But at the same time, not many people would have predicted them to be at 2 points, with 0 wins, 4 losses, and 2 ties after six games. They were sorely missing Lauren Holiday to retirement, arguably the world’s best attacking center midfielder. They were missing forwards Sydney Leroux and Amy Rodriguez to pregnancies this season. Also retiring were defenders Amy LePeilbet and Leigh Ann (Robinson) Brown. And on May 13, criminally underrated defensive midfielder Jen Buczkowski retired .By rights, she should have represented the U.S. team in the 2015 World Cup and 2016 Rio Olympics.
Coach Vlatko Andonovski said this on March 15, 2016, which is from the team’s website:
On replacing all the players that did not return from last season
I don’t think we are looking for exact replacements.