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2024 NWSL Draft: Who were the biggest winners and losers?

14 clubs. Four rounds. 56 players. What a night. From top to bottom, the amount of talent was mindboggling. Here's a look at who won and who lost in the 12th annual NWSL College Draft.

By Caden Charpentier

2022 Division I Women's Soccer Semifinals
2022 Division I Women's Soccer Semifinals / Eakin Howard/GettyImages
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Winner: North Carolina Courage

Sean Nahas' Courage sit among the winners not because of the draft picks, but the deals that were pulled off last night. The club added $475,000 in allocation money and Washington Spirit midfielder Ashley Sanchez in agreements with two separate clubs that saw it trade out of the first round entirely. Young talent is aplenty at North Carolina right now. It makes sense to see this club move outside of the first round given it had four first-round picks in last year's draft.

Bringing in established talent was NC's focus. Without Kerolin for an extended period of time, the Courage need dynamism and goals. USWNT midfielder Ashley Sanchez can without question provide that. The 24-year-old played a part in 14 goals across the last two NWSL regular seasons.

Sanchez joins an already loaded midfield line that includes the Challenge Cup Final MVP Manaka Matsukubo, youngster Riley Jackson, Narumi Miura, and captain Denise O’Sullivan. With the loss of Emily Fox, NC drafted two defenders, one of them being UNC's Julia Dorsey, a two-sport athlete in college who missed 2023 due to an injury suffered in lacrosse.

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