Draft Day

It's NWSL Draft Day.   Here's my report.

Preview

There are five ways that the NWSL rules say that players can be added to teams.  The first is the College Draft, that's today!   The US college women's soccer program is the strongest in the world.  In fact it has long been the world center of women's soccer.  All American players play at college and some foreign players come to college here.  Some of the college teams could compete in some of the European leagues.   Thanks to Title IX passed in 1972, the USA got a 20 year headstart on the rest of the world.

The second method of adding players is the Allocations from the US Women's National Team.  USWNT players are employed, not by their clubs, but by US Soccer.  The third way is called Discovery.  A team may put a hold on an unclaimed player (as long as that player had not declared in the most recent draft.)  This was intended to be used for unsung US club players, and it is, but more and more it is being used to acquire players from other countries, the first notable of these being Kim Little.  Each team is allotted 4 slots for international players.  

The fourth method is through open try-outs (Reign try-outs are going on now) although technically these players are added thorough Discovery.  Lastly players can be traded between teams.  Trades can also include intangibles such as international slots and this year and next year's draft picks.  They cannot include money or competitive considerations (e.g.  player will not play against former team).  This year there was also an Expansion Draft in October to populate the new team in Orlando.  Orlando chose players from other teams.

This draft today is a selection of US college seniors who want to turn pro.  Only players who have officially declared themselves available may be drafted.  The list of  declared players was circulated a few days ago, although players may declare up to the start of the draft.  The draft is for the rights to players.  Teams still have to work to sign them; the player may still choose to play overseas or to retire.  And once signed, the player will still have to be good enough to make the team; some of these players, especially in the later rounds will not make the teams.

The draft is four rounds, each of the ten teams gets a pick in reverse order of 2015 standings finish.  Many of the picks have been traded so the order is not consistent.  Portland has the top TWO picks.  The Thorns have been packing their lineup with quality players this off-season and they are clearly the team to watch in this draft (and in the 2016 season). 

Next year's class (this year's juniors) is packed with great prospects.  This year is considered a fairly weak class, however there are a large number of quality central defenders.  The one major exception is  an international (Costa Rican) attacking midfielder named Raquel Rodriguez, by far the best prospect in the draft.  Only about the top 4 or 5 picks can be expected to be immediate starters, most will take a year or two of development first. 

USI

First off, just an hour before the draft, they announced a significant change to how USWNT players will be handled in the NWSL.  Allocated players will now be called Subsidized players.  (I preferred the term Allocated, it sounds better.)  Here's how it works:  When there is a National Team player who for any reason is not assigned to an NWSL team (newly capped, returned from overseas, etc) any NWSL team can select that player.  If more than one team selects the player, there is a wheel which determines who has priority called the USI (unattached subsidized individual) order.  Since these players are in demand, in effect the next team in line will always get the player.  When a team invokes their priority, they move to the bottom of the order.  Teams may swap positions in trades, but only swap (you can't give up or double your positions).  The entire order resets the day after the Championship match each year, by reverse order of finish, including playoffs.  The initial order is: Boston,  SkyBlue, Western New York,  Portland, Houston, Washington, Chicago, Seattle, Kansas City, Orlando

Seattle losses and additions so far

The Reign's main lineup from 2015 remains in largely place, with one major exception.  Kim Little decided to stay, which was a great relief!  Stephanie Lopez Cox retired for financial reasons, which will be a huge loss.  She's going to be a coach at Gig Harbor High.  Mariah Nogueira Bullock retired probably also for financial reasons but she's heading off to Grad School in Utah.  Amber Brooks was traded to protect the lineup in the expansion draft.  That will also be a big hole to fill, but she was not happy and was probably leaving anyway.  Katrine Vejey was not happy here and returned to Denmark.  Harvey just released third goalkeeper Caroline Stanely (which i found strange).  Sadly Megan Rapinoe tore her ACL in USWNT practice in November and is facing a long recovery.  She will not play for the Reign before the Olympic break in July, and possibly not for the rest of the season either.

