Also in this roundup, four players held over from u-23s have left USWNT camp and Scotland women’s national team head coach to step down after Euro 2017
Today, the Seattle Reign FC announced the signing of New Zealand defender Rebekah Stott. She will be joining the team in Seattle for pre-season in March ahead of the 2017 NWSL season.
Stott is currently playing in her second season with the Melbourne City FC of the W-League in Australia where she is teammates with Reign FC’s Jessica Fishlock, Lauren Barnes, and Beverly Yanez for the 2016-2017 season. She also spent last season with Melbourne City where she was instrumental in helping the team to a W-League Championship in 2016.
According to the official press release from the Reign, Laura Harvey is excited about the versatility of Stott, “Rebekah has experience playing in multiple positions, which is something we need across the backline.”
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During the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Stott appeared in all three matches for New Zealand. She started all games and scored one goal during the team’s appearance in the group stage. To date, she has recorded three goals in 42 appearances for the senior team.
Four of the five U-23 players in USWNT camp have been released
On Tuesday, the United States women’s national announced that four of the five players Jill Ellis held over from the U-23 camp have been released from full national team camp. GK Casey Murphy, however, will stay with the team throughout the remainder of January camp whereas Mandy Freeman, Savannah McCaskill, Tierna Davidson and Brianna Pinto are set to leave camp.
{MORE: Ellis invites five U-23 players into USWNT January camp }
These five players were originally invited by Ellis to stay and train with the senior USWNT on Friday after impressive performances during the U-23 camp, but have since been released according to U.S. Soccer on Tuesday.
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Murphy, the New Jersey native, is a rising senior at Rutgers University who recently served as the starting keeper for the U.S. U-20 women’s national team at the 2016 U-20 FIFA Women’s World Cup this past November. She joins goalkeepers Jane Campbell (Houston Dash), Adrianna Franch (Portland Thorns FC), Ashlyn Harris (Orlando Pride), and Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars).
Scotland women’s national team head coach to step down after Euro 2017
Anna Signeul intends to step down as head coach of the Scotland women’s national team to take a job as the head coach of the Finland women’s national team after the upcoming UEFA EURO 2017 championship in the Netherlands this summer.
After 12 years with the Scottish FA, Signeul led the team to their first-ever major tournament which will be this summer’s EURO 2017. In addition to her time as head coach, she has also played an important role in establishing an academy system that has continued to support the development of players across the country.
According to the official release from the Scottish FA, now that the announcement has been made and her future clarified “the focus for the players and staff is on the EURO finals and we know there is a lot of work to be done to prepare the team for the tournament.” Her focus now shifts to ensuring her squad is “in the best possible condition for the finals.”