Alyssa Thompson, Jenna Nighswonger among newcomers you need to know for 2023 NWSL season

NWSL's 11th season is just about here, and the league's newcomers are an intriguing bunch.

The draft system still creates a bit of an awkward situation: a mix of players who have probably been ready to play pro soccer for years now coming in alongside long-term projects, all finding out their fate during one chaotic night in January. As the salary cap rises, the league remains an option for players from leagues across the world as well, particularly those looking to add some physical and mental toughness to their game.

While several teams opted for stability this winter over wholesale changes, every club has at least one new player in a position to play right away, or that will indicate a potential path forward for the long-term vision in a league where teams frankly haven't always been able to plan further than a year or two down the road.

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These are the most intriguing newcomers joining the NWSL in 2023:

Angel City FC: Alyssa Thompson

The top pick in the draft cost Angel City nearly an entire season’s allotment of allocation money, but the club is certain that Thompson, 18, is a sure bet to become a superstar in this league.

Thompson sure did look the part in Angel City’s preseason game against Club América. The LA native scored a brilliant solo goal against one of Liga MX Femeníl’s top clubs, a team that had conceded just five times in 10 games thus far this season.

A full-strength Angel City side might not have room for Thompson to start. After all, this is a team with Christen Press, Sydney Leroux, Simone Charley, and Claire Emslie vying for time up top, not to mention midfielders who can play as forwards like Jun Endo and Savannah McCaskill. However, in the season’s early weeks, Press (ACL rehab) and Leroux (ankle rehab) won’t be available, which means Thompson has a chance to make a first impression on a bigger stage.

Given how she’s taken the chances in front of her, don’t be surprised if she’s making NWSL highlight reels very shortly.

Chicago Red Stars: Julia Bianchi

Chicago, reflecting years of difficulties off the field, suffered through a rough offseason. In particular, their entire central midfield left the club to sign free agent deals elsewhere in NWSL. Vanessa DiBernardo and Morgan Gautrat moved to Kansas City, while Danny Colaprico is one of the smartest signings of the offseason for San Diego.

The Red Stars found a system last season that gave Mallory Swanson a platform to be great, and it’s unlikely that Chris Petrucelli wants to get away from that tactical blueprint by all that much. That makes Bianchi, 25, a pivotal move. The Brazil national team holding midfielder will likely step into Colaprico’s old role as Chicago’s No. 6 from day one.

There’s a lot of pressure on a player who doesn’t have much experience at the very top of the game. The good news? Biachi will get some help, as the return of Tierna Davidson and Casey Krueger means the Red Stars will be stronger and more organized defensively. But still, if Chicago is going to keep up their long streak of postseason appearances, they probably need Bianchi to find comfort with the level of the league very quickly.

Houston Dash: Bárbara Olivieri

Olivieri, a regular presence for Venezuela’s national team, has rapidly climbed the ranks. The Texas native had plenty of success in two NCAA seasons with Texas A&M, putting up 13 goals and 8 assists in 27 appearances, and then jumped at the chance to sign with Monterrey in Liga MX Femeníl.

Olivieri was then a regular for a Rayadas side that finished in a top-two spot in both the 2022 Clausura and 2023 Apertura only to be upset in the semifinal round both times. Doing that would be impressive after a full college career, but Olivieri is just 21 years old.

So she’s taking the next step up, joining the Dash, and it seems like a promising environment. New head coach Sam Laity is coming from a long-standing 4-3-3 formation with OL Reign, but Houston’s move to acquire Diana Ordóñez when Ebony Salmon was already in the fold suggests some different looks are coming.

An instant starting job might not be in the cards for Olivieri, but she does make a lot of sense as a game-changing playmaker off the bench. If she seizes the chance, you might be seeing the Dash fans on your timeline calling for her to become more of a fixture in the first 11.

Kansas City Current: Hanna Glas

We could almost do three different segments for Kansas City after they drafted Michelle Cooper and signed Sweden winger Mimmi Larsson. Both figure to be big-time additions, but we’re going to focus on Glas, one of the premier right backs in women’s soccer.

It’s a tribute to the Current’s ability to lure talent that a player whose last two clubs are Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich wanted in, and Glas’ attack-minded play on the flank suits coach Matt Potter’s whirlwind 3-5-2 system perfectly.

We’re talking about someone who was arguably the best player on the field in Sweden’s 3-0 rout of the USWNT at the Tokyo Olympics, and the scorer of the best goal of the 2020-21 Champions League, on a team that has figured out how to turn their wingbacks into constant threats (see also: Hailie Mace). The 29-year-old’s high-energy, forward-thinking skillset seems tailor made for Kansas City’s approach.

