Portland Thorns – Women's Soccer Express

NWSL: 2025 Regular Season — Opening Day Rosters (Updated)

Wednesday, March 12, was the deadline for the fourteen teams of the 2025 National Women’s Soccer League to publish their initial regular season rosters, which are required to have at least 22 and no more than 26 active players.

This post is a compilation of those rosters, presented in a standard format. For each club, there are three separate lists, organized by position:

Active Roster: Players who should be available for gameday roster selection. However, some players may have minor injuries that do not necessitate being named to an injury/illness list and could be unavailable. In most cases, players that have short-term or other non-standard contracts have been noted, but some may have been missed as not all clubs provided such details in their roster press releases. Additionally, players who occupy international slots have been noted.
Extended Absences: Players who are unavailable due to injury or other reasons. This includes players on the season-ending and 45-day injury/illness lists as well as those on maternity leave and mental health leave. (This list also includes players who have not yet reported to their respective clubs. It is unclear whether those players count toward the number of active players.)
Out on Loan: Players who have been loaned to another team for at least the start of the 2025 regular season. The club that they are currently playing for and the length of the loan is included in parentheses after each player’s name.

NWSL Week in Review: Savy King traded from Bay FC to Angel City, Abuse scandal settlement announced

Topping last week’s notables is the news that the National Women’s Soccer League has agreed to a settlement agreement with the Attorneys General of New York, Illinois, and the District of Columbia. The settlement agreement was a result of a joint investigation into the NWSL in the wake of the player abuse scandal. That scandal eventually led to the Yates Report (PDF) and a separate report produced by the NWSL and the NWSL Players Association (PDF).

In player transactions…

The lead story is the trade of defender Savy King from Bay FC to Angel City for a $300,000 transfer fee that will be paid over two seasons.
Meanwhile, the top story from the East Coast is Gotham FC re-signing free agent forward Midge Purce.
Bay FC signed rookie midfielder Hannah Bebar, who will not immediately join the club as she is finishing a master’s degree at Duke University.
Down in SoCal, Angel City goalkeeper Angelina Anderson is now under contract through the 2028 season.
South African international Linda Motlhalo‘s second stint in the NWSL has ended after she and Racing Louisville agreed to a mutual contract termination.
The Washington Spirit are loaning rookie midfielder Deborah Abiodun and Brazilian forward Tamara Bolt to the USL Super League’s Dallas Trinity for the 2025 calendar year.
Olympique Lyonnais center-back Kysha Sylla is being sent on loan to the Spirit for one year.

In team news, the Portland Thorns have announced a shared performance center with the new WNBA franchise.

Also, the Utah Royals have added two unannounced non-roster invitees.

NWSL: 2025 Preseason Rosters, Part 6 — Bay FC, Chicago Stars, Houston Dash, North Carolina Courage, and Portland Thorns

Five additional clubs — Bay FC, the Chicago Stars, the Houston Dash, the North Carolina Courage, and the Portland Thorns — have released their initial preseason roster for the 2025 National Women’s Soccer League season, leaving just Gotham FC as the only team to not officially publish their roster list.

The most curious nugget from those five clubs’ press releases is a note that Chicago Stars and United States Women’s National Team forward Mallory Swanson will not be with the Stars “for the start of training camp” due to unspecified “personal reasons”. Chicago’s roster release also included a quote from Swanson. At this point in time, this situation is just something to note and is only a slightly significant story.

All five clubs have at least one non-roster invitee:

Bay FC has just one unsigned player, forward Catherine Paulson, who signed a short-term contract with the club in October 2024 after previously being a National Team Replacement Player.
The Chicago Stars have seven invitees, including two Jamaican internationals: goalkeeper Sydney Schneider, who was with the Stars in 2024, and Ohio State midfielder Peyton McNamara.
The Houston Dash have five non-roster players, including UVA midfielder Alexis Theoret, who was called into a U-23 USWYNT camp back in February 2023.
The North Carolina Courage have invited six recent collegiate players. Among them is defender Emerson Elgin, who won a 2024 NCAA Division I title with the North Carolina Tar Heels last December.
Of the six non-roster players invited by the Portland Thorns, two are goalkeepers: Morgan Messner, who was with the San Diego Wave during the 2024 NWSL season, and Stanford’s Haley Craig.

NWSL News of Note: Wave acquire Kenza Dali, Thorns sign UCLA’s Jayden Perry, Chicago adds U-17 international Micayla Johnson, Michelle Betos retires

Leading the player notables is the San Diego Wave’s acquisition of 33-year-old French midfielder Kenza Dali from Aston Villa. Dali joins the Wave via a two-year contract.

Two rookies signs were also announced:

UCLA center-back Jayden Perry was signed by the Portland Thorns for the 2025 season.
The Chicago Stars have signed 17-year-old forward Micayla Johnson through the 2027 NWSL season. Johnson played in the 2024 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup for the United States.

Covered in a separate post is the news that Deyna Castellanos has been released by Bay FC and has signed with the Portland Thorns.

Additionally, goalkeeper Michelle Betos has announced her retirement from professional soccer.

NWSL: Deyna Castellanos released by Bay FC, signs with the Portland Thorns

Update (25-Jan-2025): Portland’s signing of Castellanos was made official on Saturday, at about 9:00 a.m. Pacific time (press release, x.com post). The below post has been updated.

