Gotham FC trades for Lynn Williams; Alyssa Thompson goes No. 1 at the NWSL draft

The NWSL draft started out as expected, but it only took a few minutes for the night to erupt into an even bigger spectacle at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Angel City FC used the No. 1 pick on the player everyone thought they would: Alyssa Thompson, an 18-year-old high school senior at Harvard-Westlake in Los Angeles who already has debuted for the senior U.S. national team. Last week, Angel City sparked a multi-team trade to land the No. 1 pick, and the ability to stay home helped convince Thompson to turn pro now.

Barely a breath after NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman announced the pick, she announced a blockbuster trade: Gotham FC landed U.S. national team veteran forward Lynn Williams from the Kansas City Current in exchange for the No. 2 pick. The Gotham fans in the room who came down from north Jersey were shocked, and so was everyone else on hand.

It was a surprisingly low price for Gotham to pay for the 29-year-old, who is returning to action this month with the national team after a long injury absence. If she stays healthy, she’ll likely be on the U.S. World Cup team this summer. Before then, she’ll line up on the left side of a Gotham forward line that features fellow U.S. veteran Midge Purce.

» READ MORE: Gotham FC trades for Yazmeen Ryan and No. 2 draft pick this year, gives up No. 1 spot

Earlier Thursday, Gotham acquired the No. 4 pick in a deal with Racing Louisville, dealing away forward Paige Monaghan, $150,000, and an international roster spot for this year. It was easy to guess at that point that Gotham was up to something bigger, because while the top of the draft pool had good players, it had few slam-dunks.

The Williams deal duly proved the bigger thing. Gotham kept the No. 4 pick and used it on Florida State midfielder Jenna Nighswonger, a finalist for this year’s MAC Hermann trophy, college soccer’s equivalent of the Heisman.

Gotham’s only other pick of the night was in the fourth round, No. 44 overall, and the team selected Arizona midfielder Iliana Hocking.

But the Williams trade will get the biggest headlines. Gotham went just 4-17-1 last season after ending an eight-year playoff drought in 2021. It’s bad for any team and worse for the team in the shadow of the nation’s biggest city.

» READ MORE: The NWSL draft is in Philadelphia, but the NWSL isn’t yet. When could that change?

″We absolutely were very unhappy with where we ended last season,” general manager Yael Averbuch West said. “We’re all really competitive people — we’re in freaking New Jersey, New York; we don’t lose. That’s not OK there — and I should say here, we’re kind of close by. So for us, every single move we’ve made is an attempt to build a winning team and not just a winning team looking at next year, but a sustainable top team in the league.”

The use of “here” prompted a local question: will Gotham move one of its games to Subaru Park for the third straight season?

“I think I can’t comment on that,” West said. “But we love playing here.”

Kansas City used the No. 2 pick on Duke sophomore forward Michelle Cooper, who won the MAC Hermann trophy. Multiple sources with knowledge of the deal told The Inquirer that Kansas City wanted Cooper badly enough to make a straight player-for-pick swap. Later in the night, Current general manager Camille Levin Ashton confirmed it.

“Michelle is somebody that we’ve obviously watched over the course of the last couple of years, and she’s somebody that we really wanted to be part of this organization,” Ashton said of a player who trained with the Current as an amateur last summer. “We thank Lynn for everything and all her contributions to the team. It was something that we needed to do to make this decision.”

» READ MORE: Lynn Williams, Midge Purce return to USWNT for this month’s trip to New Zealand

One of Nighswonger’s ex-teammates, centerback Emily Madril, went at No. 3 to the Orlando Pride. Her potential has been known for long enough that she turned pro last summer and signed an early deal with the NWSL, agreeing to go in this year’s draft and spending the months until then on loan at a club in Sweden.

Just one player from the Philadelphia area was drafted: Gwynedd Valley’s Giovanna DeMarco, an alumna of Wake Forest and Penn Charter. The San Diego Wave took her at No. 45 overall in the fourth round, meaning she’ll be teammates with Voorhees native Amirah Ali.

Wave manager Casey Stoney said she was surprised DeMarco fell so far.

“The way she plays — technically very good, unbelievable athlete, and her ability to break lines with passes is some of the best I’ve seen in the game,” Stoney said. “Really pleased to add her to our training environment and really test her and see how she gets on in the senior [level] environment.”

Two Penn State players were drafted, both by the Chicago Red Stars: midfielder Penelope Hocking (Iliana’s sister) at No. 7, and forward Ally Schlegel in the second round at No. 23 overall.

» READ MORE: Amirah Ali is learning from Alex Morgan and other San Diego stars

Hocking said she’s excited to join a Chicago attack led by U.S. national team star Mallory Swanson [née Pugh].

“I’ve looked up to her for so many years,” she said. “When I first entered the college game, I wasn’t sure if I was going to play pro, but having the opportunity to do this is something I’m really, really proud of and happy to say I can do.”