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Rising Stars of Women’s Soccer
#latest
Rising Stars of Women’s Soccer
#latest
Fan Ink
May 27, 21
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Signed for Manchester City in August of 2020, which saw a wave of USWNT stars arrive to English clubs, Rose Lavelle is a skillful and dynamic midfielder for club and country. The 2019 World Cup was her breakout tournament, where she would start six games and score three goals, earning her the Bronze Ball - the award for the third-most-outstanding player of the tournament.
Another USWNT player and World Cup winner, Mallory Pugh has been a young starlet of the team since she was discovered at age 12. Often anointed the “future” of the USWNT, she is considered a prodigy of the modern day. Perhaps the pacey forward will one day reach the heights of national hero, Mia Hamm.
Scoring a debut hat trick versus rivals Tottenham, Jill Roord hit the ground running for Arsenal last year. Roord’s style of play is typically aggressive, and often breaks up opposition counter attacks by fair means or foul. The Dutch midfielder joined fellow country women Dominique Bloodworth, Vivianne Miedema, Danielle van de Donk, and Sari van Veenendaal at Arsenal, when she signed from Bayern Munich last year.
Joining Arsenal's Centre of Excellence in 2006 at the age of nine, Leah Williamson holds a strong allegiance to the club. Originally a midfielder, tactical changes for England prompted Phil Neville to convert the 23-year-old to a center back where she has had great success conducting the team’s possession-based style and breaking up play.
Signed by FA Women's Super League club Everton in August 2020, after scoring an incredible 14 goals in 16 appearances for Montpellier the season before. The prolific striker will be a focal point to Everton’s attack, and you can be sure to see her poaching goals from the box in as lethal fashion as she did in France.
What 5’4” Aitana Bonmatí lacks in stature she makes up for with fierce competitiveness and innate elegance. The Spanish midfielder is hugely versatile and she uses her low center of gravity and technical gifts to great effect for Barcelona . It’s no surprise to hear that her idols growing up in the Catalonian youth system were Xavi and Andrés Iniesta.
Winning the PFA Women's Young Player of the Year award last year, Stanway has emerged as somewhat of a local and national hero. The 21-year-old striker has already won five trophies with Man City, represented England at a World Cup, and scored some glittering goals along the way.
Khadija “Bunny” Shaw earned her nickname due to her appetite for carrots, but the Jamaican forward also has an appetite for goals. Rarely does a player standing 5’11” possess Shaw’s speed, touch, and vision, making much more than a classic number 9. She currently plays in France for Girondins de Bordeaux and internationally at the U-15, U-17, U-20 and senior levels for Jamaica, debuting at age 14.
22-year-old Jessie Fleming is a leader in the making. The Canadian emerged internationally when she captured Golden Ball honors at the 2013 CONCACAF Under-17 Women’s Championship. She’s gone on to earn an Olympic bronze medal, and caps for the senior national team at the FIFA Women’s World Cup, while somehow navigating a Materials Engineering major at UCLA.
One of Dutch football’s brightest hopes, Pelova is a midfield ace who’s an old head on a young pair of shoulders on and off the field. While she is not only a technician in midfield, she is also a student of Applied Mathematics and a talented chess player. The future looks bright for the Oranje with Pelova at the helm.