Olivia Wade-Katoa scored BYU’s game-winner against North Carolina in the College Cup quarterfinals. Now, she has her sights set on the National Women’s Soccer League.
On Friday, the midfielder will be in attendance at the 2024 NWSL draft with her husband and family, where she hopes to be one of the 56 players drafted.
She finished her senior season with 12 goals and eight assists and logged nearly 2,000 minutes in the 26 games she started for the Cougars. Of her 12 goals, six were game-winners, including her goal in the Cougars’ comeback win over the Tar Heels, according to her NWSL draft profile.
The Davis High alum could end up staying in Utah with the Utah Royals. The team is returning this season and owns nine picks in the draft, including the first overall pick and six picks in the first two rounds.
The Deseret News recently caught up with Wade-Katoa to discuss her thoughts on the upcoming draft, pursuing her professional dreams in the NWSL and BYU’s soccer program.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Deseret News: What does it mean to you to be considered one of the top prospects in the draft?
Olivia Wade-Katoa: It means a lot. This has just been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember. It’s been really cool and exciting to see this dream of mine kind of come to fruition, and to be able to have this experience, is obviously once in a lifetime. It’s very humbling and exciting. I’m really looking forward to being there with my family and taking that moment in.
DN: What will it mean to you to hear your name called in the draft?
OWK: It means everything. As a little girl that’s what you dream of, hearing your name called at a draft, having your dreams come true and being a professional athlete. That will mean everything to me and my family and all of the people that have contributed to me getting to this point in my career.
DN: What kind of sacrifices have you had to make to get to this point?
OWK: Obviously, playing at the highest level does come with a lot of sacrifices, and anyone who has reached this level is very familiar with that. There’s a lot of sacrifices you make in order to be here, but come Friday, it will all be worth it. It’s been worth it along the way. All of the sacrifices I’ve had to make have inevitably helped me achieve my life-long dream of playing professional soccer. Every sacrifice I’ve made has definitely been worth it.
DN: What would it be like to be drafted by the Utah Royals and stay in Utah?
OWK: That would be really cool. There wasn’t a professional team in Utah until 2018, and then it was only here for a couple of years. Growing up, that was never a possibility. I never thought “Oh, I could play professionally here in my backyard.” Now that that is on the table, I feel like that would be really cool to be able to stay local. If that’s the case, that’s great. If not, that’s great as well. But it is cool that Utah does have a professional team, and it would be great being able to play close to home and to be able to have family and friends come support at basically every game.
DN: BYU had eight players declare for the draft. What does that say about the program coach Jennifer Rockwood has built?
OWK: I think that’s huge. I think that’s the most players BYU as ever had declare for the draft in one season. I think this class is super special. Jen and the coaches have done a phenomenal job helping to develop us and prepare us for the next level and just been super supportive and encouraging to all of us to achieve that dream and that goal that each of us have.
It speaks a lot to the program that BYU has developed and kind of the direction they’re taking things. I think it’s cool to see that because normally you see that many girls declare for the draft from like the UCLAs or the North Carolinas or the Florida States, so I think it’s really cool that BYU is getting to a point where they’re up there with all of the biggest names schools in the country.
DN: How do you think your time at BYU has prepared you for the NWSL?
OWK: I think my time at BYU has been super incredible to help me prepare. Obviously, BYU has been historically a phenomenal program. I think especially within the last three or four years, we’ve really been able to elevate the play at BYU. I think it’s helped me prepare by playing with some of the best girls in the country. There’s obviously a few other girls on the team at BYU who are going to be playing professionally as well, and I feel that’s very unique to BYU.
You’re playing with girls that are going pro. You’re being coached by great coaches. I think the environment at BYU is like a mini professional team. They take it very seriously. It’s a very tight-run ship. That’s really helped to prepare me to take this next step.
DN: How confident are you in where you’re gonna go in the draft or if you’ll even get picked?
OWK: You can talk to all these coaches, and they can tell you “We’re really interested in you. We’d love to have you be on our roster.” But at the end of the day, it is just a lot of unknowns. There’s no promises of who’s going to take you, when they’re going to take you, if they’re going to take you.
You see the list of what people have what picks, and come Friday, that probably isn’t gonna be the same list as it is now. A lot of it is just sitting back and waiting for some team to call your name.
DN: What excites you the most about making this jump in your career?
OWK: The higher up you go, the better you have to be and the more developed you have to be. I’m just really looking forward to the personal development that I’m going to have working with these professional teams and these professional people and obviously just excited to be able to finally achieve this dream of mine.
DN: Is there something you’re nervous about in making the jump to the NWSL?
OWK: I feel like it’s super normal to be a little nervous and anxious, and so I feel like I’m most nervous just figuring out where I’m going, getting settled, and then I know once I get there, I’ll be able to get my feet underneath me and hit the ground running. But I feel like just wondering where you’re going and how you’re going to mesh with the team and the players and the coaches and just kind of the area you’re in is super important. I’m just really anxiously waiting for Friday to come around.
DN: How do you think your style of play will translate to the NWSL?
OWK: I feel like my style of play does translate to that of the NWSL. The NWSL is very transitional right now. It’s very fast and very physical and that is a big part of my game as well. The technical abilities that I have will help me adapt to the NWSL life. It is a heightened level of play. There’s better players. They’re all very technical and fast and strong, and they kind of just have everything. It’ll probably be a little challenging at the beginning like everything is, but hopefully, the skillset that I have will be able to help me adapt to that a little easier.
DN: Was there a player you look up to or you model your play after?
OWK: It was Carli Lloyd, so she’s obviously not playing anymore. I love her style of play. She’s obviously a very technical player, but she’s also very passionate and very physical and just very aggressive and very assertive. I really admire the way that she plays. Something that I’ve always admired about her is just her overall style. That’s definitely something that I’ve tried to emulate throughout my years of playing soccer is just the way that she handles herself on and off the field. I really admire and love the player and person that she is.
DN: Is there a player that either you could be teammates with or you could be playing against that you’ll be on the field with and feel starstruck?
OWK: I remember when Mikayla Colohan (Cluff) was drafted to the Orlando Pride, and I was like, “Oh my heavens, you’re gonna be teammates with Marta, like Marta.” Besides Carli Lloyd, Marta is the player that I watched since I was super little. I was completely blown away by how she plays. I love her technical abilities. She seriously is like one of the most crafty, technically-talented players of all time. The possibility of either being her teammate or playing against her, I feel like that will be definitely a moment of, “Wow, I’m really playing with or against Marta, like that’s crazy.” That is definitely somebody that I’ve admired and loved since I was little.
DN: Does it make you a little nervous with the limited roster space in the NWSL?
OWK: That’s obviously definitely in the back of your mind. You can get drafted, and then you go into camp and maybe things just don’t work out. But I feel confident in my work ethic and my abilities and my overall ability to really fight for positions. I love competitive environments, and that’s something that excites me.