abby Wambach – Captain, Paul Riley – Head Coach)
Starters
#1 – Hope Solo, GK, Atlanta Beat
#3 – Amy LePeilbet, D, Boston Breakers
#6 – Lori Lindsey, M, Philadelphia Independence
#7 – Shannon Boxx, M, FC Gold Pride
#8 – Tina Ellertson, D, Atlanta Beat
#9 – Eniola Aluko, F, Atlanta Beat
#10 – Heather O’Reilly, M, Sky Blue FC
#11 – Lauren Cheney, F, Boston Breakers
#17 – Lori Chalupny, M, Atlanta Beat
#20 – Abby Wambach, F, Washington Freedom
#84 – Cat Whitehill, D, Washington Freedom

Reserves
#4 – Angie Kerr, M, Atlanta Beat
#14 – Karen Carney, M, Chicago Red Stars
#19 – Kelley O’Hara, F, FC Gold Pride
#21 – Laura Kalmari, M, Sky Blue FC
#66 – Tasha Kai, F, Sky Blue FC
#85 – Jillian Loyden, GK, Chicago Red Stars
Kate Markgraf, D, Chicago Red Stars (injured/not rostered)

Marta XI (white/away; Marta – Captain, Albertin Montoya – Head Coach)
Starters
#1 – Karen Bardsley, GK, Sky Blue FC
#3 – Allison Falk, D, Philadelphia Independence
#4 – Rachel Buehler, D, FC Gold Pride
#7 – Kelly Smith, M, Boston Breakers
#8 – Sonia Bompastor, M, Washington Freedom
#9 – Ramona Bachmann, F, Atlanta Beat
#10 – Marta, F, FC Gold Pride
#12 – Christine Sinclair, F, FC Gold Pride
#13 – Kristine Lilly, M, Boston Breakers
#14 – Brittany Taylor, D, Sky Blue FC
#24 – Aya Miyama, M, Atlanta Beat

Reserves
#5 – Christie Rampone, D, Sky Blue FC
#11 – Becky Sauerbrunn, D, Washington Freedom
#17 – Amy Rodriguez, F, Philadelphia Independence
#18 – Erin McLeod, GK, Washington Freedom
#22 – Alex Scott, D, Boston Breakers
#78 – Cristiane, F, Chicago Red Stars
Caroline Seger, M, Philadelphia Independence (injured/not rostered)