Tomorrow, Racing Louisville will conduct its expansion draft for its inaugural NWSL season in 2021. We know the names of the players available, and we’ve already made some poorly educated guesses about who is and is not realistically expected to be chosen. Since then, there have been other, possibly better guesses, and Christy Holly held a press conference to cagily answer questions about what his plans are for this draft and beyond.
Based on my conversations with a few people, reading Holly’s actual words, and general common sense, I think it’s reasonable to expect not to see any big-name USWNT players chosen in this draft. It’s kind of a bummer, but it certainly makes some long-term sense. However, that doesn’t mean there won’t be some international talent on the roster:
“We’ve already signed a World Cup winner, and we intend to bring in a few more World Cup winners,” Holly said, “and I don’t know if the city of Louisville and the state of Kentucky has been able to say that for quite some time.”
Courier-Journal
We also know that Holly is very high on the club’s prospects of signing Catarina Macario, who will hopefully be available in the spring NWSL college draft. Racing Louisville has the first pick in that draft, as well as the 5th pick from Chicago Red Stars in the deal that sent Yuki Nagasato and Savannah McCaskill to Louisville.
As for the expansion draft, you can keep tabs on the interbays by watching it live on twitch.tv tomorrow night at 7 p.m.
My hastily-thrown-together mock draft list is below:
Racing gets 16 picks, no more than two from each team. Assuming Holly & Co. use all of their picks, here’s who I’d take:
Houston Dash: Brianna Visalli (M/F), Ally Prisock (D)
North Carolina Courage: Lauren Milliet (M), Ryan Williams (D) (or Addisyn Merrick)
Orlando Pride: I’d find a way to trade one of these picks to get another NCC player, honestly. If forced to pick, though, I’d take Konya Plummer (M), and Brittany Wilson as a backup GK.
Portland Thorns: Britt Eckerstrom (GK), Christen Westphal (D)
OL Reign: No idea, maybe Cecilia Jimenez Delgado?
Sky Blue: Jennifer Cudjoe (M) for sure, maybe Elizabeth Eddy (D)?
Utah Royals: I’d love to take Christen Press just to see what happens, but it doesn’t seem like a good risk to take. I just don’t know about the rest of the list to make a decision.
Washington Spirit: Another one I’m too uninformed to decide on. Maybe Devon Kerr just because of the USL’s color commentator?
Looking through this list, I haven’t taken any forwards, mainly because there aren’t a ton of known quantities available. I’m also thinking that Holly is counting on Macario coming out in the spring to help out his already-known corps of McCaskill, Williams, and Nagasato. That’d be fun.
Tune in and watch tomorrow night!
