The Boston Breakers continue to build their 2012 WPSL Elite League roster, adding Australian internationals Kyah Simon and Tameka Butt and U.S. U-23 defender Bianca D’Agostino.
Simon, a striker, and midfielder Butt will soon be heading to Boston to prepare for the 2012 WPSL Elite League season. The two 20-year-old Australian internationals play alongside each other on the Westfield Matildas, Australia’s Women’s National Team. This past season in the Westfield W-League, Butt helped lead the Brisbane Roar to the Grand Final. Simon and Sydney FC reached the semifinals.
Simon has 29 caps with Australia, including an impressive performance at the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup. She scored both of Australia’s goals in a 2-1 win over Norway, a victory that sent Australia to the quarterfinals. Simon made her National Team debut at the age of 16. Butt has 23 caps with the Matildas, and she has led Brisbane to a pair of W-League premierships and one Grand Final championship victory.
Simon and Butt join a Breakers roster that includes one of the top midfielders in the league and last year’s captain Leslie Osborne, Olympic gold medalist and former Atlanta Beat and Washington Freedom defender Cat Whitehill, forward Katie Schoepfer, who scored two goals and two assists for Boston in 2011, and draft pick Courtney Jones, a forward from the University of North Carolina.
“I am really happy to have again re-joined the Boston Breakers and to support the club in what is of course a very important season for the club,” Simon said. “I can’t wait to finally get over to Boston and to meet my teammates, sponsors, supporters, and all other people around the club.”
“I am really pleased that getting to Boston is finally becoming a reality, but more importantly that I will be supporting the club in this new important competition,” said Butt. “I look forward to finally putting on the Boston Breakers jersey.”
“I am delighted that we have again reached an agreement with Boston for Kyah and Tameka to play for the Boston Breakers in this season’s new USA Women’s Elite competition,” said Bill Drossos, Player Manager for Simon and Butt. “In fact, I am very proud of both Kyah and Tameka. They were of course very disappointed about the WPS season being canceled, but they both felt it was extremely important to support the Boston Breakers as soon as they heard of the new competition being formed.”
D’Agostino, the No. 18 overall selection in the 2011 WPS Draft by the Philadelphia Independence, was later signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Beat. She started five of the 10 games she appeared in for the Beat, logging 418 minutes.
D’Agostino was born and raised in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. She played high school soccer at The Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Conn., where she scored 76 goals and had 44 assists in 65 games. In 2007, she was named a Parade All-American, and she was named to the NSCAA High School All-American twice.
“It’s really exciting to come play in Massachusetts because it is basically the first time in five years I’ve had the chance to play close to home,” D’Agostino said. “Boston is a great city to live in with a lot of love and passion for sports, and my family and friends are all very excited to come support me and the Breakers this season.”
D’Agostino also has experience in the U.S. National Team system. She was selected for the U-14 and 17 National Team pools, and she is currently playing with the U.S. U-23s at the Four Nations Tournament in La Manga, Spain.
