Posted by: Sports 

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Courtesy: UNL Athletic Communications

PHILADELPHA-The Houston Dash drafted Nebraska’s Haley Hanson with the seventh overall pick in the NWSL Draft on Thursday at the United Soccer Coaches Convention in Philadelphia, Pa.

Hanson, an Overland Park, Kan., native, scored 19 career goals and tallied seven career assists in 75 appearances for the Huskers from 2014 to 2017. A second-team All-Big Ten selection as a senior in 2017, Hanson led the Huskers with nine goals and added four assists, the second-most on the team. Hanson, who started all 19 games in 2017, recorded a pair of two-goal efforts and earned second-team All-Region honors. After the season, she attended two U.S. Under-23 National Team Training Camps.

During her junior campaign in 2016, Hanson had the second-most goals (7) and tied for the second-most assists (3) on the team en route to third-team All-Big Ten accolades. Hanson started all 22 games and amassed over 2,000 minutes to help NU qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Her first goal of the season was a diving header that proved to be the game winner in the 56th minute against then-No. 16 BYU on Aug. 22. The win marked the 300th in Husker history, and snapped the nation's longest home winning streak (18).

Hanson started 15 games as a sophomore in 2015 and scored three goals. During her first year at Nebraska, Hanson started 16 of her 19 appearances and averaged 75 minutes per game. Hanson is a three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection, six-time Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll member and three-time Tom Osborne Citizenship Team member.

The eight previous Huskers to make professional rosters since the formation of Women’s Professional Soccer in 2009 (succeeded by the NWSL in 2012) are Jaycie Johnson (2017), Caroline Flynn (2017), Ari Romero (2013), Jordan Jackson (2013), Carly Peetz (2010), Karina LeBlanc (2009), Christine Latham (2009) and Sharolta Nonen (2009). Along with Hanson, LeBlanc was a first-round pick, taken fifth overall by the Los Angeles Sol in 2009.

Romero and Jackson each played for the Houston Dash. Last year, Johnson was taken 27th overall by the North Carolina Courage and Flynn was selected 40th overall by the Portland Thorns FC. Eleven former Huskers played in the WUSA, a league that ran from 2000 to 2003.