This week we continue with more NWSL news, including last week's NWSL Draft results and some connected trades and players moving abroad, while Orlando Pride's new coaching hire is from Birmingham City. The league also announced in increase in the team salary cap, individual minimum and maximum salaries as the teams expand from 20 to 22 players plus for reserves for 2019.
2019 NWSL College Draft
This year's NWSL Draft was held on January 10 in Chicago and saw a total of 220 players registered, with 19 internationals who had played at American colleges: including five each from Canada and England, and one each from Brazil, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, South Africa and Spain. Last year, with about the same number of total registrations, there were double the number of imports (45). One aspect that doesn't help the process is that players have until the end of business hours on the day before the draft to sign up for the draft, putting untoward pressure on the nine teams' coaching and management personnel, particularly as some players registered just hours before the deadline.
The players from England in the 2019 draft included:
Midfielder Jemma Purfield of Cottingham (Arizona State University), who played on England's U-23 side this past season.
Hannah Godfrey from Thornton-Cleveleys (University of South Alabama), who played a year with Manchester City and six years for Blackburn Rovers LFC.
Rebecca Holloway from Bristol (Cumberland University—an NAIA (Small College Division). Holloway earned Mid-South Conference Player of the Year honors for the second straight season as she led the league in goals (22), points, (53) and game-winning goals (8). She was 12th nationally among NAIA schools in goals, 13th in points and sixth in game-winning goals. She had six multi-goal outings in 2018, including four goals at Asbury University and hat tricks against Tennessee Wesleyan and the University of Pikeville. She was named as a national NAIA Honorable All-American.
Muya Karin of London (University of Notre Dame in Indiana) was an England U-19 international and played with Chelsea LFC teams growing up.
Lucy Whipp of Ormskirk (St. Johns University in New York State) played at Everton and for England at the U-15, U-17 and U-19 level.
Despite the impressive international and club experience for the five from England, they were passed over and only one international was among the 36 college players selected across 4 rounds—Bianca St. Georges of West Virginia University and Canada (compared with three Canadians last year and one selection each from Portugal and Spain).
A problem facing all the internationals is that there is a limited number of international roster spots (4) in the NWSL and those are typically given to more experienced internationals. For right or wrong, with the selection of the top half-dozen picks, the college draft is viewed largely as filling in a team's bottom roster spots or finding players for reserve teams or to fill out pre-season rosters.
A difference this year is that players who had not graduated from college (or even high school graduates) could register for the draft once they turned 18; Jordyn Huitema of Canada turns 18 in May so she could register for the 2020 NWSL College Draft but was not eligible this year. The U-17 star led Canada to third place in the recent FIFA U-17 WWC in Uruguay and is expected to make the squad for the full Women's World Cup this summer. She is weighing going to college (reportedly Stanford or UCLA) versus turning professional, and she would have to play in Europe if she wanted to play this fall (she is rumored to favor Paris St. Germain in France) or wait at least a year and balance the NWSL versus European opportunities. Huitema trained with PSG last summer during their tour to the U.S. for the Women's International Champions Cup, which the North Carolina Courage won. Other Canadians have done well in France recently, including national team starters Ashley Lawrence at PSG and Kadeisha Buchanan at Lyon.
2019 NWSL College Draft
Round 1
No. 1 | Tierna Davidson, Stanford (Chicago Red Stars)
No. 2 | Hailie Mace, UCLA (Sky Blue FC)
No. 3 | Jordan DiBiasi, Stanford (Washington Spirit)
No. 4 | Sam Staab, Clemson (Washington Spirit)
No. 5 | Leah Pruitt, University of Southern California (North Carolina Courage)
No. 6 | Julia Ashley, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Sky Blue FC)
No. 7 | Tegan McGrady, Stanford (Washington Spirit)
No. 8 | Dorian Bailey, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Washington Spirit)
No. 9 | Hailey Harbison, Pepperdine University (North Carolina Courage)
Round 2
No. 10 | Paige Monaghan, Butler University (Sky Blue FC)
No. 11 | Julie James, Baylor University (Sky Blue FC)
No. 12 | Ally Prisock, University of Southern California (Houston Dash)
No. 13 | CeCe Kizer, University of Mississippi (Houston Dash)
No. 14 | Lauren Milliet, Colorado College (North Carolina Courage)
