Sorry, BYU and Utah Royals fans, Ashley Hatch won’t be coming to the Utah Royals for the club’s inaugural season.
On Tuesday, the Royals acquired the No. 20 and 21 picks in January’s 2024 NWSL draft from the Washington Spirit. In exchange for the picks, the Spirit receive protection from Utah in the NWSL expansion draft on Friday, according to the club.
The agreement means the Royals will be unable to select any of the Spirit’s protected and unprotected players, including the former BYU Cougar. If Hatch was selected, the Washington forward would have been the third former Cougar on Utah’s roster, joining Mikayla Cluff and Michele Vasconcelos.
Hatch has one year remaining on her contract with Washington after the team exercised her 2024 option, the team announced in June.
Even without the trade, the Royals may have been unable to select Hatch.
Each NWSL team — excluding expansion clubs Utah and Bay FC — could protect nine of its players from being selected by the expansion clubs, per league rules. Teams had until noon MST to submit their list of protected players to the league, according to The Athletic.
What has Ashley Hatch said about possibly joining the Royals?
When Hatch was asked in October about potentially joining the Royals, she expressed loyalty to her current club, but didn’t rule out a return to Utah later in her career, the Deseret News previously reported.
“I was really excited to hear the return of the Royals,” she said. “Mostly because when we come and play them, I can have a lot of family and friends to come and visit, and I love playing in Utah. And I think it’s a great market for a women’s professional soccer team. At the moment, I’m pretty loyal to the Spirit, but who knows maybe further down the road in my career. I don’t think it would be a bad place to end up but we’ll see.”
What is the NWSL expansion draft?
The NWSL expansion draft allows the league’s incoming teams to build their rosters by selecting up to 12 players each from the rosters of the league’s other 12 teams.
In 2023, the Royals and Bay FC will be the two clubs participating in the draft. The two clubs will alternate selecting players with Bay picking first and Utah picking second, as previously reported by the Deseret News.
The two expansion teams will continue to build their rosters with the rest of the league during the 2023 NWSL entry draft on Jan. 12. Utah will pick first in the first and third rounds of the draft.
When is the NWSL expansion draft?
The 2023 NWSL expansion draft will be held on Friday, Dec. 15, at 5 p.m. MST. It will be broadcast live on the CBS Sports Network, according to the Royals.