There is one drawback: Glas had knee surgery in September, and per a report in The Athletic last month, she was running, but not training. Glas reported to Kansas City last week, which is a positive sign. Kansas City has the depth to get through the coming weeks while she gets up to speed (Kate Del Fava was very solid in the back half of 2022), but Glas could be the player that takes them over the top.

NJ/NY Gotham FC: Jenna Nighswonger

So much went wrong for Gotham FC in 2022 that even their major overhaul of an offseason feels like it’s just phase one. However, one recurring problem was that the team acquired USWNT midfielder Kristie Mewis, only to miscast her as their No. 10. It wasn’t Gotham’s biggest problem by a long shot, but it did keep their best player from being the strongest version of herself.

That brings us to Nighswonger. Along with Yazmeen Ryan, who was picked up in a savvy pre-draft trade, the Florida State playmaker gives new coach Juan Carlos Amorós the ability to deploy Mewis where she’s best, while also adding a more traditional playmaker in the No. 10 role.

Adding Nighswonger gives Gotham’s projected lineup more coherence, which sounds like a mild gain but is actually critical for this team. Last year’s Gotham was far more talented than their record indicates, but the pieces didn’t fit together. Crucial elements were missing, while they ended up with too many similar players in other areas. Adding a starting-caliber playmaker should start a domino effect that makes Gotham better in multiple positions, and in multiple phases of the game.

There’s also the surface-level fact that Nighswonger’s vision and comfort in traffic at the top of the box, paired with a forward line including Ify Onumonu, Midge Purce, and Lynn Williams, figures to work. Nighswonger had 16 assists in 22 games as a senior at FSU, and should be ready to cook all season long. We liked this pick in the immediate aftermath of the draft, and we like it now.

North Carolina Courage: Narumi Miura

North Carolina is a team in flux. Debinha left for a free agent deal with the Current, while Ordóñez was traded to Houston on draft day. Defensive cornerstones Abby Erceg and Carson Pickett were traded to Louisville, while veteran right back Merritt Mathias will be suiting up for Angel City this year.

Even before all those players headed elsewhere, coach Sean Nahas had a problem to address: a revolving door alongside Denise O’Sullivan in NC’s double-pivot central midfield. Several good players were tried there, but no one ever really seemed comfortable with the admittedly difficult linking role in the Courage’s track-meet style of play.

Miura, a four-time league champion with Tokyo Verdy Beleza, seems like the logical pick to take up that task. At 25, she’s already played seven pro seasons in Japan, and has a World Cup under her belt. She’s also got some motivation: while Miura was a fixture under Asako Takakura, she has been left out of new manager Futoshi Ikeda’s last few national team camps. If she’s going to a second career World Cup, Miura needs to start her NWSL career with a bang.

Plenty of smaller players have figured out how to thrive here (Jess Fishlock, for example, would be a lock for an all-time NWSL Best XI), and Nadeshiko players like Endo and Hina Sugita have shown that the latest generation of Japanese players are figuring the league out more quickly than in years past. If the 5’2″ Miura can follow in their footsteps, the Courage may stay in the thick of the playoff race once again.

OL Reign: Luany

This one’s a bit tricky, because OL Reign had very little roster changeover, and their most notable additions came via trades within the league.

The one exception: Luany, a Brazil under-20 midfielder that the Reign acquired from Brazilian top-flight club Grêmio in exchange for an unspecified transfer fee. Per the Reign’s announcement of the move, Luany was the youngest player to score at least three goals in the 2022 Série A1 season.

Given how deep the Reign are, particularly in the wide areas that it’s expected Luany will play, the youngster is absolutely one for the future. She hasn’t been able to join up with the club while she awaits her visa, but once she does, she represents what could be a unique trend from an NWSL club. The Reign in 2021 signed Angelina, who at the time was a 20-year-old midfielder coming to NWSL after a few seasons in the Brazilian top flight.

If the Reign start becoming a viable avenue for Brazilian players to make an impact in NWSL, it could be a fascinating development that other teams could adopt should they make similar connections abroad.

Orlando Pride: Messiah Bright

It might seem like a reach to pick a player who lasted until late in the second round, but all signs are pointing to Bright hitting the ground running for the Pride.

First up, there’s a roster reality: the Pride don’t have a veteran No. 9 that will clearly take up all the minutes. They have some solid NWSL players vying for that role, but the buzz around Orlando is that Bright is at least holding her own, and may even be on course to start from opening day. It can’t have hurt that in the Pride’s final preseason scrimmage, she started with what looks like an on-paper first XI for Seb Hines, and scored twice in a 3-2 win over Washington.

