A blockbuster trade at Thursday’s NWSL draft, held here in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, was headlined by Delran native Carli Lloyd coming home to New Jersey to play for Sky Blue FC.
Sky Blue plays at Rutgers University’s Yurcak Field, which Lloyd called home during her days as a Scarlet Knight. Lloyd spent the last three seasons with the Houston Dash.
The deal, details of which were confirmed to the Inquirer and Daily News, also involves U.S. national team star forward Christen Press and Australian goal-scoring phenom Sam Kerr. Press moves from the Chicago Red Stars to Houston, and Kerr moves from Sky Blue to Chicago.
And that’s just the start of it. Four other current players are swapping teams. Among them are Sellersville-born forward Jen Hoy, who moves from Chicago to Sky Blue; and Canadian national team forward Janine Beckie, who moves from Houston to Sky Blue.
Each team also swapped some picks in this year’s draft.
Here is what each team ended up with:
Chicago Red Stars: Sam Kerr, midfielder Nikki Stanton and the No. 24 draft pick
Houston Dash: Christen Press, an international roster slot and the No. 7 draft pick
Sky Blue FC: Carli Lloyd, Janine Beckie, Jen Hoy and the No. 6 and No. 13 draft picks
The trade had not been officially announced by the NWSL as of press time, in part because not all of the players had been informed of it by their clubs. Among the reasons why is that Hoy, Stanton and Kerr are all currently playing for teams in Australia during the NWSL offseason. The trade was executed during late-night hours down under.
(Of course, that didn’t stop social media from lighting up when the news first broke.)
At the top of the draft, Stanford’s Andi Sullivan went No. 1 to the Washington Spirit. She already has has played seven times for the U.S. national team, and is likely to be on the 2019 World Cup team. South Carolina’s Savannah McCaskill, a U.S. youth national team regular, went No. 2 to the Boston Breakers.
Sullivan, McCaskill, Lloyd and Press are currently at the U.S. national team’s winter training camp in Carson, Calif., just outside Los Angeles. The Americans play Denmark on Sunday in San Diego (7:30 p.m., ESPN).
One player with Philadelphia roots was drafted. West Chester native Abby Elinsky, a University of North Carolina midfielder, went to the Dash at No. 30 overall.
Click here for the full draft rundown.
Comment policy:
Philly.com comments are intended to be civil, friendly conversations. Please treat other participants with respect and in a way that you would want to be treated. You are responsible for what you say. And please, stay on topic. If you see an objectionable post, please report it to us using the "Report Abuse" option.
Please note that comments are monitored by Philly.com staff. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable. Personal attacks, especially on other participants, are not permitted. We reserve the right to permanently block any user who violates these terms and conditions.
Additionally comments that are long, have multiple paragraph breaks, include code, or include hyperlinks may not be posted.