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The 2020 NWSL expansion draft: all of Racing Louisville’s picks

Racing Louisville’s draft picks tracked live as they come in.

By Stephanie Yang
@RacingLouFC on Twitter

Welcome to the 2020 NWSL Expansion Draft. Racing Louisville will have 16 picks, up to 2 from each team. Our guide to the draft with rules is here and a list of all the available picks from each team is here. This post will be updated as each pick is confirmed.

Watch live on NWSL’s Twitch stream

  1. Addisyn Merrick (defender, North Carolina Courage)
  2. Julia Ashley (defender, OL Reign)
  3. Jennifer Cudjoe (midfielder, Sky Blue FC)
  4. Cecelia Kizer (forward, Houston Dash)
  5. Katie Lund (goalkeeper, Washington Spirit)
  6. Alanna Kennedy (midfielder, Orlando Pride)
  7. Lauren Milliet (midfielder, NC Courage)
  8. Kaleigh Riehl (defender, Sky Blue FC)
  9. Caitlin Foord (midfielder, Orlando Pride)
  10. Katie McLure (forward, Washington Spirit)
  11. Erin Simon (defender, Houston Dash)
  12. Michelle Betos (goalkeeper, OL Reign)
  13. Tobin Heath (midfielder, Portland Thorns)
  14. Christen Press (forward, Utah Royals)

Louisville now has most of a roster in place...theoretically. There are some high risk gambles here, like the Australians Alanna Kennedy and Caitlin Foord. The Aussies appear to have moved en masse over to the FAWSL, a league that is better for them in terms of schedule for international duty, and may try to work something out to stay on those shores. As for Press and Heath, Louisville has selected their rights but again it’s anyone’s guess as to whether they’ll want to come back to the United States to play for an unknown like Louisville when they’re currently at Manchester United. Of course, there’s the wild speculation that they’ll aim for Angel City FC in 2022, although LA may have their own agenda that doesn’t include them in the roster.

Also keep in mind that Louisville may be making some of these selections with a trade in mind, if not this year, then next year, when the league may be hit with a double expansion. If the league goes through with some form of expansion draft again, surely a young team that barely had a season to gel their roster might want some juicy rights to offer up as protection against being gutted, a la Chicago Red Stars. The trade window opens up tomorrow, November 13, and the college draft takes place January 13. Some of these players point towards Holly wanting a relatively young team, something he alluded to in an earlier press conference when he said he viewed Louisville as a “project,” where he wants to be competitive out of the gate but also understands that they need time and space to build.

How do you feel about the expansion draft? Did your team lose your favorite player or did Louisville’s at-times seemingly haphazard roster picks let your team off light? Let us know in the comments!

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