Director of football Shaun Gill said she was presented with numerous options for next season, including a multi-year profession contract, but informed the club last month that she would not be returning.
Guess she has opted not to go the US College route then?
I read that she has signed an amateur deal with the Wanderers too, thus keeping that college option open. So she has moved purely for footballing reasons, not financial. The Wanderers coach Kat Smith must have promised her she could play in her preferred position, which the Nix wouldn't. Who knows? Maybe she has family in Sydney.
Nat Lawrence. As posted earlier left NZF at short notice to be assistant at Lewes in the championship in England, (right before the NZ U17 girls world cup qualifying tournament, meaning Leon Birnie had to step in at short notice). I see, she is in familiar territory. With Lewes currently sitting bottom of the Championship after 5 games.
Nat Lawrence. As posted earlier left NZF at short notice to be assistant at Lewes in the championship in England, (right before the NZ U17 girls world cup qualifying tournament, meaning Leon Birnie had to step in at short notice). I see, she is in familiar territory. With Lewes currently sitting bottom of the Championship after 5 games.
Overrated. Not worth the Investment NZF made in getting her badged up
Does it make some people feel good to dump on Nat Lawrence?
Pretty common on this forum to make comment on past Nix/NZ coaches. Like them or not Mark Rudan, Danny Hay, Des Buckingham. Past coaches will be fondly remembered by some. Not so much by others. Always interesting to see how there careers stack up after they leave and compared to what they achieved while they were here. Even Darije Kalezić still gets mentioned here from time to time.
Georgia Candy picks up an Injury Replacement deal with the Victory
Williams and Nash both miss out from injuries picked up last week. Courtney Newbon makes her first Victory start while Geo Candy joins the Club as an injury replacement goalkeeper.
I had a torn hammy suggested to me by people who know better than me when I bought up her absence on Twitter the other day
She's been in the team squad list every week, not mentioned as being injured. Hasn't made a match day squad for a long time though. Hope the injury isn't too bad, and she can find another gig to get some game time somewhere, with U20 WWC coming up second half of the year.
Also hard to imagine she's done enough recently to deserve a call-up
It's going to be a weakened squad in Samoa (outside FIFA window). She would be picked if fit, and Racing Louisville okay it. But given it's such a big opportunity for her stateside, probably best to just bypass Apia - Ferns will cruise through tourney and qualify for Paris anyway.
Good Stuff. Top level environment to be based at. Couple of thoughts on this.
1. Just goes to show if you want to be a pro and you are good enough you don't need to go through the US College system and spend 4 years playing amateur youth football.
2. Wonder if she will actually get much game time. Aussie, Alex Chidiac (won Julie Dolan medal last year as best ALW player) played for them last season. Didn't get much game time and has now returned to ALW.
Either way. Fantastic move for an 18 year old. She just needs a few lucky breaks to go her way after a torrid time at WSW.
Nick Robinson from Niche Cache in this lengthy article on the 2018 U17s girls (3rd at their WC), highlights why the NCAA system ain't that good as a pro pathway. Plenty of young Kiwis who go there stagnate getting very limited mins at their College teams, even after starring at underage WCs.
And now with the Nix ALW team, soon to be Auckland womens pro team, plus most Aussie ALW teams having at least one NZer - there are sound local pathways to pro football if you are good enough.
So if football is more a focus than education, then nowadays best avoid taking the US College route. I imagine a lot of the younger Nix girls are doing part time (if not free) study at Vic Uni anyway. From memory Whinham & Clegg did initially sign amateur deals with the Nix, so keeping the US College path there as an option in need.
Could be soon, that it's young girls the next level down who either don't make national age group teams, or struggle to get game time at age group WCs - who are those who end up going to a US College, ie decide to focus more on the free quality education than the football.
Gabi Rennie (Arizona State/Indiana), Genevieve Ryan (Rider U), and Maggie Jenkins (Central Florida) have gone the distance (at US Colleges), while Blair Currie (Spring Arbor) and Amelia Abbott (U of Texas) each have one more year. As does Aniela Jensen (UC Pacific) while Rylee Godbold (Wofford) has two more – both of them were standby members of this squad.
And then there’s the issue of game-time. Abbott was one of the standouts in that U17 WC, a combative midfielder with a huge engine and a tidy sense of rhythm. Admittedly she attends one of the biggest universities in the biggest state in America... but in three seasons she’s played a total of 142 minutes. This is a player who has been capped at senior level and she’s barely getting a sighter in college. Rennie transferred from Indiana after two years of not playing enough. Her fortunes improved once she got to Arizona though it wasn’t until her fourth and final year that she finally scored an NCAA goal. Same deal for Jenkins, whose senior year was by far her best.
None of them are going to get drafted in to the NWSL. Neither did Jacqui Hand or Daisy Cleverley or Hannah Blake who’ve all ended up in great situations regardless... but that’s not the point. The point is that subsequent age grade sides haven’t had quite the same uptake in NCAA scholarships... likely for the simple reason that the Wellington Phoenix now exist as an alternative.
.............Obviously Maya Hahn is no longer eligible for NZ having moved to Germany to chase that dream instead. Hahn has had a busy time of things since embracing her Germanity. In her three years at Oregon, she made 41 appearances albeit only 8 of them were starts. Three goals and an assist. Amongst that she popped back over to Germany to play at SV Meppen for a handful of Bundesliga games (playing in one of the best leagues in the world yet unable to get regular college starts... there’s another one for you in The Case Against the NCAA).