No. 15 | Maria Sanchez, Santa Clara University (Chicago Red Stars)
No. 16 | Betsy Brandon, University of Virginia (Houston Dash)
No. 17 | Bayley Feist, Wake Forest University (Washington Spirit)
No. 18 | Kayla McCoy, Duke University (Houston Dash)
Round 3
No. 19 | Kyra Carusa, Georgetown University (Sky Blue FC)
No. 20 | Bianca St. Georges, West Virginia University (Chicago Red Stars)
No. 21 | Jazmin Jackmon, University of Oregon (Houston Dash)
No. 22 | Grace Cutler, West Virginia University (Houston Dash)
No. 23 | Michelle Maemone, Pepperdine University (Utah Royals FC)
No. 24 | Emily Ogle, Penn State University (Portland Thorns FC)
No. 25 | Erin Greening, University of Colorado Boulder (Orlando Pride)
No. 26 | Kayla Sharples, Northwestern University (Chicago Red Stars)
No. 27 | Madeline Nolf, Penn State University (Utah Royals FC)
Round 4
No. 28 | Kaylan Marckese, University of Florida (Sky Blue FC)
No. 29 | Kenie Wright, Rutgers University (Sky Blue FC)
No. 30 | Marisa Viggiano, Northwestern University (Orlando Pride)
No. 31 | April Bockin, University of Minnesota (Chicago Red Stars)
No. 32 | Alex Kimball, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Utah Royals FC)
No. 33 | Hannah Davison, Northwestern University (Chicago Red Stars)
No. 34 | Sabrina Flores, University of Notre Dame (Sky Blue FC)
No. 35 | Jenna Szczesny, Loyola University Chicago (Chicago Red Stars)
No. 36 | Kaycie Tillman, Florida State University (North Carolina Courage)
The Chicago Red Stars selected Stanford defender Tierna Davidson with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. She is a current U.S. international (12 caps) and is largely viewed as a certainty for the squad for France this summer. Davidson was honored as the 2018 U.S. Soccer Young Female Player of the Year.
It was a tough year to be a goalkeeper; only one goalkeeper was selected as Sky Blue FC grabbed University of Florida's Kaylan Marckese with the No. 28 pick in the draft—the lowest number of keepers selected in the history of the draft.
Sky Blue FC had 8 picks and added three veterans through a trade for a draft pick, Chicago Red Stars was next with 7 selections, Houston Dash had 6, Washington Spirit with 5 (4 in the 9 selections in the first round), North Carolina Courage also had 4, Orlando Pride had 2, Portland Thorns had 1 pick and the Seattle Reign had none.
Sky Blue FC could fill an entire new roster with their draft picks and three veterans that they added by trading the No. 3 overall pick to the Washington Spirit for defenders Estelle Johnson, Caprice Dydasco and goalkeeper DiDi Haracic. On the day before the draft Chicago Red Stars acquired forward Mexican international Katie Johnson from Sky Blue FC for the sixth overall pick in the 2019 NWSL College Draft and the Red Stars' highest second-round pick in the 2020 NWSL College Draft. Denise Reddy is a solid coach but the combination of a 1 win season in 2018 and the raging reputation among players that going to Sky Blue FC is slightly worse for their career than playing in the Falkland Islands, with poor facilities, organization and management chief among the complaints. Johnson was rumored to be headed to Europe if she was not traded—Chicago will be her third team in 3 years in the league (she first played in Seattle in 2017)—following in the footsteps of two others fleeing New Jersey for Europe—New Zealand full international Rebekah Stott (who was capped by Australia at the youth level and is currently playing in the W-League at Melbourne City and won three consecutive titles there; Stott has played in Germany in the past with SC Sand) and Amanda Frisbie. Frisbie, from the University of Portland, was with 5 different teams across five seasons in the NWSL, including the Seattle Reign in 2014 where she was injured all season, Western New York Flash in 2015, FC Kansas City in 2016, Boston Breakers in 2017 and Sky Blue last season, where she played 17 games—the most of any of her seasons in the league. She also played in Iceland with Champions Stjarnan in 2016 and with Perth Glory in the Australian Westfield W-League last season.
Even some of Sky Blue's draft choices—most draftees typically are thrilled to be selected by any team—are reticent about going to Sky Blue. Julie Ashley, the number 6 pick from the University of North Carolina, said that she was excited to be selected but was unsure of her professional career path: "I've been talking to my agent about possibly France, Sweden or Germany. I'm not sure yet, but it's definitely an option." Number 2 selection Hailie Mace of UCLA has said definitely that she will go to Europe—it would be the team's second top pick in two years to bypass Sky Blue; last year goalkeeper Casey Murphy went to Montpellier in France, where she had an excellent year and played in the Champions League. The good thing is that the drafting team retains the rights to a draft choice should they ever come back to play in the NWSL.
