Analysists labelled the crop of talent available for the 2016 NWSL College Draft as 'lackluster'. There was no real consensus number one pick as opposed to 2015 when everyone had Morgan Brian as the clear top choice. The top ten selections went this way:
No. 1 – Emily Sonnett – Univ. of Virginia (Portland Thorns FC)
No. 2 – Raquel Rodriguez – Penn State (Sky Blue FC)
No. 3 – Christen Westphal – Univ. of Florida (Boston Breakers)
No. 4 – Carson Pickett – Florida State (Seattle Reign FC)
No. 5 – Cari Roccaro – Notre Dame (Houston Dash)
No. 6 – Rachel Daly – St. John’s Univ. (Houston Dash)
No. 7 – Cheyna Williams – Florida State Univ. (Washington Spirit)
No. 8 – Janine Beckie – Texas Tech (Houston Dash)
No. 9 – Michaela Hahn – Florida State Univ. (WNY Flash)
No. 10 – Sam Witteman – UC Berkeley (Orlando Pride)
Sonnet has played well, easily making the transition to the pro game. She is an alternate for team USA in the upcoming Olympics. Williams has been a key cog in the Spirit attack, and her speed and playmaking ability almost led to the equalizing goal last week against the Sky Blue. However, at this point in the season, the top three candidates for rookie of the year are Daly, Rodriguez, and Sky Blue FC forward Leah Galton, who went in the second round.
Daly saves Dash with goals
In terms of disappointing teams this season, the Dash (along with FC Kansas City) lead the way. They have been snakebitten from the start when star midfielder Carli Lloyd went down with an injury.
With Lloyd missing, scoring goals have been something of a challenge for the Dash and Daly has risen to the call. Of the teams' ten goals, Daly has three to lead the team.
Daly became the first player from England to be drafted into the NWSL and she honed her skills at St. John's University where she scored 50 career tallies. She has shown that given even the smallest of spaces, she can score from anywhere. The scoring burden seems to have fallen on her shoulders and she has responded like a veteran.
Rodriguez burts onto scene senior year
The Sky Blue traded 2015 leading scorer Nadia Nadim in order to acquire the second overall pick which they used on "Rocky". The MAC Herman Trophy winner led Penn State to the national title and started 90 of a possible 93 games in her Nittany Lion career registering 74 points on 23 goals and 28 assists. Along with winning both the NCAA’s greatest team and individual awards, she was also honored in 2015 as the NCAA Women’s College Cup Most Outstanding Offensive Player, NSCAA Scholar Player of the Year, TopDrawerSoccer Player of the Year, TopDrawerSoccer Best XI First Team, Honda Sport Award winner, NSCAA All-America First Team and All-Big Ten First Team, among others.
She was eased into the Sky Blue lineup and after a slow start has become a dynamic, tenacious two-way midfielder who has cut down on early season mistakes to become one of the young leaders for Christy Holly's squad. Together with Taylor Lytle and Sarah Killion, she has helped form one of the best midfields in the entire league.
Galton boosts Sky Blue
The native of Harrogate, England has made an immediate impact for the Sky Blue. She was selected in the second round with the thirteenth pick and was a 2015 MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalist registering 122 points while at Hofstra University, a program record.
This past weekend, the true nature of Galton's skills were on display as she completely dominated the Washington Spirit,scoring the only tally of the match. It seemed as if every scoring chance went through her as the Spirit could not find an answer to contain her explosive combination of ball skills and speed. In the match against Chicago at the end of May, she was substituted in and quickly made an impact scoring the equalizing goal. In just nine appearances she is tied with Killion for the team lead in goals with three.