This week we review a franchise shift in NWSL, another team announcing a change in ownership but will remain in its original market and the results of the NWSL 2017 College Draft.
Western New York Flash become North Carolina Courage
The National Women's Soccer League announced this week that the North Carolina Football Club purchased the Flash's franchise rights and will move the team to Cary, North Carolina for the 2017 season, where they will be called the North Carolina Courage.
Cary had a team in the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA—the first professional women's league) from 2001-2003 named the Carolina Courage, a team that originally was meant to be in Orlando, Florida. The new Courage will play at WakeMed Soccer Park for the 2017 NWSL season.
The Flash, 2016 NWSL Champions, won a championship in four different leagues: WPS Elite, W-League and WPS and NWSL. The Flash owners released a statement that read:
“Unfortunately, it has become apparent that the Western New York market is not the right fit for the NWSL and the future direction of the league. We know that the North Carolina market will provide what the players deserve and we are excited to see the team continue to compete at the highest level. The NWSL has been an incredible platform for the top women's soccer players to perform in and we are proud to have been a founding member. We wish the NWSL and our other fellow ownership groups – as well as US Soccer – the best of luck and would like to thank them for the past four years.
“Our dedication and support of the game will remain strong at the grass roots level through the WNY Flash Academy and Sahlen's Sports Park. We are wholly committed to our Academy and we look forward to developing future collegiate and NWSL-caliber players."
The Flash averaged 3,868 per game in 2016 in Rochester, fifth in the league but below the league's average of 5,558, skewed in part from the Portland Thorns averaging just shy of 17,000 per game. (16,945). The Flash did increase from eighth out of nine teams with a 2,860 per game average, compared with a league average of 5,046.
New Owner for FC Kansas City
FC Kansas City has a new owner, Elam Bear of North Central Equity, who is based in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. Bear purchased the team from the original owners, who will still run the Missouri Comets men's indoor team.
Vlatko Andonovski will remain head coach of FC KC, having resigned earlier this year from the Comets, who he also coached during their winter season. The Blues organization has been of some considerable consternation to the league since allegations that the Liken brothers—part of the previous ownership group—were alleged to have sent inappropriate emails about team players on a team server. In discussions with people familiar with Bear during the NWSL draft, he has done his research on the league and hopefully will find a viable stadium option for the team in Kansas City, which has played its 4 seasons at multiple venues, with one holding about 2,000 fans—not appropriate for the two-time NWSL Champions (2014, 2015).
2017 NWSL COLLEGE DRAFT SELECTS 40 PLAYERS
The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) held the 2017 NWSL College Draft on January 12th at the NSCAA Convention in Los Angeles. The Boston Breakers, coached by former Liverpool head coach Matt Beard, selected Wisconsin midfielder Rose Lavelle with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. Lavelle is a three-time NSCAA All-American, two-time Big Ten Midfielder of the Year, and scored 22 goals in 84 games. The Breakers held four of the ten picks in the first round of the draft. At Number 3, they selected 2016 NCAA Division I College Cup champion midfielder Morgan Andrews (USC), Ifeoma Onumonu (University of California) at No. 8 and finally Margaret Purce (Harvard) at No. 9. Both Lavelle and Andrews are with the U.S. National Team in Southern California this week for training. In two seasons with USC, Andrews scored 22 goals and tallied eight assists. Prior to USC, Andrews played two seasons at Notre Dame, registering 13 goals and 10 assists. Onumonu scored 33 goals and tallied 17 assists in 82 games at California. Purce played 69 games for Harvard, scoring 42 goals and adding 12 assists. The two-time Ivy League Player of the Year was an All Ivy League selection all four years with the Crimson. Onumonu and Purce were with the U.S. U-23 national team for a camp this past week in Los Angeles—along with a full national team camp.
The North Carolina Courage selected forward Ashley Hatch out of Brigham Young University with the No. 2 overall pick. Hatch scored 47 goals and recorded 21 assists for the Cougars in her four years on the team.
