Blockbuster Day for Spirit – Send Pugh to SkyBlueFC, Draft Five Players
At the start of the day Thursday, the Washington Spirit only had two draft picks, and neither one of them was in the first two rounds. By the end of the day, after a blockbuster trade with Sky Blue FC, the Spirit ended up with a total of five picks, including two in the first round – the fourth and 13th overall picks.
With the fourth overall pick the Spirit selected former UCLA forward Ashley Sanchez. During her three years at UCLA Sanchez scored 23 goals and assisted on 42 others.
Then with the newly acquired 13th overall pick acquired from Sky Blue, the Spirit drafted Natalie Jacobs out of USC. During her time at USC Jacobs contributed 26 goals and 23 assists.
With the third of the new picks acquired from Sky Blue, the Spirit drafted Averie Collins with the 17th overall pick. Collins played her first three years at Stanford before transferring to Washington State University for her senior year.
With their final two picks, the Spirit selected Kansas star Katie McClure with the 23rd overall pick and UCLA defender Kaiya McCullough with the 32nd overall pick
That was the good news for the Spirit. The bad news was that in order to acquire their first three picks they had to give up something valuable. That valuable piece turned out to be one of their biggest stars, Mallory Pugh.
WaPo Story:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/01/16/mallory-pugh-uswnt-washington-spirit-nwsl-draft/
ProSoccer USA Story:
https://www.prosoccerusa.com/nwsl/washington-spirit/spirit-trade-pugh-gain-five-new-players/
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