In one of the biggest deals in the short history of the NWSL, yesterday, the Western New York Flash acquired star forward Sydney Leroux from Seattle for the rights to Abby Wambach.
Now had this trade been announced tomorrow, most would have chalked it up to a tantalizing but cruel April Fool’s Day joke. Instead, when the deal was announced late yesterday afternoon, it sent those who follow both teams as well as those who follow women’s soccer into a frenzy. Yes, deals involving star players have been made before in the league, but not one involving two high profile stars, albeit one who announced only two weeks ago she was foregoing the rest of her pro career. This deal will reap immediate rewards for one team (the Flash), yet for the other (the Reign) the benefits may not be felt for a year, if at all.
Personally, I think it’s a brilliant move by the Flash, to acquired a young, rising superstar to build their team around. Leroux has quickly become one of the most popular players in both US Women’s Soccer and the NWSL. Leroux joins the Flash after spending the 2014 season with Seattle and 2013 with the Boston Breakers. A native of Vancouver, she appeared in 22 games and totaled five goals last year. In 2013 as a member of the Breakers, Leroux was named to the 2013 NWSL Best XI after posting a club-high 11 goals and two assists.
In her two NWSL seasons, Leroux has been named the Player of the Week a total of three times – the most by any player. Leroux, 24, has totaled 67 international caps and scored 33 goals to date with the USWNT. A 2012 graduate from UCLA, Leroux was a two-time semifinalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy and the team’s leading scorer from her sophomore to senior seasons. In her four years with the Bruins, Leroux earned NSCAA All-America and Soccer America MVP team honors three times. The Flash are getting a young, yet seasoned performer who will electrify the fans with her pure speed and play making ability, a sentiment echoed by Flash HC Aaron Lines :“As everyone knows, Sydney Leroux is a top goalscorer who has had both a fantastic club and international career so far, I’m excited about the opportunity that she presents for us and the offensive threat that she adds to our attack.” Desperately needing a proven sniper, the Flash have found in Leroux the dynamic player who can help them vault back into the league elite.
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For the Reign, dealing Leroux is a huge gamble, made even more so by the uncertainty surrounding Abby Wambach. Her decision to end her pro career to focus solely on this year’s World Cup and next year’s Olympics has been met with a variety of emotions and opinions. One cannot deny she is the face of women’s soccer in America as well as one of the building blocks of the NWSL, so losing her is a major blow. Yet, because of all she has done, she should not be too heavily scrutinized for wanting to focus on capturing the World Cup that eluded her four years ago.
Skyscraper Blues
If there is one incentive for Wambach to resume her pro career with Seattle is that she will be playing closer to home and to her wife, so fans can only hope that will be enough to entice her to play again, perhaps after the Olympics. Let’s hope we see her in a Reign uniform in 2016.
While they were certainly the key figures in the trade, Leroux and Wambach weren’t the only ones trading uniforms. The Flash added defender Amanda Frisbie along with Leroux, while the Reign added midfielder Amber Brooks and Flash’s natural first round pick in the 2016 NWSL College Draft.
Frisbie, 22, was selected by the Reign with the No. 7 pick in the 2014 NWSL College Draft but missed her rookie season due to injury.“Amanda is a young, versatile player who fits the bill here in Western New York,” Lines said. “She had a stellar career in Portland and was, obviously, injured last season but we love that she is young and will want to play a contributing role with our club.”A native of North Richland Hills, Texas, Frisbie attended the University of Portland where she was a four-year standout with the Pilots. In addition to earning NSCAA First Team All-America honors in 2013, Frisbie was also a MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalist in her senior year. She scored 31 goals and added 12 assists over her 71-game collegiate career after switching from forward to center back for her final season. She was also named West Coast Conference Defender of the Year. As Aaron Lines said, she is exactly the type of versatile player the Flash have been acquiring, since overhauling the roster, beginning last fall.
The Flash acquired Brooks on November 6, 2014 in a trade with Portland Thorns FC.“I’ve had the privilege to work with Amber over the last three weeks,” Lines added. “She came in here, worked hard and showed a lot of potential. Obviously the hardest part of the job is sitting down with a very good player that you’ve traded, but this trade fills the void that we had with Abby’s announcement.”
I want to hear from you, fans. Who do you think got the better end of this trade? Or is it too soon to tell?
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