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Tiffeny Weimer can hardly wait to join the Breakers and reunite with her former Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) coach, Tony DiCicco.

 

Oct. 20, 2009 - As a card-carrying Yankees fan, Tiffany Weimer is not so sure about the prospect of living in Boston.  When it comes to joining the Breakers and reuniting with her former Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) coach, Tony DiCicco, she can hardly wait.

“Playing for Tony in the WPSL, I became a better player,” Weimer said a week and a half after becoming the first WPS player to switch teams as an unrestricted free agent.  The 25-year old-signed with DiCicco’s Breakers after spending 2009 with FC Gold Pride (Bay Area).

“When I got (to SoccerPlus), I was lacking in the defensive department pretty big time,” she said.  “Playing for Tony, if I didn’t defend, I wasn’t going to play.  He taught me how to be a complete player and made it so that if I didn’t do it, I wasn’t going to play.  That was the first time I have ever had that in my life.”

Whatever lessons Weimer learned from DiCicco, they did not translate particularly well to her first WPS season in the Bay Area.  After a fast start for Gold Pride, things gradually unraveled as the season wore on.  Widely acclaimed for her early performances, by season’s end, Weimer’s lack of playing time was the great unsolved mystery of the league’s inaugural season.

“I don’t really know, I don’t have a definite answer to that question,” Weimer said.  “People have asked me that and I don’t really know what happened.”

Here’s how it went down:  Weimer started on opening day and 16 minutes into FC Gold Pride’s on-field existence, she assisted on Eriko Arakawa’s first goal in franchise history, helping the hosts to a 2-1 victory over the Breakers.  A week later she added a second assist in a 1-1 draw at Sky Blue FC.  After Gold Pride were shut out in their third game, Weimer contributed a goal and an assist in a dramatic, 4-3 loss to the Washington Freedom.  The goal was a snazzy, one-touch strike, the type of finish not often seen in American soccer.  Shockingly, Weimer’s name did not appear on the score sheet again.

“I had a couple of bad games and I think (head coach Albertin Montoya) wanted to go in a different direction with the team,” Weimer speculated, adding that there was never a specific discussion about her role in the team.  “There were never any hard feelings.  It was never a case of us not liking each other.  I just don’t think it really worked out.”

Why it didn’t work out is open for debate, but Weimer is looking at only one person—herself.

“At the end of the day, it’s my job to perform,” she said.  “If I’m not good enough it’s on me.”

Despite falling out of favor late in the season, Weimer said the professional league was everything she hoped it would be, and she was ready to give it another go in the Bay Area before her phone began ringing.  Weimer spoke to a few teams, but did not hesitate to sign once the Breakers called.

“Tiffany Weimer is a proven scorer and one of the most creative and entertaining players I have ever coached,” DiCicco said.  There has been no mincing of words as to what Weimer will be expected to do.  The Breakers scored less than a goal per game in 2009 and Kelly Smith was their only real scoring threat.

“He said that was an area they needed to work on,” Weimer said of her initial conversations with Boston’s coach.  “He said that in the past I was known to score goals and that’s what they’re hoping I can do for them is fill that void.”

Weimer is particularly excited to share the same field with Smith while both are wearing the same uniform.

“Watching her play is an absolute pleasure,” she said of Smith.  “I’m really excited.  I’d like to think that we’d play well together, but you never know.  I’d like to learn to play with her.”

Weimer is still in California where she is training and teaching soccer to young kids.  She will be home in Connecticut for Thanksgiving and will remain there until the time comes to head to Boston for the 2010 season.  When she returns to the East Coast, she predicts her Yankees will have won another World Series.

“Yes, they will,” she said with an air of Yankee confidence.