The 2018 National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) held its sixth college draft on Thursday, January 18, at the United Soccer Coaches Convention in Philadelphia.
As expected, Andi Sullivan was selected as the No. 1 overall pick by the Washington Spirit. South Carolina’s Savannah McCaskill is headed to Boston as the No. 2 overall pick. Rounding out the top three, Duke’s Rebecca Quinn will join Sullivan in Washington. The full list of selections is below.
Duke showed up big, with six players chosen at this year’s draft, equaling the number of players drafted in a single draft set by UCLA at the 2015 NWSL College Draft.
2018 NWSL College Draft Results
The draft consisted of four rounds with 10 selections per round.
A blockbuster of a trade happened during the draft that resulted in some shuffling of the draft order.
To understand the Notes section better, here is the breakdown of the trade:
1. The Chicago Red Stars sent Christen Press, the No. 7 pick, and a 2018 international roster spot to the Houston Dash in exchange for Carli Lloyd, Janine Beckie, and the No. 6 and No. 24 picks.
Got it? Okay, here is what happened next:
2. Chicago traded Lloyd, Beckie, Jen Hoy, the No. 6 and No. 13 picks to Sky Blue FC in exchange for Sam Kerr, Nikki Stanton, and the No. 15 pick.
Okay, now here are the full draft results:
| Pick | Player | School | Team | Position | Socials |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andi Sullivan | Stanford | Washington Spirit | M |   |
| 2 | Savannah McCaskill | South Carolina | Boston Breakers | M, F | |
| 3 | Rebecca Quinn | Duke | Washington Spirit ? | D, F | |
| 4 | Michaela Abam | West Virginia | Sky Blue FC ? | D, M, F | |
| 5 | Imani Dorsey | Duke | Sky Blue FC | M, F | |
| 6 | Amandine Pierre-Louis | West Virginia | Sky Blue FC ? | M, F | |
| 7 | Haley Hanson | Nebraska | Houston Dash ? | D, M, F | |
| 8 | Sandra Yu | Notre Dame | Portland Thorns FC | M, F | |
| 9 | Gabby Seiler | Florida | Portland Thorns FC | D, M, F | |
| 10 | Frannie Crouse | Penn State | North Carolina Courage | M, F | |
| 11 | Schuyler DeBree | Duke | Washington Spirit | D, M, F | |
| 12 | Kimberly Keever | Washington | Houston Dash | M, F | |
| 13 | Casey Murphy | Rutgers | Sky Blue FC ? | GK | |
| 14 | Taylor Isom | Brigham Young | Utah Royals FC | D | |
| 15 | Emily Boyd | UC Berkeley | Chicago Red Stars ? | GK | |
| 16 | Mallory Eubanks | Mississippi State | Washington Spirit | D, M, F | |
| 17 | Elizabeth Wenger | Georgetown | Boston Breakers | D | |
| 18 | Indigo Gibson | UC Berkeley | Chicago Red Stars | D | |
| 19 | Brianna Visalli | Pepperdine | Chicago Red Stars | M, F | |
| 20 | Rebecca Rasmussen | Colorado | North Carolina Courage | M, F | |
| 21 | Brittany Basinger | Penn State | Washington Spirit | D | |
| 22 | Ashton Miller | Duke | Boston Breakers | M | |
| 23 | Nadia Gomes | Brigham Young | Orlando Pride | F | |
| 24 | Megan Buckingham | North Carolina | Chicago Red Stars ? | D, M | |
| 25 | Allyson Haran | Wake Forest | Seattle Reign FC ? | D | |
| 26 | Maddie Huster | Wake Forest | Washington Spirit | D, M | |
| 27 | Zoey Goralski | UCLA | Chicago Red Stars | D, M, F | |
| 28 | Veronica Latsko | Virginia | Portland Thorns FC | M, F | |
| 29 | Annabella Geist | Oregon State | Portland Thorns FC ? | GK | |
| 30 | Abby Elinsky | North Carolina | Houston Dash | D, M, F | |
| 31 | Rachel Moore | The College of William and Mary | Washington Spirit | D, M, F | |
| 32 | Joanna Boyles | North Carolina | Boston Breakers | M | |
| 33 | Sarah Shimer | Washington | Houston Dash | GK | |
| 34 | EJ (Emma Jane) Proctor | Duke | Utah Royals FC | GK | |
| 35 | Kiana Palacios | UC Irvine | Sky Blue FC | M, F | |
| 36 | Celia Jiménez Delgado | Alabama | Seattle Reign FC | D, M, F | |
| 37 | Alexa Ben | DePaul | Chicago Red Stars | M, F | |
| 38 | Morgan Reid | Duke | North Carolina Courage | D | |
| 39 | Carlin Hudson | Yale | North Carolina Courage | D | |
| 40 | Ryan Williams | Texas Christian | North Carolina Courage | D | |
The 2018 NWSL College Draft in Images
All images by the terrific Monica Simoes.