Bright is an inventive finisher, which on a team that will have Marta back means she has the potential to get among the goals pretty quickly. On top of that, she has a well-earned reputation for, essentially, having that dawg in her. NWSL games are always battles, and that suits Bright’s intensity to a tee.

Sometimes preseason hype ends up being a letdown, but in this case, the indicators are very strong for Bright to be a major factor for the Pride in the near term, rather than being a promising project for later in the season.

Portland Thorns: Reyna Reyes

Reyes might have made this list anyway simply due to Portland’s roster build and her “can play anywhere” skillset. She went fifth overall on draft day for a good reason.

However, the Mexico international’s path to minutes is now more clear, after the unfortunate news that Janine Beckie is out for the season with a torn ACL. The Thorns were very flexible formation-wise in 2022, and a player like Beckie — capable of playing any flank position in a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1, plus as a wingback or wide forward in back three systems — allows teams to pursue that unpredictable path.

Reyes isn’t the exact same sort of player (she probably won’t be getting minutes as a forward), but she can play fullback, wingback, or central midfield at an NWSL level. That versatility will allow new coach Mike Norris to stick with the flexible Thorns blueprint that saw the team win it all last year.

Reyes may not be a day-one starter on the back line if Portland begins the year in a back four (Meghan Klingenberg may be slowing down, but has been nonetheless stellar at left back), but if they deploy wingbacks instead, expect Reyes to be first choice from the get-go.

Racing Louisville: Ary Borges

As with KC, we could focus on striker Uchenna Kanu or center back Elli Pikkujämsä. However, if Kanu can’t translate her Liga MX Femeníl success right away, Racing has a long list of forwards who will be competing for time. Pikkujämsä will be partnering with Abby Erceg at center back, meaning there’s a lot less pressure on her to be an instant success.

So we’re focusing instead on Borges, whose role in Louisville’s midfield will be critical. Racing’s first two seasons saw a midfield that lacked balance, forcing Jaelin Howell to opt for a more conservative style of play than her ball-winning skillset requires. Freja Olofsson struggled to make a consistent impact in games, and even Savannah DeMelo’s successful 2023 couldn’t cover the fact that teams could walk up the middle against Racing too often.

Borges will be tasked with solving that issue. In possession, Louisville should be looking for Borges to be the connective tissue, the player who is available for the next pass and can be trusted to retain the ball without slowing things down too much. When opponents are attacking Racing, they’ll need Borges to provide cover and occupy spaces that allow Howell to rove around more and be the destructive presence Louisville has needed her to be.

San Diego Wave: Lauren Brzykcy

You have every right to wonder why a rookie goalkeeper would be the pick on a team with Kailen Sheridan, who happens to be arguably the best at her job on the planet.

For one, while the Wave made numerous additions, they’ve largely gone for established NWSL veterans like Colaprico, Meggie Dougherty Howard, and Rachel Hill as opposed to league newcomers. Melanie Barcenas is an exciting signing, but at 15, she’s likely been brought in with a longer view (though it’s probably wise to watch out for her in the Challenge Cup).

However, with Sheridan busy with Canada (provided their federation can get its act together) in April friendlies and during the World Cup, Brzykcy seems sure to see some serious playing time in 2023.

Carly Telford retired literally last week, meaning that Brzykcy is the only other goalkeeper under contract. With the Wave expected to push for honors at the top of the league this season, they could easily end up giving Brzykcy the biggest share of the Challenge Cup minutes to make sure that she’s in top form for Sheridan’s World Cup absence.

Washington Spirit: Gabrielle Carle

With a new coach and nine new players, there are a lot of ways this section could go. In particular, former France midfielder Inès Jaurena should be a ball-winning force for Mark Parsons’ high-pressing system, and rookie forwards Civana Kuhlmann and Lena Silano likely have a short path to playing time due to the composition of the team’s roster.

However, Canada defender Gabrielle Carle — signed early in the offseason by Washington — has flown under the radar a bit, yet is the newcomer with the highest likelihood of starting from day one. Carle was brought in to bolster a defense that has had two USWNT players depart (Kelley O’Hara signed a free agent deal with Gotham, while Emily Sonnett was traded to OL Reign), and then lost potential starter Anna Heilferty to a torn ACL in preseason.

Carle still has a battle on her hands for the starting job at left back, with Camryn Biegalski an option on both sides of the back four and winger Maddie Elwell likely to see time there as an attack-first option. However, in a World Cup year, Carle will have immense motivation to secure her place with the Canadian national team.

For the Spirit, that means providing width on the left flank going forward, being steady in possession, and perhaps most importantly, winning one-on-one battles defensively. The Spirit are going to press aggressively, which means their defenders have to be tough to beat in isolation. If Carle can provide that, one of the big questions among Washington’s fanbase will be settled.