Two international signings last month appear to have filled two of these holes.  Swedish National Antonia Göransson is an exceptional left back who can also play midfield.  I assume she will replace Cox at left back.  I'm looking forward to seeing her play.  She has a history of not getting along with her coaches though.  Gabriëlla 'Manon' Melis is the highest scoring player in the history of the Netherlands national team.  She's a fast and creative forward who is very exciting to watch.  She is nearing the end of her career.  I assume she will replace Vejey, although with Pinoe's injury coming just days afterwards, her signing seems even more important.

Havana Solaun, Seattle's first pick last year, is finally healthy again after that broken ankle we saw in the pre-season.  She should be a powerful forward and/or attacking mid.  She was extremely impressive in the one half we saw her play.  I don't see her starting this year, but she will be an important part of the team.

Regardless of what happens in this draft, i expect more movement from Harvey before the season starts, hopefully discovery signings, not trades, but i don't think the roster is settled yet.

Seattle needs

KEEPER.  I think one of our biggest needs is a backup goalkeeper.  Solo will miss a fair number of games due to the Olympics, and potential legal issues.  Kopmeyer is an excellent starting caliber goalie that i have come to think of as our main keeper, but when Solo is gone there must be a keeper to back her up.

DM.  With both of our backup defensive mid-fielders gone, we're going to need at least one player who can sub in late like Brooks & Nogueira did. 

FORWARD.  Maybe someone to fill in for Pinoe during her injury?

Seattle has picks numbers 4, 25, 30 and 40  (as the league winning team, the Reign's assigned picks before trades were last in each round: numbers 10, 20, 30, 40).

Brianne Reed - is an excellent left back from Rutgers that i'd like to see come to Seattle.  She will go in the first round (Oh, and she does a flip throw in!).  Britt Eckerstrom is the goalkeeper for national champions Penn State and i think she'd be a good fit.  Cari Roccaro from Notre Dame is a center back and DM who could fit in well.  If we were going to use an international slot, Rachel Daly from the England national team looks like a strong defender, is a left sider, and can play anywhere.  I think she would a good choice.  Samantha Witteman looks to be a good DM too, an Amber Brooks type player.  Harvey has said pretty clearly that she would not pass up Raquel Rodriguez if she is still available by the forth pick.  She's a very exciting player. 

Results: Seattle got

Ryan and i had fun watching the draft, although it did drag on for quite a while -- i hope next year they pay more attention to the clock.  There was some excitement, when there were trades and so forth.  We got to learn about the players coming up, it will be fun to see them play when they come to town.  So how did Seattle do?  Not bad i think:

pick #4 Carson Pickett - Florida State - left back, can play left mid

            ranked #56 in the country, #22 of seniors

            Very strong left foot, fast, tenacious

            She has only one arm.

            Great pick.  Should be a good part of the team. 

            Might be a replacement for Cox a year or so down the line

pick #25 Summer Green - UNC - wide back

            not ranked.  She's injured and has been a lot, otherwise she would've gone much higher. 

            She's very young (20), skipping a year in both high school and college.

            This is Harvey thinking ahead to next year

pick #30 Paige Nielsen - UNC - defender

            ranked #78 in the country, #28 of seniors

            She's actually signed to play in Germany, she DID declare for the draft, but Harvey was on the             phone to the very last second, i'm assuming to confirm that she would actually play in the
            NWSL.

pick #40 Lindsey Luke - Utah - goalkeeper

            not ranked.

            25 shutouts!

We certainly didn't get the flashy players, but almost all post-draft analyses i've read count the Reign draft as a huge success, with all four players listed as under-rated bargains that should've gone higher.

Everyone Else

Right before the draft Syd Leroux was traded from WNY to KC in a trade that included a couple of draft picks.  Probably good for WNY.  KC, will not be as strong as they have been, and Leroux will be a liability unless they seriously change their style of play.  I'm kind of glad to see KC knocked down a little bit.

The list of all players taken is below, but here are the notable ones:

             1         Portland Thorns          Emily Sonnett

             2         Sky Blue FC               Raquel Rodriguez

             5         Houston Dash             Cari Roccaro

             6         Houston Dash             Rachel Daly

            18        FC Kansas City           Brianne Reed

            26        WNY Flash                 Britt Eckerstrom

Chicago traded for a bunch of fourth round picks as the day went on meaning that they eventually had 4 out of 5 picks and half the picks in the whole round.  Washington picked two Maryland based players who only declared at the very last minute, no one else knew they were available.

