Trojans reshuffled in NWSL Draft

Two former USC women’s soccer players were selected on Tuesday in the 2018 NWSL Dispersal Draft. Forward Morgan Andrews was selected as the second pick in the second round by the Seattle Reign, while goalkeeper Sammy Jo Prudhomme went to the Houston Dash as the sixth pick in the third round.

The draft took place after the Boston Breakers, one of the league’s founding teams, announced that it would cease operations on Sunday. All of the players who were under contract or whose rights were owned by the Breakers were eligible for selection in the draft, along with any members of the team’s Discovery List.

Andrews and Prudhomme graduated in 2017 and played integral roles in the Trojans’ championship run in the 2016 NCAA College Cup. The duo were both part of head coach Keidane McAlpine’s early success with building his roster through transfers — Prudhomme left Oregon State after a stellar season with the Beavers in 2013, while Andrews left Notre Dame for the Trojans at the start of the 2015 season.

In her two years with the program, Andrews scored 47 goals for the team, including the team’s first ever hat trick in the College Cup in 2016. She went on to become a captain that season, scoring one of the three goals in the 2016 national title game against West Virginia.

Andrews was selected by the Breakers with the third overall pick of the 2017 NWSL Draft. A native of Milford, N.H., the selection was a homecoming for Andrews, who grew up dreaming of one day playing for the Boston program. She made 18 appearances for the Breakers. She also made several appearances for the U.S. U-17 and U-20 national teams, notching 2 goals.

Now, Andrews heads to the Seattle Reign, a program that has defined itself as one of the most stable in the league in both success and in fan support. The team finished first in the regular season in both 2014 and 2015, and finished fifth overall last season. On her new team, Andrews will join a roster stocked with international superstars such as midfielder Megan Rapinoe. Prudhomme only allowed 27 goals during her two years as a keeper for the Trojans, becoming the core of the “brick wall backline” that defined the defense-first national championship team in 2016. She made 106 saves and only allowed 11 goals in that season’s run to the national title, earning distinction as Pac-12 Goalkeeper of the Year.

In her solo season with the Breakers, Prudhomme made five appearances in the net. She now heads to the Houston Dash, a team that has struggled historically. In past seasons, the Dash has finished at the bottom of the league almost every year, failing to ever qualify for the playoffs.

However, off-season trades and re-signings mean that Prudhomme will have the chance to play behind names such as striker Christen Press and forward Rachel Daly. In goal, she will be jockeying for playing time with Stanford alumni Jane Campbell, an up-and-coming star for the U.S. national team.

The dispersal draft consisted of five rounds of nine picks, with teams choosing in an order selected by a weighted draw based on last season’s results. Most teams chose to defer their selection to the fourth round, leaving several younger players off the roster of any team for the foreseeable future.