Below are the complete 2017 NWSL College Draft Results:
-- Round 1 --
No. 1 - Rose Lavelle - Wisconsin (Boston Breakers)
No. 2 - Ashley Hatch - BYU (North Carolina Courage)
No. 3 - Morgan Andrews - USC (Boston Breakers)
No. 4 - Kayla Mills - USC (Sky Blue FC)
No. 5 - Christina Gibbons - Duke (FC Kansas City)
No. 6 - Maddie Bauer - Stanford (Seattle Reign FC)
No. 7 - Darian Jenkins - UCLA (North Carolina Courage)
No. 8 - Ifeoma Onumonu - CAL (Boston Breakers)
No. 9 - Margaret Purce - Harvard (Boston Breakers)
No. 10 - Miranda Freeman - USC (Sky Blue FC)
-- Round 2 --
No. 11 - Michele Vasconcelos - BYU (Chicago Red Stars)
No. 12 - Morgan Proffitt - Marquette (Chicago Red Stars)
No. 13 - Toni Payne - Duke (FC Kansas City)
No. 14 - Rachel Hill - UCONN (Portland Thorns FC)
No. 15 - Jane Campbell - Stanford (Houston Dash)
No. 16 - Katie Johnson - USC (Seattle Reign FC)
No. 17 - Stephanie Ribeiro - UCONN (FC Kansas City)
No. 18 - Savannah Jordan - Florida (Portland Thorns FC)
No. 19 - Lindsay Agnew - Ohio State (NWSL club)
No. 20 - Claire Wagner - Clemson (North Carolina Courage)
-- Round 3 --
No. 21 - Tyler Lussi - Princeton (Portland Thorns FC)
No. 22 - Danica Evans - Colorado (Orlando Pride)
No. 23 - Kailen Sheridan - Clemson (Sky Blue FC)
No. 24 - Madison Tiernan - Rutgers (Sky Blue FC)
No. 25 - Alexis Shaffer - Virginia (FC Kansas City)
No. 26 - Arielle Ship - CAL (Seattle Reign FC)
No. 27 - Jaycie Johnson - Nebraska (North Carolina Courage)
No. 28 - Nichelle Prince - Ohio State (Houston Dash)
No. 29 - Meggie Dougherty-Howard - Florida (Washington Spirit)
No. 30 - Catrina Atanda - Clemson (Sky Blue FC)
-- Round 4 --
No. 31 - Sammy Jo Prudhomme - USC (Boston Breakers)
No. 32 - Nickolette Driesse - Penn State (Orlando Pride)
No. 33 - Erin Smith - Rutgers (Houston Dash)
No. 34 - McKenzie Meehan - Boston College (Sky Blue FC)
No. 35 - Rashida Beal - Minnesota (FC Kansas City)
No. 36 - Cameron Castleberry - North Carolina (Washington Spirit)
No. 37 - Kristen McNabb - Virginia (Seattle Reign FC)
No. 38 - Hayley Dowd - Boston College (Boston Breakers)
No. 39 - Lauren Kaskie - UCLA (Chicago Red Stars)
No. 40 - Caroline Flynn - Nebraska (Portland Thorns FC)
Three Canadians were selected in the draft: Lindsay Agnew (#19) of Ohio State University by the Washington Spirit, goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan (#23) of Clemson by Sky Blue FC and Nichelle Prince (#28) by the Houston Dash. Both Ohio State Buckeyes forwards have dual Canadian/U.S. citizenship.
There were a total of 208 women registered for the draft and 40 were selected. Among those who were not selected were three players from England, one from Scotland, while outside of the U.K. three were from Germany, two from Norway, one each from the Netherlands, Japan, Brazil, Costa Rica, New Zealand (2015 World Cup vet Hannah Wilkinson), as well as one American who plays with Spain, and one American who plays for Jamaica. Wilkinson not being picked is a puzzling case—but even college graduates that carry foreign passports take up one of 5 prized international spots that each team has—which makes it a more difficult path for them to make a team just out of college. Another takeaway from this draft is that many of the U.S. players selected had national team experience at some level—particularly in the first two rounds; even the last two picks in the draft—Lauren Kaskie (UCLA) and Caroline Flynn (Nebraska)—played for youth national teams.
In a coming edition, we talk to one talented American college player who was not drafted but holds a European passport through parentage and can play for two UEFA members as well as an African country We will discuss her thoughts on whether she will try to catch on to a NWSL team as a camp invitee—always a tough road to make a team—or go abroad.
United Kingdom 2017 NWSL College Draft Registered Players
*(Name, Position, College, U.K. Team)
Victoria Back, F, Texas A&M Commerce, York Ladies
Alice Palmer, F, Oakland University, Reading
Linzi Taylor, D/M, Martin Methodist College, Celtic Ladies/Scotland U-17/U-19
Julie Vass, M, Santa Clara University, Played for Bayern Munich youth sides and England at the U-15 and U-17 level
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribalfootball. His latest book is Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women's football. Get your copy today.
Follow Tim on Twitter: @TimGrainey
