The Atlanta Beat of Women's Professional Soccer took a minute to catch up with Head Coach James Galanis following Friday's 2012 WPS Draft. Here's a quick Q&A with his post draft thoughts and feelings.

ATL Beat: The club drafted UCLA and USWNT forward, Sydney Leroux as the No. 1 overall pick. How is the attacking line shaping up in your eyes?

Coach Galanis: We’ve got three fantastic strikers right now that we picked up in free agency and bringing in Sydney Leroux makes it four. It gives us four excellent strikers who have already played together and who can only make each other better. Not only is Sydney the best player in the draft, but she is going to help make a healthier training environment for us as a whole.

ATL Beat: Speaking of Sydney Leroux, tell us a little bit about her character as a person and as an athelte.

Coach Galanis: She is a fantastic person. She is driven to continue to improve. She has big time goals set for herself. She wants to go on and become one of the best strikers in the world, and she is just fully dedicated to getting better. She fits the character mold of exactly the type of players we are looking for in Atlanta.

ATL Beat: On the morning of the draft, what was going through your head as you sat with Beat owner and general manager T. Fitz Johnson, knowing Sydney Leroux would be joining the first overall pick?

Coach Galanis:  I was just excited for everyone. I was excited for the team itself, excited for the city, and it was just an exciting time for everyone.  We had the opportunity to go out there first and pick up by far, the most talented player in the draft.

ATL Beat: What were your thoughts on taking Katy Frierson in the second round at 10th overall?

Coach Galanis: I always had Katy Frierson on the radar. I did a lot research on her and watched a lot of video on her. A lot of people I respect in the game had a lot of good things to say about her. Watching the video and taking a long look at her abilities, I just knew that she was a great fit for us as a midfielder. She threads beautiful balls through and is just a mold for our playing style and a perfect little fit. She is a semi-local and she supports the Atlanta Beat.

ATL Beat: What can you say about Frierson off the field?

Coach Galanis: She is a fantastic person and an outstanding human being. There is no doubt about that. Everybody compliments how sweet of a person she is.

ATL Beat: What can you tell us about Kate Deines, the player you took in the fourth round at 23rd overall?

Coach Galanis: Kate Deines is a strong, def mid or center back who is very, very skilled for her size. She has fantastic leadership qualities, and she is just a fantastic player. I spoke to various people about her, and everyone has nothing but really positive things to say. The coach sent us the videos, and I like the way she plays. That's what we need. She is versatile, and we need someone who can bounce from the midfield, to forward, and to the backline when our national team players are away. Deiness was just a perfect fit.

ATL Beat:Can you describe the personality of Kate Deines?

Coach Galanis: Kate Deines is a real leader type of person. She is the type of person who picks up her teammates around her. As far as I know, she has a tremendous work rate and has ambitions to be an outstanding professional soccer player.

ATL Beat: In your eyes, how is the team shaping up for the 2012 WPS season?

Coach Galanis Excellent! We've got all the pieces in place. Now we'll have tryouts just to see if there's anything special out there that we're missing. Based on the results we got today, we are very happy with where we are as a team.

ATL Beat: This is your second WPS Draft. Did you feel any more prepared this year than you did last year? Did your approach change at all?

Coach Galanis: Of course there was a lot of stuff I learned last year as far as they way I researched players. I think I was more organized about it this year because I knew what to expect. Last year, I researched more but went into analyzing a lot of players where I didn’t have to. This year I was able to go directly to good sources that provided me with any available information to help me out. That was really helpful.

ATL Beat: Are you proud of what you have so far?
Coach Galanis Yes! We are very proud. We have an amazing team. We have carefully selected players who are really quality human beings. Players that are skilled and that are going to suit our playing style. The thing that makes me so happy is the style of players we have and how they going to suit theour style of play. A lot of them chose to come to Atlanta because we play posession style soccer and they want to be a part of a team that does that. We picked up players who are all great ball handlers.

ATL Beat: Twitter was going crazy during the draft. When you had a chance to get back to social media, what was it like to see the realtime fan responses to our selections?

Coach Galanis: That’s great to hear! Everybody should be happy. We have an amazing team on paper, and now we’ve all got to work hard and get them all on the same page. We need to get the players fit, organized and playing as one. Its definitely an amzing feeling that all our fans are exited and can't wait for season to start because that’s how we feel too.

ATL Beat: How were the free agent signings and this draft a part of the organization's long-term plans for success on the field?

Coach Galanis: Let me stress again and explain that we had a long-term plan. We sat down last year, and really hashed things out. We didn’t make the sacrifices that we did last season for no reason at all; it was all part of our plan. Sure the season was tough in the results department, but we were building towards something bigger. Our plan was always that this day would come and that we would have a nice group to pick up players and some good draft picks. Now all of a sudden, we’ve got a team. I think we are happy that everyone is excited about us.