Thorny

The biggest story of the day, exciting to Portlanders and distressing to the rest of us, is the way The Thorns are building a super-team.  The commentators actually called them The Galacticos, referring to the Real Madrid Teams from 10-15 years ago when they started buying up all the best players in the world, Beckham & Renaldo and so forth.  There were also a number of cries on twitter of  'collusion', suggesting that Portland had some advanced knowledge of some changes at the USWNT and the introduction of the USI wheel.  I don't know about that, but two things are certain:  The Thorns are going to be fun to watch, and hard to beat.  I'm not happy.  They've got some fantastic players, but the management and the fans make me hate them.

The Thorns made a couple of very interesting trades.  They traded their #2 pick to Sky Blue (who used it to get Rodreguiz!) for Sky Blue's #3 draft pick and Nadia Nadim, the fantastic Danish striker.  Then moments later they traded that #3 pick to Boston for the top spot in the USI wheel; meaning that next time a new USWNT player who is not in the NWSL is capped, Portland gets her.  Then they announced that they are expecting U-20 superstar Mallory Pugh, who is only 17, to turn pro.  She's in the senior national team camp, so they will have first dibs.  Holy Moley!

Of course they had already made that fancy trade with Orlando during the Expansion draft, trading away often injured superstar Alex Morgan for phenomenal USWNT left back Meghan Klingberg.  This four team trade also sent Amber Brooks from Seattle to Houston and protected our strong roster in the Expansion draft.  Klingberg was a member of the Seattle Reign for about 4 days.

In addition they have placed discovery holds on three players currently playing in Europe, all of whom no one else knew were willing to play in the US:  American Lindsey Horan who has long played in France, French midfielder and World Cup superstar Amandine Henry and the amazing Dagný Brynjarsdóttir, the last two of them are widely expected to be the next "best player in the world".  (Along with Rodriguez.)

And all of that is in addition to the number 1 draft choice, Emily Sonnett, all time Canada scoring record holder Christine Sinclair, England speedster Jodie Taylor, USWNT star Tobin Heath, one of my favorite players: Mana Shim, as well as Allie Long and Michelle Betos.  They are going to be a force.

The Full Draft

1    Portland Thorns       Emily Sonnett

2    Sky Blue FC            Raquel Rodriguez

3    Boston Breakers      Christen Westphal

4    Seattle Reign          Carson Pickett

5    Houston Dash          Cari Roccaro

6    Houston Dash          Rachel Daly

7    Washington Spirit    Cheyna Williams

8    Houston Dash          Janine Beckie

9    W New York Flash  Michaela Hahn

10  Orlando Pride          Samantha Witteman

11  W New York Flash  Makenzy Doniak

12  Washington Spirit   Cali Farquharson

13  Sky Blue FC            Leah Galton

14  W New York Flash  Mallory Weber

15  Orlando Pride          Christina Burkenroad

16  FC Kansas City        Katie Bowen

17  Boston Breakers      Brittany Ratcliffe

18  FC Kansas City        Brianne Reed

19  Chicago Red Stars   Katie Naughton

20  Washington Spirit   Alli Murphy

21  Portland Thorns       McKenzie Berryhill

22  Chicago Red Stars   Sarah Gorden

23  Sky Blue FC            Erica Skroski

24  W New York Flash  Laura Liedle

25  Seattle Reign          Paige Nielsen

26  W New York Flash  Britt Eckerstrom

27  Boston Breakers      Abby Smith

28  FC Kansas City        Alexa Newfield

29  Sky Blue FC            Caroline Casey

30  Seattle Reign          Summer Green

31  Orlando Pride          Dani Weatherholt

32  Chicago Red Stars   Courtney Raetzman

33  Chicago Red Stars   Jannelle Flaws

34  Washington Spirit   Madalyn Schiffel

35  Chicago Red Stars   Adrienne Jordan

36  Chicago Red Stars   Candace Johnson

37  Washington Spirit   Kara Wilson

38  FC Kansas City        Alex Arlitt

39  Chicago Red Stars   Ashleigh Ellenwood

40  Seattle Reign          Lindsey Luke

Graph of Seattle Reign Roster by age and tenure