Carli Lloyd rips WNY Flash for trading her

• Carli Lloyd scored 18 goals for the Flash in the 2013 and 2014 seasons
• Lloyd was traded by WNY to Houston on Oct. 16 for Whitney Engen and Becky Edwards
• Lloyd scored six goals, including a hat trick in the finale, to lead the U.S. to the World Cup title

Even before she became the biggest soccer star on the planet this summer, Carli Lloyd was well-known for firing shots with her lethal right foot.

On Friday, the World Cup hero for the United States used her words to take aim at the Western New York Flash, clearly still upset with the manner in which club that traded her to the Houston Dash in a stunning offseason deal.

"That's the reason no one wants to go play there," said the veteran midfielder who returns to Rochester on Saturday night at 7 to face the Flash for the first time as a Houston player. "Because if you don't treat people with respect, you're not going to get respect in return and I have lost all respect for the organization. I would never want to play for an organization that doesn't respect me, doesn't respect what I do."

Lloyd was dealt to the Dash on Oct. 16 for Whitney Engen, a backup defender for the U.S. squad, and midfielder Becky Edwards. Engen and Edwards both started on the Flash's 2011 Women's Professional Soccer league championship squad, so head coach/general manager Aaran Lines wanted to bring them back even though their drawing power at the box office can't compare to Lloyd's, even before her star soared at the World Cup.

The 33-year-old Lloyd's hat trick in the Cup finale (and six goals in seven matches) powered the Americans to a 5-2 win over Japan. Regarding the trade, Lloyd said she thought Lines owed a phone call to her or her trainer, James Galanis, before he finalized the deal. "He had no respect for James. He had no respect for me after what I did, after sticking my neck out for him and the organization," said Lloyd, who scored 18 goals (including playoff matches) in 2013 and 2014 for WNY.

"I'm genuinely and sincerely grateful for her service to the club for two years and I'm really, really happy that she's been successful because she worked her (butt) off here," Lines said. "We've rebuilt with a younger team this year. Ultimately, this was a business decision, but this is professional sports. When players are traded, there's no courtesy call."

Lloyd said Galanis' influence on Lloyd and his friendship with Lines was the reason she listed the Flash as her top choice for an allocation destination prior to the 2013 inaugural NWSL season. U.S. Soccer allocated Lloyd and Pittsford native Abby Wambach to WNY. U.S. national team players were asked to submit their top three choices among what was then eight teams (Houston came in as the ninth in 2014).

"To not have the decency and respect to call me prior (to the trade) and say, 'Hey, here's what we're thinking. The next couple years are busy for you (with the World Cup and 2016 Olympics),' or whatever," Lloyd said. "To tell me on the spot like that was pretty low."

The trade was the first in a series of deals Lines made following a disappointing 2014 season, the first in the club's six-year history in which it missed the playoffs. It had played in four straight championship matches (winning twice), but finished just 8-12-4 overall. So Lines wanted to reshape the roster with a youth movement, so it wouldn't be hurt as much by the absence of stars during the World Cup.

Some veteran players also expressed an interest in being traded, so he complied. Only three players, defender Brittany Taylor and Kristen Edmonds and forward Jasmyne Spencer, remain from last year's Flash squad.

Lloyd didn't want to leave. Her two seasons for WNY were by far the most productive in her pro career for WPS club teams in Chicago (2009), her hometown Sky Blue FC in New Jersey (2010) and Atlanta (2011). Lloyd flew to Buffalo before the start of the 2013 to speak to some youth players in the Flash academy.

"I was always supportive of the club," she said. "I felt important there. Aaran was continuously telling me, 'I want you to be a role model for the younger players. I want you to inspire them and I want you to help them, I want you to lead them,' and that's what I did."

The trade, on Oct. 16, happened during World Cup qualifying for the Americans. It appeared the Flash would have hometown star Wambach, at least, back for a third season in 2015. But on March 18 the forward announced she wouldn't play in the NWSL because she wanted to focus solely on the World Cup, delivering a second box-office blow to the Flash.

Wambach and Lloyd were by far the team's main attractions. WNY ranked fourth in the nine-team NWSL in 2014 attendance, averaging 3,177 for home matches (Wambach played in only a few due to injury) and was third in 2013, averaging 4,485. Through six matches this season, the Flash rank eighth at 2,306.

They tried to grab a headliner during the preseason after Wambach's announcement, trading her rights to Seattle in exchange for forward Sydney Leroux. But the emerging U.S. star played in only three matches overall (one at home) before the World Cup and then last week announced she'd miss the rest of the NWSL season because she was having ankle surgery.

"I'm so happy all this happened, to be honest," Lloyd said, "because I'm now playing for a club in Houston that is respectful, that treats people with respect, that treats the players with respect, treats the organization and the people that work there with respect. That's what it's all about, that's what life is all about because everything does come full circle and I'm just happy to be out of that environment."

JDIVERON@DemocratandChronicle.com

Houston at Flash

Matchup: Fifth-place WNY Flash (4-5-3) vs. sixth-place Houston Dash (3-4-5, 14 points) in National Women's Soccer League action.

When: 7 p.m. Saturday.

Where: Sahlen's Stadium, 460 Oak St.

Tickets: From $10.

Previously: The Flash lost 2-0 at Houston on June 20.

Carli Lloyd returns: The U.S. World Cup star, who was traded by the Flash to Houston, returns for the first time as a Dash player. Meghan Klingenberg and Morgan Brian, two other U.S. World Cup starters, also play for Houston.

Website:www.wnyflash.com.

Lloyd unsure on Abby's future

Asked if she thought her longtime teammate, Pittsford's Abby Wambach, might retire, Carli Lloyd said she's not sure.

"I don't know how she's feeling, how her body is feeling," Lloyd said. "Do I think that she can still go, yeah? Will she be a starter in every single game? You know, I don't know. It depends on who's coaching and all these other factors. But she's a world-class player and if she sticks around, I think it would be great. If she doesn't, she's leaving the game as a legend and will always be respected."

— Jeff DiVeronica