NWSL Draft 2024 Recap: No. 1 draft pick from UNC goes to Utah Royals, Sanchez and Staab traded by the Spirit
By Oliver Hunt
The draft this year was only slightly less chaotic than last year, with 56 new players welcomed to the league over the course of more than four hours. With expansion teams Utah Royals and Bay FC having ample picks to finish filling out their rosters before preseason, this year’s draft was full of exciting picks. UNC had the most picks of any university with six players being drafted, and the Utah Royals had the most picks of any NWSL team, walking away with seven new team members.
In the notably fun facts arena, the University of Iowa is now the 100th school to have a pick in the NWSL draft when Sam Cary was selected by Racing Louisville in the fourth round. Also, for the first time, the daughter of a USWNT player was drafted. In the last round with the last pick, the Orlando Pride made history drafting Talia Gabarra from the University of Central Florida. Her mother, Carin Jennings-Gabarra, won the Olympic gold with the United States Women's National Team in 1996. She's a member of the US Soccer Hall of Fame and also won the Golden ball when she helped the United States to their first World Cup win in 1991 with six goals in six games.
Before listing the picks, here are all the notable trades that took place on draft day.
- Meggie Daughtry Howard was traded up the coast from the San Diego Wave to join Angel City in exchange for $40k in allocation money.
- Arin Wright left the Chicago Red Stars for Racing Louisville in exchange for $125k in allocation funds and the No. 25 overall pick of the 2024 college draft.
- Yuki Nagasato signed as a free agent with the Houston Dash.
- Sam Staab was traded by the Washington Spirit to the Chicago Red Stars for the third overall pick in the 2024 college draft.
- Ashley Sanchez of the Washington Spirit was traded to the North Carolina Courage for $250k in allocation money and the fifth overall pick in the 2024 draft.
Below are all the picks of the 2024 NWSL Draft class. The NWSL regular season kicks off on March 15, and these rookies will have everything to play for, especially in an Olympic year which might award them more minutes than a typical year.
Full NWSL 2024 Draft results by round
Round One Picks
No. 1: Utah Royals FC - Ally Sentnor, UNC
No. 2: Bay FC - Savy King, UNC
No. 3: Washington Spirit - Croix Bethune, UGA
No. 4: Utah Royals FC, Brecken Mozingo, BYU
No. 5: Washington Spirit - Hal Hershfelt, Clemson
No. 6: Racing Louisville FC - Reilyn Turner, UCLA
No. 7: Washington Spirit - Kate Wiesner, Penn State
No. 8: Bay FC - Maya Doms, Stanford
No. 9: Orlando Pride - Ally Lemos, UCLA
No. 10: Chicago Red Stars - Leilanni Nesbeth, Florida State
No. 11: Portland Thorns FC - Payton Linnehan, Penn State
No. 12: San Diego Wave FC - Kennedy Wesley, Stanford
No. 13: Washington Spirit - Makenna Morris, Clemson
No. 14: NJ/NY Gotham FC - Maycee Bell, UNC
Round Two Picks
No. 15: Chicago Red Stars - Jameese Joseph, NC State
No. 16: Utah Royals FC - Lauren Flynn, Florida State
No. 17: Seattle Reign FC - Sam Meza, UNC
No. 18: KC Current - Ellie Wheeler, Penn State
No. 19: Houston Dash - Avery Patterson, UNC
No. 20: Utah Royals FC - Olivia Smith-Griffitts, BYU
No. 21: Houston Dash - Kiki Van Zanten, Notre Dame
No. 22: Orlando Pride - Cori Dyke, Penn State
No. 23: Portland Thorns FC - Olivia Wade-Kotoa, BYU
No. 24: NC Courage - Talia Staude, UVA
No. 25 - Portland Thorns FC - Kelsey Kaufusi, Utah State
No. 26: Utah Royals FC - Emma Jaskaniec, Wisconsin
No. 27: Seattle Reign FC - Maddie Mercado, Notre Dame
No. 28: Racing Louisville FC - Emma Sears, Ohio State
Round Three Picks
No. 29: Utah Royals FC - Zoe Burns, USC
No. 30: Bay FC - Jamie Shepherd, BYU
No. 31: Chicago Red Stars - Hannah Anderson, Texas Tech
No. 32: KC Current - Halle Mackiewicz, Clemson
No. 33: Utah Royals FC - Cristina Roque, Florida State
No. 34: Bay FC - Caroline Conti, Clemson
No. 35: Washington Spirit - Anna Podojil, Arkansas
No. 36: Houston Dash - Amanda West, Pittsburgh
No. 37: Angel City FC - Felicia Knox, Alabama
No. 38: Houston Dash - Heather Hinz, South Carolina
No. 39: Portland Thorns FC, Katherine Asman, Penn State
No. 40: NC Courage - Julia Dorsey, UNC
No. 41: Chicago Red Stars - Bea Franklin, Arkansas
No. 42: San Diego Wave FC - Mya Jones, Memphis
Round Four Picks
No. 43 Seattle Reign FC - Makena Carr, Saint Mary's
No. 44: Angel City FC - Jessica Garziano, St. John's
No. 45: Chicago Red Stars - Celia Gaynor, Michigan State
No. 46: KC Current- Hope Hisey, Arizona
No. 47: Houston Dash - Alyssa Bourgeois, Santa Clara
No. 48: Racing Louisville FC - Sam Cary, Iowa
No. 49: Washington Spirit - Courtney Brown, Utah
No. 50: Orlando Pride - Alex Kerr, Texas Tech
No. 51: Angel City FC - Madison Curry, Princeton
No. 52: North Carolina Courage - Landy Mertz, Pittsburgh
No. 53: Portland Thorns FC - Katie Duong, Stanford
No. 54: Racing Louisville FC - Madison White, Texas Tech
No. 55: Bay FC - Laveni Vaka, BYU
No. 56: Orlando Pride - Talia Gabarra, UCF
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