Portland Thorns select Emily Ogle in NWSL college draft

After a bit of wheeling and dealing to turn their 17th and 35th overall draft picks into the 24th overall pick, the Thorns selected midfielder Emily Ogle out of Penn State today at the NWSL draft.

Ogle, ranked fifth in the draft class by Top Drawer Soccer, had been projected to go much earlier, so it was a surprise to many that she was still on the board by the third round. Travis Clark at TDS calls her “impressive under pressure” but notes that her ceiling in the NWSL may prove to be her physical attributes. “If she plays in a double pivot,” writes Clark, “that is sure to play to her strengths, though if she grows into the challenge of pro soccer and can cover ground, she could be a runaway success.”

Overall, it was a relatively uneventful day at the draft, with Tierna Davidson having declared in the eleventh hour and then getting picked up by Chicago first overall. Washington had the most picks in the first round with four, followed by Sky Blue and North Carolina with two each. At the time of this writing, a still-pending trade between Washington and Sky Blue said to involve Caprice Dydasco, Estelle Johnson, and DiDi Haracic was the biggest news of the day.