Crumpton drafted by Atlanta Beat

Women’s soccer senior All-American Abby Crumpton became the second Wolverine ever drafted into the Women’s United Soccer Association when the Atlanta Beat took her in the second round. Crumpton was the 13th overall pick in the eight-team league’s fourth-annual draft held in Atlanta. The Rochester Hills native is expected to fill the Beat’s need for an extra striker.

“She’s in a great situation going to Atlanta,” Michigan coach Debbie Rademacher said. “They’re a great team with a lot of quality players, and that will help her as she learns how to play on the next level. This has been something Abby has wanted to do for a long time, and she’s trained and prepared hard to get there.”

Crumpton is Michigan’s all-time leading scorer with 116 points, as she has accumulated 43 goals and 30 assists during her career. While leading the Wolverines with 35 points on 11 goals and 13 assists in 2002, she helped them to their best-ever final national ranking (11th) and their first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals. These achievements made her the 2002 Big Ten Athlete of the Year and a second-team National Soccer Coaches Association of America All-American. This past summer, she represented the United States in the Nordic Cup in Finland, the most prominent under-21 international women’s soccer tournament.

Crumpton was the second Big Ten player drafted into the league that was started after U. S. Women’s National Soccer Team won the most successful women’s sporting event ever, the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup held in the United States.

“When Abby started here, the opportunity to play professionally wasn’t a reality,” Rademacher said. “We had always thought she had the potential to take the next step and play the Under-21 National Team and maybe go on from there with the national team. But now with the WUSA available, you can see a player like Abby have the ability to regularly play with the best players there are and really see her true potential.”