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The Dartmouth
July 13, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Kristen Luckenbill '01 picked in fourth round of WPS draft

Last Monday, the Boston Breakers tapped Dartmouth alumna Kristen Luckenbill '01 in the fourth round of the Women's Professional Soccer League draft. With the pick, the Breakers get one of the most storied players in Dartmouth soccer history.

The WPS features seven teams that will kick off play in the spring of 2009. The teams are located in the Bay Area, Boston, Chicago, New York-New Jersey, Los Angeles, St. Louis and Washington D.C. Three more franchises in Atlanta, Philadelphia and Dallas are set to join the league in 2010. The WPS replaces the Women's United Soccer Association, which was forced to fold after the 2003 season.

To fill its rosters, the WPS held a three-tiered draft. The first step was to allocate three U.S. national team members to each team. Then came a four-round international draft followed by a four-round U.S. draft.

The Boston Breakers plays their home games at Harvard Stadium in Cambridge and are coached by Tony DiCicco, who coached the U.S. National Team for six years and holds a career record of 103-8-8.

"Kristin is an experienced goalkeeper who brings a championship pedigree to the Breakers," DiCicco said on the Boston Breakers web site. "No team will win in this league without an exceptional goalkeeper, and Kristin gives us that."

While Luckenbill was at Dartmouth, the women's soccer team won two Ivy League championships and went to four-straight NCAA tournaments. Luckenbill had her breakout season in 1998, when her .544 goals-against average and 11 shutouts led the Big Green to a 16-2-2 overall record (6-0-1 Ivy), an Ivy championship and an NCAA berth. In the tournament, Dartmouth defeated the University of Wisconsin and the University of Georgia before falling to the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in the Elite Eight.

Luckenbill's list of accomplishments and accolades is a long one. In 1997, she won Ivy League rookie of the year. In 1998, she won Ivy League player of the year. All four years, she was first team All-Ivy. In her sophomore, junior and senior seasons she was a National Soccer Coaches Association of America All-American.

She also made her mark on the Dartmouth record books, crushing the Dartmouth record for career shutouts with 28 and eclipising the previous mark of 15 clean sheets.

She also ranks in the top five with 356 career saves (second all-time), a .73 goals against average (second), and a .868 save percentage (fifth).

Luckenbill's career after Dartmouth brought her to Athens, Greece for the 2004 summer Olympic Games, where she had the opportunity to play with the likes of Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy and Abby Wombach on the gold-medal winning USA women's soccer team. She currently has 14 international career appearances.

After graduating from Dartmouth, Luckenbill was drafted by the Carolina Courage of the WUSA. In 2001, she was the Courage rookie of the year, and in 2002, she was the starting goalkeeper for the WUSA champions and won WUSA goalkeeper of the year.

Breakers president and general manager Joe Cummings had many good things to say about Luckenbill, citing her previous experience in the WUSA and with the U.S National Team.

"It's a physical position, but the psychological makeup is important," Cummings said, noting the value of having someone who has played at such a high level.

He also spoke about what the WPS means to women's soccer.

"The numbers in the youth level are staggering," Cummings said. "Collegiately, attendance numbers are in the thousands, but then it stops and there's this huge void. The WPS completes the ladder of players and allows younger players to watch the game at the professional level."

Luckenbill was the only player selected in the draft from an Ivy League school.

Asked about this fact, Cummings said that it did not play a role in his decision but added that the New England region is known for producing great soccer players.

"I'll take my chances with my group of New England women against any part of the country," he said. "And Kristen coming being so close makes it even better from a local, P.R. media standpoint."

Luckenbill is working as a volunteer assistant with the Dartmouth women's soccer team this fall and has been a welcome addition to the coaching staff.

"It's been really good having her here because coming in, we didn't know if we were going to have a goalie coach," current Dartmouth goalkeeper Colleen Hogan '12 said. "It's nice to have someone like her who is that good, has gone that far, and who's played at such a high level."

This year's Big Green squad is invested in seeing how its newest coach will perform on the big stage.

"We were all really excited for her," Hogan said. "We knew that she was going to be in the league, we just had to wait until draft day to see which team she'd be on. Boston is the best possible place because it's close, and everyone wants to be able to see her play."

The Breakers also hope that Kristen's successful career continues in Boston.

"We knew there was an interest in Kristen, and we feel very lucky to be in a position to take her," Cummings said. "She has had a lot of success, and we look forward to her having that kind of success with us."