The Orlando Pride have waived forward Jamia Fields one week before the start of training camp. Fields spent one season with the Western New York Flash and two seasons with the Orlando Pride. She was originally drafted by the now-defunct Boston Breakers in the second round of the 2015 NWSL College Draft, but she ended up signing with the Western New York Flash. The Flash moved to North Carolina and rebranded as the North Carolina Courage for the 2017 NWSL season. Fields played ten games in her rookie season, scoring one goal for the Flash.
The Orlando Pride selected Fields with their fifth pick in the 2015 NWSL Expansion Draft, and the forward would play in 28 games for the team during the 2016 and 2017 seasons. She did not score any goals with the Pride, but she did earn two assists. Fields saw a decline in her playing time with global superstars Marta and Alex Morgan playing forward for the Orlando Pride in 2017, going from 627 to 598 minutes despite appearing in four more games in her second season with the Pride. She was further marginalized by the acquisition of forward Sydney Leroux from the Utah Royals FC in exchange for a first-round pick in the 2019 NWSL College Draft. The Pride used their only draft pick in the 2018 NWSL College Draft on forward Nadia Gomes.
In the team announcement, head coach Tom Sermanni said, “I'd like to thank Jamia for her passion and outstanding commitment to the Pride over the past two seasons. She has been a consummate professional throughout her time at the Club. We wish her every success with her career moving forward.”
Fields is the second Orlando player to be waived this week. Midfielder Nickolette Driesse was waived on Saturday after one season and four appearances with the Pride. Fields might have trouble finding a team after the NWSL has contracted in the off-season leading up to the 2018 season. With only nine teams in the league and a continued infusion of young talent, earning a spot on a team, let alone cracking the starting lineup, has become increasingly difficult in the premier American league.