Racing Louisville news is somewhat sparse at the moment (Freya Olofsson’s signing notwithstanding) but sometimes, if you’re looking for it, you’ll find some good bits.

First, Brad Estes was on Barrel Proof last week and briefly discussed January’s NWSL Draft. We already knew Racing had the No. 1 overall pick by virtue of it being an expansion team, and that they also had the No. 5 pick via a trade for Yuki Nagasato and Savannah McCaskill ahead of the Expansion Draft last month. Estes (and NWSL’s website, to be fair) also noted on the pod that Racing had the first picks (nos. 11, 21 and 31) in the remaining three rounds of the college draft, too. How useful those last two picks are remains to be seen. However, five picks of a historically strong college development pipeline isn’t nothing.

Second: I haven’t taken a close look at anyone’s mock drafts yet, but I do know that that the best potential entrant in the draft is Catarina Macario. Paul Ratcliff, Macario’s head coach at Stanford, recently interviewed with Soccer America (subscription required) and dropped a little more insight into her plans for 2021:

SA: For a recent full national team camp, in addition to four Stanford alums, Coach Vlatko Andonovski called in Stanford junior Naomi Girma and senior Catarina Macario, the two-time MAC Hermann Trophy. Do you expect Macario to keep playing for Stanford, or follow the footsteps of Tierna Davidson, who left the team a year early to go pro?

PAUL RATCLIFFE: Obviously, she’s in demand because she’s one of the top players in the country, so we’ll see when she decides to turn professional. She loves Stanford and she’s still finishing up her degree. She’s an exceptional student and she’s taken full advantage of everything at Stanford. She’s still living on campus. It’s been a good time for her, but I know her dream is to be on the full national team and now she started to live that dream. I’m really excited for the future for her.

SA: What makes Macario a special player?

PAUL RATCLIFFE: Technically and tactically, she’s is an incredible player. She has the highest level of skills and also the brain for game. From that standpoint, she could fit in anywhere in the world and play at the highest level. Then there’s her finishing ability and her passing ability. Creating goals and scoring goals — she can do both. She’s really balanced in that. That’s what really separates her. Usually you could be the best No. 10, where you create goals for others, but to be able to do both at the highest level is remarkable.

Soccer America, by Mike Woitalla, December 15, 2020

Key takeaway: Macario is going to finish her undergraduate degree at Stanford. That doesn’t mean she can’t finish it remotely, as it’s 2020 and it’s Stanford and that’s definitely a thing she can do. Whether she’s willing to forego her senior season with the Cardinal to go to the NWSL is still an unknown.

I wouldn’t blame her if she deferred her decision until after she finishes up her degree, really. She’s not going to miss out on anything if she decides not to enter the 2021 Draft. She’ll likely be in demand from some of the bigger clubs in Europe, too, as several in England and France have drastically upped their investment in the women’s game to potentially rival if not surpass NWSL.

BUT! If she stays in, there’s next to no doubt she’d be an immediate star for Racing Louisville and THAT’S what I want. So that’s what I’m going to keep hoping for.