Spaanstra & Hopkins Drafted Back-to-Back in First Round of NWSL Draft
For just the second time in program history, the Virginia women's soccer team had two players selected in the first round of the National Women's Soccer League Draft. Alexa Spaanstra and Haley Hopkins were taken with the 10th and 11th overall picks in the first round of the 2023 NWSL Draft on Thursday night.
Spaanstra, who concluded her five-year UVA career with 37 goals and 34 assists and was a five-time All-ACC selection, was picked 10th by the Kansas City Current. She joins forces with another UVA alum in forward Morgan Gautrat (née Brian).
With the very next pick in the draft, the North Carolina Courage selected Haley Hopkins, who just put the finishing touches on a six-year collegiate career in which she recorded 56 goals and 26 assists. Hopkins was a three-time All-SEC selection and two-time All-American at Vanderbilt before transferring to Virginia, where she tallied 22 goals and 14 assists and was named an All-ACC selection in both of her seasons in Charlottesville.
Hopkins joins forward Brittany Ratcliffe, who played at UVA from 2012-2015. The Courage also had Hopkins' former Virginia teammate Diana Ordóñez on the roster up until draft day on Thursday, as the Courage traded Ordóñez to the Houston Dash in exchange for the No. 8 overall pick in the draft.
Spaanstra and Hopkins became the sixth and seventh former Cavaliers to be selected in the first round of the NWSL Draft, joining Diana Ordóñez (6th overall in 2022), Courtney Petersen (7th overall in 2020), Emily Sonnett (1st overall in 2016), Morgan Gautrat (1st overall in 2015), and Danielle Colaprico (9th overall in 2015). This year's draft marks the first time since 2015 that UVA has had two players selected in the first round. Virginia has had 21 total players selected in the 10-year history of the National Women's Soccer League Draft and UVA is one of only two schools (Stanford) to have a player taken in every NWSL Draft.
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