Also in today’s roundup, Sam Kerr is named Asian Player of the Year and the US U-23s roster announced for final camp of 2017
Jess Fishlock is heading back to Seattle for her sixth season. (Photo Copyright Patricia Giobetti for The Equalizer)
Jessica Fishlock has re-signed with Seattle Reign FC and will return to the Emerald City for a sixth season in 2018. Fishlock returned to the Best XI in 2017 after one year relegated to the Second XI. She was also named to the league’s Best XI from 2013 through 2015.
“It is an honor to re-sign with this club. Seattle Reign is in my heart and I am excited for the future,” Fishlock said. “I hope to bring this club back to its prior success – it is a dream of mine.”
The prior success Fishlock referred to are the two Shields the Reign won in 2014 and 2015. They lost the NWSL Championship both years to FC Kansas City and beginning in 2018 will be coached by the man who beat them, Vlatko Andonovski. They Reign have missed the playoffs the last two seasons.
“Jess is one of the best midfielders in the world – when she is on the field she has an ability to run the show,” Andonovski said. “I think that every coach in the world would like to have Jess on their roster. I’m extremely excited to be able to work with a player of her caliber.”
Fishlock is currently paying for Melbourne City in the Australian W-League. She won the last two league championships with Melbourne including last season when she took over as head coach midway through the season.
Sam Kerr named AFC Women’s Player of the Year
Sam Kerr was named the AFC Women’s Player of the Year in a ceremony Wednesday. (photo copyright Katie Cahalin for The Equalizer)
Australia and Sky Blue FC striker Sam Kerr added another trophy to her shelf this morning, being crowned the Asian Football Conference’s (AFC) Women’s Player of the Year. Kerr beat out Japanese defender Saki Kumagai and North Korean U-20 striker Sung Hyang Kim for the award, which she was presented with at Wednesday’s AFC Annual Awards in Bangkok, Thailand.
“Firstly, I’d just like to say congratulations to the two other nominees on a great year. Secondly, thanks to AFC for this wonderful night,” Kerr said in her acceptance speech. “It’s been a bit of a crazy year, but I just want to say thank you to every one of my support staff that helped me throughout this year; they know who they are. And most importantly to my teammates because without them none of this would have been possible, so thank you.”
2017 has been a crazy year for Kerr, who scored a league second-best 10 goals to lead her Westfield W-League club Perth Glory to the league’s 2016/2017 Grand Final before being awarded the Julie Dolan Medal for the league’s Player of the Year. Already this season, the Perth native has tallied four goals in three appearances for the club.
She then wracked up honor after honor while playing with Sky Blue in the NWSL, ending the season with Most Valuable Player and Golden Boot awards. She also broke the single-season and career goals records, became the first player to record multiple hat tricks in a single season, and was the first player to score four goals in a single match. She accumulated numerous Player of the Week, Player of the Month, and Team of the Month awards throughout the duration of the season and was named to the league’s Best XI at season’s end.
While on national team duty with the Matildas, she has tallied 11 goals over the last six matches, becoming the first Australian player to score in six consecutive games. That goal total also includes her first hat trick at the international level, scored in Australia’s 4-2 win over Japan during this summer’s Tournament of Nations.
U-23 WNT closes out 2017 with Florida camp
The North Carolina Courage’s goalkeeper Katelyn Rowland was one of 26 players called into the final U.S. U-23 camp of 2017. (photo by Lewis Gettier)
The U.S. U-23 women’s national team will reconvene in Orlando this week for its final camp of 2017. Head coach B.J. Snow has called in 26 players for the camp, which kicked off on Wednesday and runs until December 4.
Of the 26 players called in, four of them are professionals. North Carolina Courage goalkeeper Katelyn Rowland was called into camp, as was Sydney Miramontez of the yet unnamed Utah-based team. Rowland’s teammate Darian Jenkins, who did not appear for the Courage in 2017 for what was supposed to be her rookie season due to injury was also called into camp. Michele Vasconcelos, drafted four spots after Jenkins as the No. 11 overall pick last year, was also called into camp despite also missing her rookie season with the Chicago Red Stars as she was pregnant with her first child.
The remainder of the roster is made up of collegiate players, although a number of obvious call-ups such as Tierna Davidson (Stanford), Savannah McCaskill (South Carolina) and Ashley Sanchez (UCLA) were left off due to their respective colleges advancing to the NCAA Cup, which coincides at the same time as the camp and will also be held in Orlando.
However, such standouts as Rutgers goalkeeper Casey Murphy, who recently announced she would not return to the Scarlet Knights for her redshirt senior season, and Texas A&M forward Ally Watt were called in. Tziarra King, currently tied for fourth in the nation with 17 goals for North Carolina State, earned a call-up, as did Ole Miss’s CeCe Kizer, who sits behind King in a three-way tie for sixth place with 16 goals.
The full U-23 camp roster is below.
U.S. Under-23 Women’s National Team Roster
Goalkeepers (4): Courtney Brosnan (Syracuse; Madison, N.J.), Katie Lund (Texas Christian; Plano, Texas), Casey Murphy (Rutgers; Bridgewater, N.J.), Katelyn Rowland (North Carolina Courage; Raleigh, N.C.)
Defenders (8): Cienna Arrieta (Texas A&M; El Paso, Texas), Hailey Harbison (Pepperdine; San Diego, Calif.), Kimberly Keever (Washington; Manhattan Beach, Calif.), Phoebe McClernon (Virginia; West Chester, Pa.), Sydney Miramontez (Utah NWSL; Lenexa, Kan.), Paige Monaghan (Butler; Roxbury, N.J.), Kaleigh Riehl (Penn State; Fairfax Station, Va.), Samantha Staab (Clemson; Clemson, S.C.)
Midfielders (8): Haley Hanson (Nebraska; Lincoln, Neb.), Maddie Huster (Wake Forest; Cincinnati, Ohio), Cece Kizer (Mississippi; Overland Park, Kan.), Parker Roberts (Florida; Leawood, Kan.), Shannon Simon (Washington; Torrance, Calif.), Bri Visalli (Pepperdine; San Jose, Calif.), Morgan Weaver (Washington State; Pullman, Wash.), Sandra Yu (Notre Dame; Strongsville, Ohio)
Forwards (6): Cyera Hintzen (Texas; Austin, Texas), Darian Jenkins (North Carolina Courage; Heber City, Utah), Tziarra King (NC State; Raleigh, N.C.), Michele Vasconcelos (Chicago Red Stars; Sandy, Utah), Ally Watt (Texas A&M; College Station, Texas), Maddy Williams (Purdue; Perrysburg, Ohio)
