By CHRISTA MANN

The Weekend should be interesting in Women's Pro Soccer since players from all seven teams will be on leave with either the U.S. or Canadian national teams.  The game between these two North American countries will not take place until Monday, May 25; however, quite a few players traveled on Thursday and will miss Week Nine of the WPS.

A roster without Carli Lloyd, Lindsay Tarpley, Megan Rapinoe, and Marian Dalmy leaves Chicago in the worst situation overall.  But Boston would be in the unfortunate predicament If it hadn't been for a convenient bye week.

At least when the action begins on Saturday, the players who do take the field in WPS Week Nine will have a great opportunity to prove a few things.

New Jersey's Sky Blue FC (1-3-2) and the Washington Freedom (1-2-3) get the action started before the Chicago Red Stars (2-2-2) take on the St. Louis Athletica (1-2-2). The L.A. Sol (4-1-2) and Bay Area's FC Gold Pride (3-3-1) bring the weekend to a close and the Boston Breakers (3-2-2) take the bye.

Both Sky Blue and Washington are in dire need of win this week. With New Jersey missing Heather O'Reiley and Christine Rampone, finishing and maintaining some type of strategic possession is the only hope for the SBFC team. O'Reiley is generally the pace setter in the midfield, so without her it is absolutely imperative that SBFC not only battle for control over the middle, but that the team also strikes to finish.

On the other hand, Washington is coming off of a 1-1 tie against Boston. Freedom forward Lisa DeVanna really came into her own and played some significant minutes in Week Eight.  Both she and Rebecca Moros connected well and created dangerous final third play.  If Moros makes the start again this week, there is a possibility of maintaining some of that chemistry.

The Freedom has faced the biggest struggle in goal this season and has yet to shutout an opponent. The newly acquired Erin McCleod should take the nets for a second consecutive week with a bit more confidence in her backline, and it is possible that the Freedom will find its first scoreless opponent in SBFC.

Abby Wambach searches for her 100th international goal against Canada and will be the only Freedom player on national team duty.

In game two of the weekend, Chicago and St. Louis revisit their first game of the season.  That time around, Red Star Lindsay Tarpley finished the 1-0 game winner in the 78th minute. Tarpley is out of town for this one, but so are quite a few others.

In fact, Chicago will be without major contributors in every third of the field.  Christiane will have to pick up a lot of slack on the attacking end since both Tarpley and Megan Rapinoe are missing. Also having Marian Dalmy out of the picture as outside back, Chicago's Chioma Igwe needs to play solid and stay at home. Dalmy's runs and service up the flank have contributed to much of Chicago's success; however, Igwe does not posses the same speed need for transition.

As far as the midfield, Carli Lloyd leaves a void for either Brittany Klein or Nikki Kryzsik to fill.

There is no sugar coating that the Red Stars are down some strong players. Yet, that's not to say it will be a cake walk for St. Louis either.  Defender Kia McNeill will serve her suspension this week for repeated rough play against Washington  as attributed to the Daniela incident. Expect Kendall Fletcher, a new face to the Athletica, to fill the missing role on the back line.

Hope Solo's call-up will put give the explosive and very vocal Jill Loyden her first test in the nets while Tina Ellertson's leadership will have to take the place of Lori Chalupny.

St. Louis and Chicago both need a confidence building game, so this one could go either way.

The final game of the weekend pits the Bay Area's FC Gold Pride against the L.A. Sol on Sunday (FSC 7PM ET).

A 1-0 L.A. result was the finish in the first meeting of these teams, and it looks as though it may just be repeated in Week Nine.

FCGP will lose the anchor of its defense, Rachel Buehler,  and goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart to the national team.

Strong play out of Tiffany Wiemer, Eriko Arakawa,and Tina DiMartino will hold things together up top and in the middle of the park, but also look for Lindsay Massengale to come in at either center or right back for the missing Buehler and  Allison Whitworth to make her first start in goal.

L.A. maintains a strong offense with Marta, but it  will miss its ball winner, Shannon Boxx, in the midfield.  The only other missing L.A. player will be Brittany Bock.

The Bay Area's possession in the middle of the park may create some problems against the Sol. If FCGP continues to patiently change the point of attack, the Bay Area they may have a chance to sneak a few goals in behind the Sol's new keeper, Val Henderson.

On a side note, the WPS has enacted some recent disciplinary measures to include two player suspensions and a $750 fine charged to Breakers Head Coach Tony DiCicco for some remarks he made in regards to officiating. In response to his comments, he is also required to do at least four hours of soccer related community service. As far as suspensions, the league suspended Boston's Christine Latham for two games and imposed a $250 fine for throwing an elbow in the Washington game last week. The Freedom's Joanna Lohman will sit one game with no monetary penalty for an elbow she threw in the 90th minute of that same contest.

Women's Pro Soccer should be an exciting week with a chance to see some unknown players really make a name for themselves. Overall, seventeen American players and three Canadians will be away for the weekend, so below team by team listing of the missing players:

Boston Breakers: Angela Hucles, Amy LePeilbet, Heather Mitts, Amy Rodriguez (USA)

Chicago Red Stars: Marian Dalmy, Carli Lloyd, Lindsay Tarpley, Megan Rapinoe, Lindsay Tarpley (USA)

FC Gold Pride: Rachel Buehler and Nicole Barnhart (USA), Christine Sinclair (Canada)

L.A. Sol: Brittany Bock and Shannon Boxx (USA), Karina LeBlanc (Canada)

St. Louis: Lori Chalupny , Hope Solo (USA) and Melissa Tancredi (Canada)

Sky Blue FC: Heather O'Reiley and Christine Rampone

Washington:  Abby Wambach

Which games are you looking forward to this weekend?  How will the USA v. Canada game hurt the WPS?  Which unknown players will step up?  Share your thoughts.