Leading Tuesday’s notables is a big one: United States Women’s National Team attacker Jaedyn Shaw has been traded from the San Diego Wave to the North Carolina Courage.
In other player news…
- With the re-signing of defender Lauren Barnes, the Seattle Reign have retained a second NWSL original for the 2025 season.
- Forward Sarah Griffith has signed a half-season contract with the Chicago Stars.
- The Orlando Pride have traded backup goalkeeper Sofia Manner to AFC Toronto of the Northern Super League.
Also, the Chicago Stars transitioned to its new name on Tuesday, with updates to its social media branding and its website, which is now at chicagostars.com.
Transfer: The San Diego Wave sends USWNT attacker Jaedyn Shaw to the North Carolina Courage in exchange for $300,000 in allocation money and $150,000 in intra-league transfer funds, plus an international spot for 2025 and 2026
On Tuesday, January 14th, the Wave (press release) and the Courage (press release) jointly announced one of the biggest transactions of the off-season: 20-year-old United States Women’s National Team forward/midfielder Jaedyn Shaw has been traded.
According to a quote by Wave general manager Camille Ashton, Shaw asked to be traded “[e]arly last season” (so, early 2024). The Equalizer confirmed that the request was made before the hiring of Ashton and the firing of head coach Casey Stoney (who was just announced as the new CANWNT head coach).
Shaw’s current contract, signed in 2023, expires after the 2026 NWSL season (August 2023 press release).
Transaction Summary
The North Carolina Courage receive…
- Jaedyn Shaw (whose current contract expires in 2026)
The San Diego Wave receive…
- Allocation Money: $300,000
- Intra-League Transfer Funds: $150,000
- International Roster Spot: For the 2025 and 2026 seasons
The two clubs also announced a “conditional secondary trade” (Courage press release) where…
…the Wave could receive up to an additional $75,000 in Allocation Money in 2025 in exchange for sending up to $150,000 in intra-league transfer fees to the Courage, subject to a conditional agreement with North Carolina.
(quote from the Wave press release)
Jaedyn Shaw
Shaw had a breakout performance at the 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup, where she lead the USWNT in scoring, with a brace against Argentina plus goals against Colombia and Canada, and was named the Best Player by Concacaf (news item).
Shaw was named to the USWNT’s Olympic roster, but did not feature in any matches due to a “grade-two strain of her quad” muscle in a leg (USA Today) that was suffered prior to the USA’s opening match.
After the Olympics, Shaw played in the Wave’s final seven matches, with two starts. In her final NWSL match of 2024, Shaw scored the opening goal in the Wave’s 3:1 victory over Racing Louisville (YouTube highlights). Prior to the Olympics, Shaw started most of the Wave’s matches in 2024 and netted three goals.
Shaw returned to the pitch for the USWNT as a substitute in the first match against Iceland and scored the 85th minute game-winner (YouTube highlight video). She played in all four of the USA’s remaining matches of 2024, starting all but the England match (USWNT line-ups).
Shaw joined the Wave as a 17-year-old month in July 2022 (press release), about four months before the NWSL introduced its U18 Entry Mechanism. She was originally signed to a one-and-half-season contract, through 2023.
Shaw attended about a dozen United States youth camps from the U-14 to U-20 levels and was a member of the USA’s squads for the 2022 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup and the 2018 Concacaf Girls’ U-15 Championship (all USA players were U-14).
Seattle Reign: NWSL original Lauren Barnes re-signs via one-year contract
On Tuesday (press release), the club announced that defender Lauren “Lu” Barnes will return to the Reign for her 13th season. Barnes has played her entire NWSL career for the Reign franchise.
Barnes, who will turn 36 in May, holds all-time NWSL records “in games played (232), games started (224) and minutes played (19,795)”. Barnes has appeared in all but 20 of the Reign’s 252 regular season matches.
With the Reign, Barnes has won three NWSL Shields (2014, 2015, and 2022).
During her time with Seattle, Barnes has had off-season loans to Melbourne Victory, Melbourne City, and Kristianstads DFF.
After four years at UCLA (player profile), in 2011, Barnes was drafted by the Philadelphia Independence of the defunct WPS, but did not feature in any matches (Wikipedia bio).
In 2016, Barnes was called into the senior United States Women’s National Team, but did not appear in any international matches.
Barnes attended about 30 United States youth national team camps from the U-15 to the U-23 levels. She was a member of the USA’s youthful squad at the 2007 Pan-American Games, which finished second to Brazil. With a 1989 birth year, she was in the mix for the 2008 U-20 USWYNT, and played in the 2008 Cyprus Cup against the senior women’s national teams of Scotland and Russia.
Chicago Stars: Club transitions to “Red”-less moniker
On Tuesday, January 14th, the club formerly known as the Chicago Red Stars, revised its website and social media branding to reflect its new “Chicago Stars” name. The change was originally announced back in October 2024, but no specific date was given for the name transition.
The domain name for the club’s website is now “chicagostars.com“.
Chicago Stars: Sarah Griffith re-signed via half-season contract
Also on Tuesday, the Chicago Stars actually announced a transaction!*
Forward Sarah Griffith has signed a short-term contract with the club through June 30, 2025 (press release).
A native of the Chicagoland area, the 25-year-old Griffith recently concluded her third season in the NWSL. She was drafted by the Chicago Red Stars ahead of the 2022 NWSL season.
During the 2024 season, Griffith featured in seven regular season matches, where she registered one assist. In the Summer Cup, she appeared twice as a substitute and scored a late game-winner against the Washington Spirit. (NWSL game log)
Prior to turning pro, Griffith played four seasons at Purdue (player profile), where she scored 26 goals and tallied nine assists over 72 matches.
While at Purdue, Griffith was diagnosed with a spinal disorder, spondylolisthesis, which required extensive surgery that included “four screws, two rods, and a cage in her back” (Purdue Athletics article and video).
*Their last signing, goalkeeper Halle Mackiewicz, was revealed on December 9th. Chicago had been the team with the longest ‘radio silence’ regarding player transactions (Bluesky post, h/t to @tomyenter.bsky.social).
Orlando Pride: Backup goalkeeper Sofia Manner traded to AFC Toronto
On Tuesday (press release), the Pride announced that 6’1″ goalkeeper Sofia Manner has been transferred to AFC Toronto of Canada’s new Northern Super League. She had one season left on her two-year contract.
Manner was signed by the Pride ahead of the 2024 season (January 2024 press release) and had one appearance, which was a 2:2 draw with Monterrey in the Summer Cup. In that match’s penalty shootout, Manner made one save, helping Orlando to earn a bonus point.
Manner, a native of Helsinki, Finland, played NCAA Division I soccer at Stony Brook (player profile), where she started 60 of 61 matches over three seasons and registered 254 saves while allowing 65 goals. After graduating from Stony Brook, Manner played one season of Division II soccer for Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida (Lynn player profile).
(No corresponding press release was published by AFC Toronto on Tuesday.)
Quick Note
Canadian midfielder Desiree Scott, who had apparently “announced her retirement from professional soccer” in October 2024 (Kansas City Current press release), has been signed by Ottawa Rapid FC of Canada’s new Northern Super League (press release). The length of Scott’s contract was not specified.
In her October 2024 announcement video (Instagram), Scott stated “I officially announce my retirement from the NWSL…” This was not necessarily a statement of intention to completely “retire[] from professional soccer”, which was the language used in the Current’s press release. However, later statements in the video did make it sound like she intended to end her playing career.
Women's Soccer Express 