Will the Utah Royals have any picks to make in Friday's NWSL expansion draft?
Will the Utah Royals have any picks to make in Friday's NWSL expansion draft?
The Royals acquired goalkeeper Mandy Haught and defender Kate Del Fava, plus two NWSL draft picks, in exchange for 3 more expansion protections. But they were't done.
Royalty has a new shot stopper.
The Utah Royals acquired goalkeeper Mandy Haught from reigning NWSL champions Gotham FC in exchange for $150,000 in allocation money and expansion protection, the team announced Tuesday.
Haught made three appearances in 2023 for Gotham, with shutouts in the quarterfinals and semifinals. The former Virginia Tech standout (she joins fellow former Hokie Emily Gray in Utah) is just the third goalkeeper in league history to post clean sheets in her first two career postseason starts before the team went on to capture the NWSL title with a 2-1 win over OL Reign that included Haught in goal.
Later in the afternoon, the Royals traded to bring back one-time Utah Royals draft pick Kate Del Fava and the No. 4 overall pick in the 2024 NWSL draft to the Kansas City Current in exchange for $75,000 in allocation money and expansion protection.
Del Fava, 25, debuted with the first iteration of the Utah Royals during the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup and made six appearances before the club relocated to Kansas City. The former Illinois State standout from Kenosha, Wisconsin, made 40 appearances the past three years for KC, including scoring the game-winning goal in the 10th minute of overtime of a playoff match against the Houston Dash in 2022 — the latest goal in NWSL history at the time.
“I’m thrilled to be back in Salt Lake City, very excited to be back with an organization that has given so much to me, including my first NWSL experience back in 2020,” Del Fava said. “I could not be more excited to get to work with Amy — I played with her in both Utah and Kansas City. She’s such a great leader — intense, infectious, we are going to have such a great time building the new Utah Royals team.”
The weren’t done, though.
Utah also brought home former University of Utah goalkeeper and Timpanogos High alum Carly Nelson and $65,000 in allocation money from the Orlando Pride, in exchange for a 2024 international roster spot, then went and grabbed former BYU standout and Lone Peak High alum Cameron Tucker and $50,000 in allocation money from the Houston Dash in exchange for expansion draft protection.
Utah also added forward Hannah Betfort, a two-goal scorer in 11 appearances with the Portland Thorns, as well as the No. 33 pick in the draft and $10,000 in allocation money in exchange for expansion protections to the Thorns.
The acquisitions were announced on the same day that the Royals traded expansion-draft protection to the Washington Spirit in exchange for the Nos. 20 and 21 picks in next month’s entry draft, as well as expansion protection to Los Angeles-based Angel City FC in exchange for a 2024 international roster spot and $100,000 in allocation money.
For those keeping track at home, that means the Royals have traded expansion protection to close to half of the 14-team league. That includes trades with the following teams:
Houston Dash
Angel City FC
Portland Thorns FC
Kansas City Current
NJ/NY Gotham FC
Washington Spirit
That’s in addition to Bay FC, the Northern California expansion side that will pick alongside Utah Royals FC in Friday’s expansion draft.
Bay FC has also traded expansion protection to Houston, Angel City, Gotham FC, Portland, Washington, Louisville, Kansas City and Orlando as part of a number of NWSL-approved offseason transactions.
So who hasn’t been granted expansion protection by the Utah Royals just four days out from the draft? There’s Seattle’s OL Reign, Kentucky’s Racing Louisville and Chicago Red Stars that are (again, currently) eligible to have a player picked by Utah.
Each team can protect a total of nine players, according to NWSL rules and regulations, and may protect one additional player once a player is selected from its roster. Unsigned unrestricted and restricted free agents are unavailable for selection, as are Under-18 players, individuals on the discovery list of any team, and any player with a “no-trade” clause in their contract, meaning they are required to be protected by the club.
Bay FC will pick first in the expansion draft, which will air live on CBS Sports Netowrk at 5 p.m. MT Friday, with additional coverage on CBS’s “Attacking Third” women’s soccer show.
Here’s Utah’s roster after a whirlwind of a day filled with trades and acquisitions, with their most recent club included parenthetically:
GK: Mandy Haught (Gotham FC), Carly Nelson (Orlando Pride)
DF: Kaleigh Riehl (San Diego Wave), Madison Pogarch (San Diego Wave), Kate Del Fava (Kansas City Current)
MF: Mikayla Cluff (Orlando Pride), Michele Vasconcelos (Portland Thorns), Emily Gray (North Carolina Courage), Frankie Tagliaferri (North Carolina Courage)
FW: Hannah Betford (Portland Thorns), Imani Dorsey (Gotham FC), Cameron Tucker (Houston Dash)