On Thursday (press release), Bay FC announced the mutual termination of midfielder/forward Deyna Castellanos’s contract with the club. Later that day, Sandra Herrera of CBS Sports reported that Castellanos had been signed by the Portland Thorns through the 2026 NWSL season, with a 2027 club option.

Portland’s signing of Castellanos was apparently confirmed by the Thorns in a press release that was sent out to the media on Friday (OurSportsCentral.com version) and covered by outlets such as the AP and USA Today’s Pro Soccer Wire. However, that release was deleted from the club’s website (Wayback Machine archive) and there was no mention of the signing on the Thorns’s social media accounts on Friday.

NWSL News of Note: 11 Rookie signings during first full week of 2025

Last week, six teams announced the signing of 11 rookies for the 2025 NWSL season. All of these announced rookies played NCAA Division I soccer during the 2024 season.

Among the signings are four players who will be attending U.S. Soccer’s upcoming Futures Camp, which is a hybrid U-23 camp: Maddie Dahlien (Seattle Reign), Taylor Huff (Bay FC), Emily Mason (Seattle Reign), and Pietra Tordin (Portland Thorns). The speedy Dahlien and the deft Tordin were both key members of the USA’s squad at the 2024 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup that finished third.

Other freshly-signed rookies with significant United States youth national team experience are forward Mary Long and defender Katie Scott who are now Kansas City Current players. Both Long and Scott were members of the USA’s 2024 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup squad which finished third as well.

Kansas City signed also signed goalkeeper Claire Gagne who won a national title with the North Carolina Tar Heels last year after three undergraduate seasons at Brown.

Pitt’s Deborah Abiodun, who was signed by the Washington Spirit, has already been capped by the senior Nigeria Women’s National Team and played in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The Spirit also signed San Diego State forward Emma Gaines-Ramos.

Additionally, Gotham FC signed University of Minnesota forward Khyah Harper and UCLA/Stanford goalkeeper Ryan Campbell.

NWSL News of Note, Teams Edition: Wave name Jonas Eidevall as head coach, Thorns hire Jeff Agoos as general manager, Racing reveals Caitlyn Milby as interim general manager, Belated Wave lawsuit update

The first full week of 2025 was chocked-full of NWSL news.

Leading the team-related notables are the hiring of former Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall as the head coach of the San Diego Wave and the signing of former United States Men’s National Team defender Jeff Agoos as the new General Manager and President of Soccer Operations for the Portland Thorns.

Also, Racing Louisville officially introduced its director of operations, Caitlyn Milby, as its interim general manager.

Additionally, a belated update on the lawsuit against the San Diego Wave: A sixth plaintiff was added in late October 2024 as a second ‘Jane Doe’.

NWSL News of Note: Gotham signs Gabi Portilho, Shelby Hogan traded from Thorns to Gotham, Bay FC signs Cal’s Karlie Lema, Royals signs Texas goalkeeper Mia Justus, Jéssica Silva signs half-season extension with Gotham, Nicole Barnhart announces retirement

Leading the notables for the last two days of 2024 are Gotham’s signing of Brazilian international forward Gabi Portilho and its acquisition of goalkeeper Shelby Hogan. Hogan was acquired via a trade with the Portland Thorns, who received an international roster spot for 2025.

Also, two clubs announced the signings of recent NCAA players:

Forward Karlie Lema, who is the 2024 ACC Offensive Player of the Year, has been signed by Bay FC after four seasons at the University of California, Berkeley.
The Utah Royals have bolstered their goalkeeping corps with the addition of Mia Justus, who played for the University of Texas and Florida State.

Meanwhile, Portuguese international forward Jéssica Silva has committed to another half-season with Gotham FC.

Additionally, former United States Women’s National Team goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart announced her retirement from professional soccer.

NWSL News of Note, Signings Edition: Angel City inks Mississippi State’s Macey Hodge, Gotham signs Pitt’s Sarah Schupansky, Bella Bixby re-ups with Thorns, Hillary Beall extends with Wave

During the last full week of 2024, two NWSL clubs announced the signing of collegiate players and two other clubs announced the re-signing of goalkeepers.

The two players who recently wrapped up their NCAA careers are Mississippi State midfielder Macey Hodge, who signed with Angel City, and University of Pittsburgh forward Sarah Schupansky, who is joining Gotham FC.

Meanwhile, the Portland Thorns retained their 2023 starting goalkeeper, Bella Bixby, who missed all of the 2024 season due to maternity leave, and the San Diego Wave have re-signed back-up ‘keeper Hillary Beall.

NWSL News of Note: Denver takes the lead; Becky Sauerbrunn retires; Narumi Miura moves to Spirit; Angel City signs Julie Dufour and retains M.A. Vignola; Coachella teams

Leading this edition’s notables is the news that the league “is entering exclusive negotiations” with the Denver bid for the second 2026 expansion franchise.

Former USWNT defender Becky Sauerbrunn announced her retirement from professional soccer on Tuesday.

In other player news, Washington Spirit has landed free agent midfielder Narumi Miura, previously of the North Carolina Courage, while Angel City has signed 23-year-old French international Julie Dufour and re-signed defender M.A. Vignola.

Additionally, six NWSL teams have announced that will play preseason friendlies at the 2025 Coachella Valley Invitational.