Local product gets selected first in draft.
Angel City FC traded to the No. 1 selection in Thursday’s 2023 NWSL Draft to ensure they got their player, and they have selected that player, picking forward Alyssa Thompson No. 1 overall in Philadelphia.
Thompson, 18, decided against playing NCAA soccer at Stanford and instead becomes the latest American teen to skip college soccer altogether and join the NWSL, joining the likes of Jaedyn Shaw and Olivia Moultrie.
A Los Angeles-area native, Thompson attended Harvard-Westlake School, where she was a two-sport standout in soccer and track. Named Gatorade’s National Girls Soccer Player of the Year in 2021, Thompson and her sister Gisele have followed an unusual path in playing academy soccer, turning out for Total Futbol Academy in MLS Next, an all-boys team and league, where she has played regularly for the boys U-17 team.
Thompson has even been capped on the international level at the senior level, playing two games to date for the U.S. Women’s National Team. She made her debut in a friendly last October against England.
USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski explained Thompson’s style of play when calling her up last year.
“First I want to say that Alyssa is a very creative player, she has a very good understanding of the game,” Andonovski said. “We think that she has the ability to play as a winger, but not just as a classic winger that on the side, she has a very good understanding of how to come into the inside channel and expose teams in those areas. I have no doubt that she will fit well into our system and will connect with the players around her.”
Reports have circulated that Thompson will be signing one of the most lucrative contracts in the NWSL. If that’s the case and Angel City moved major assets to acquire the top pick in the draft, it seems like she could be contributing in an NWSL game near you very soon. Welcome to Angel City, Alyssa!
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