Boston Breakers Preseason Interview Series: Julie King

The Boston Breakers had their first outdoor practice Saturday. Julie King was present but did not practice with the team as a preventative measure while she carries a slight injury. She spoke to The Bent Musket about figuring out the Breakers defense and finding her place in the back line.

Q: I heard you were carrying a slight injury, can you talk about that a little bit?

Julie King: It's more we're just being cautious right now. It's a long season and we'd rather make sure we knock it out now so I don't miss any games.

Q: We haven't gotten to see you in action on the defense yet. It seemed like you kind of were falling into a groove last season before you got injured. Do you think you and Cat Whitehill are going to get paired up again this season?

King: I am honestly not sure what Tom's thinking right now. As far as the back line we've got a lot of talent out here. Obviously I love playing with Cat. We're a good partnership, but I don't know what the plan is yet. A lot of new faces I think right now. Tom's trying to figure out where is the best place for everybody. I'm excited to get back out on the field, though. I think we got a lot of quality players here to put together a back line and hopefully start the season off where we kind of ended, the end of our journey last year.

Q: Yeah you guys ended on a high note against Houston, that last home game. So if you had your pick, fighting for central defender or a winger spot, which would you prefer?

King: You know, if you had asked me last year I probably would have said outside back but I think that I've learned the center back position and I feel more comfortable there now than I did before. I felt like that was where I belonged at the end of the season last year and I've had a lot of help from Cat, one of the best in that position. And she helped me a lot and Tom helped me a lot with it and Alyssa with her experience back there, it's awesome to know that she's behind me. So yeah I would say I feel like I'm a center back, which, it's nice to feel comfortable in that position.

Q: Speaking of center backs then, we've seen kind of a trend now where people like Becky Sauerbrunn, even Cat from time to time, will just go crazy and run right up the middle at the goal. Do you think that's something you could see yourself doing this season?

King: Oh I don't know. We'll see what happens. I don't want to go too crazy. Play within myself, I think that's where I had my most successful games last year. You know, just playing within myself, not getting too wild and really just focusing on my role as a center back. Obviously I would love to get forward if I can, but we'll see what happens.

Coach Tom Durkin Answers Preseason Questions

Coach Tom Durkin discusses preseason, World Cup plans, and more.

Q: It's likely Alyssa's going to be gone for the World Cup and Durkin said he has some plans to get Jami Kranich minutes. Are you guys already working on establishing a connection, like from last season, even though she hasn't seen much game time?

King: Jami has made so many strides. Just looking at where she was in preseason last year to where she is now, it's really incredible. She's put a lot of hard work into it and I'm confident having her back there. Obviously it'd be great to have Alyssa but that's part of the deal with having these really great players around, sometimes you might not have them. So we'll be so excited for her if she gets called in for the World Cup. What an amazing experience that would be. And if that happens we're ready to go with Jami. I'm confident with her back there. Like I said before she's made so many strides and I'm really happy with how far she's come. I'm proud of her.

Q: I always like to end interviews with a fun question. In a zombie apocalypse, on this team, who's the first to go, and who leads everybody to safety?

King: Oh god, who's the first to go?

Q: It doesn't have to be who you think would be the weakest player. We got some answers like who's the nicest, who would sacrifice herself.

King: That's what I'm thinking. I would think Maddy would sacrifice herself. If somebody had to I think it would be Maddy. Not because of, you know, anything else. I think she's just so nice she probably would do that for everbody. Who would lead everyone to safety? [long pause] I would like to say that I would, but I don't know. That's a hard question. I'm going to go with me or I could see Mewis and McCaffrey somehow teaming up. I don't know if they would necessarily lead us in the right direction but they would definitely think that they would be leading us in the right direction.