In other Sky Blue FC news, Christina Gibbons has retired and veteran forward Shea Groom was traded to Seattle for Japanese international forward Nahomi "Naho" Kawasumi a few days before the draft, which is a good result for both sides. Gibbons played one season in FC Kansas City before being traded to Sky Blue ahead of the 2018 season. She also played in Australia for Melbourne Victory. The Duke University graduate also spent time with the U.S. U-20 and U-23 teams. Groom played for Reign head coach Vlatko Andonovski in FC Kansas City for three seasons. Andonovski said: "I'm thrilled to be working with Shea again. She's a very talented player. She was an impactful player for me in Kansas City and I know she'll fit in well in Seattle." Groom scored two goals with three assists in 17 games last season with Sky Blue and had 17 goals and 8 assists in 54 games across her three previous seasons in the league, including 8 goals in 2016, to tie for fifth best in the league. Sky Blue receives the experienced Kawasumi in the trade; she first played with the Reign while on loan for the 2014 NWSL season, during which she scored nine goals, added five assists, and was named to the NWSL Best XI. She re-signed with the club midway through the 2016 season and has been a fixture on the squad for the past three seasons. Reign Owner Bill Predmore said: "The decision to trade Naho was made in conjunction with Naho and her representatives. She expressed a need to maximize her playing time prior to the World Cup in 2019 and the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. We agreed that Sky Blue FC would be in the best position to provide her that opportunity, so we worked hard to affect that outcome on her behalf. Sky Blue FC is adding a truly great person and player; I know the organization and their fans will love and respect Naho as much as we do."
It's not just Sky Blue players and draft picks that are/are considering moving abroad for their club careers. On the day after the NWSL College draft, the Washington Spirit waived goalkeeper Kelsey Wys to allow her to explore opportunities overseas. Wys played at Florida State University and for four years for the Spirit, making 34 appearances, with 4 shutouts and started in the 2016 NWSL Championship match, where they lost on penalty kicks to the Western New York Flash (now North Carolina Courage).
The Spirit did sign defender Megan Crosson for 2019. She played one game (90 minutes) last season for the Spirit, in their final regular season 1-1 tie against Sky Blue FC. She played collegiately at Santa Clara and spent time with the Houston Dash in 2016 appearing in 4 games with 1 start. She also lined up in Japan for Speranza FC, where she played seven games as a forward, and in Spain for UGD Tenerife. Most recently in 2018, Crosson played for Eastern European powerhouse FC Gintra in Lithuania for two months during the UEFA Women's Champions League competition.
NWSL Salary/Roster Size Changes
The league announced during the week of the 2019 College draft that the limit for senior players per team will expand from 20 to 22 players and can also sign up to four supplemental players at the league minimum who will not count against the team salary cap. The salary cap will now be $421,500, with the minimum salary rising to $16,538 in 2019 (which was $7,200 when in 2016 and only $6,000 in its first season in 2013). Teams have been permitted to spend more on player assistance such as housing and automobiles this year, which would not count against the salary cap.
Orlando hires Birmingham City coach Mark Skinner for the 2019 Season
All the NWSL's 9 teams are now set in terms of their head coaches for the 2019 NWSL season as Orlando Pride has selected FA Women's Super League's Birmingham City coach Marc Skinner, replacing Tom Sermanni who now is the head coach of the New Zealand women's national team. Skinner has coached Birmingham for two seasons. Birmingham is currently fourth in the FA WSL, winning eight of 13 matches and only three points behind Chelsea in third and five points behind Arsenal in second, and six behind leaders Manchester City, both of whom currently occupy the 2019-20 two Women's Champions League spots. He is known as a defensive orientated coach and they have surrendered only 10 goals, third best in the league. He also worked as assistant to Utah Royals head coach Laura Harvey, who was at the Midlands club before joining Arsenal. Skinner (35) led the Blues to a Women's FA Cup Final in 2017, which his side eventually lost 4-1 to Manchester City at Wembley. Skinner is bringing his family to Orlando, including partner Laura Bassett, a former England international who won Bronze at the 2015 WWC in Canada and played last season with Canberra in Australia.
The NWSL now has six coaches who are from the U.K., including new hires Richie Burke of Washington, James Clarkson of Houston and holdovers Laura Harvey of Utah, Mark Parsons of Portland and Paul Riley of North Carolina. Vlatko Andonovski of Seattle is originally from Macedonia, leaving only Sky Blue FC's Denise Reddy and Chicago's Rory Daines as the American-born coaches, with Reddy and Harvey the only female head coaches this season, down from three in 2018 after Vera Pauw left Houston to return to her homeland of the Netherlands.
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women's football. Get your copy today.
Follow Tim on Twitter: @TimGrainey
