Women's Tennis Falls to Drexel

By BRETT TULIP CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Another trade involved the second most notable team in the draft, the Courage. The Courage, who had three of the twelve first-round picks heading into the draft, had the room to make several moves to expedite a rebuild, as they’ve lost most of the core that’s brought them championships in the past. The first move they made was to trade for another first round pick to bring their total to four. They traded away forward Diana Ordoñez and a third round pick to the Houston Dash in exchange for the eighth overall pick, next year’s first round pick, allocation Monday and an international spot. It’s a questionable choice for the Courage considering Ordoñez was one of their last goal scorers left on the team, but after reports claiming she wanted to leave, it became more clear why N.C. moved forward with the trade.

The last notable trade occurred

Current

Williams, coming off an Achilles injury, was traded last season from the North Carolina Courage to the Current, but because of her Achilles tear, she never got to appear in a match for the team. It’s a risky trade for both sides, with the at the end of the night. It was announced that USWNT defender Emily Sonnett would be traded from the Washington Spirit to the powerhouse of a team, OL Reign. This trade has several implications for the overall picture of the league. Firstly, it’s clear Washington is looking to rebuild their back line with youth as their two veteran defensive leaders are now gone, with Kelley O’Hara heading to Gotham and now Sonnett going to Seattle. Furthermore, OL Reign has built on what some already consider to be a championship lineup. The Reign now have Sonnett, Megan Rapinoe, Rose Lavelle, Jordan Huitema and others who would make impacts alone on any team.When all was said and done and the chaos subdued, 48 new players were drafted into the league. While the headlines of the draft won’t necessarily reflect the players selected, the future is rich with talent for the NWSL. Now, Thompson is clear to provide a foundation for the next generation of stars as the first player to ever be drafted out of high school into the league.

With several rosters shaken up through trades and the very first season that includes a free agency period, this season in the NWSL is sure to be interesting.

After a lengthy break from competitive play, the Fordham women’s tennis team returned to action this weekend in Westchester against Drexel University. These matches marked the start of the team’s spring season, but unfortunately, the new year began with a loss for the Rams when Drexel narrowly pulled out a 4-3 victory due to strong play in singles matches.

For Fordham, singles play was an apparent weakness, with some veteran players struggling without playing aside their usual doubles partners. It started with graduate student Lindsay Hung losing in three sets, followed by senior Avery Aude being defeated in two close sets. Luckily, junior Eleni Fasoula continued her steady improvement with a three-set victory, contributing one of the three Fordham points earned on the day. Another of the three points also came in singles, with sophomore Lorraine Bergmann securing a win through three sets. The other losses came from graduate student Carlota Casasampere Escoda and freshman Sofie Siem.

In the high-energy three doubles matches, Fordham earned their third and final point of the day when they beat Drexel by dominating two doubles matches quickly and efficiently. The duos of graduate student Valeriya Deminova and Aude, along with Casasampere Escoda and Hung, both won their first matches. Head coach Mike Sowter was pleased with the team’s doubles performance, saying, “I thought we came out with good energy and played solid doubles but full credit to Drexel.” He also explained how they will look to perform better next week against Marist College after calling this first event a “hard-fought battle.”

Overall, this year’s squad is looking to build on its fantastic previous season where they reached the Atlantic 10 Championship. However, this won’t be easy, and this first loss isn’t ideal for setting a winning tone. On the positive side, outside of a three-day slate of matches in California, their schedule is relatively close to home and involves less travel than the previous years. Small advantages like this, in addition to having many returning key contributors, give players and fans alike a reason to be hopeful that another deep tournament run could be on the way.