NWSL’s Top 9 Re-Signings/Extensions of the Offseason

Taylor Vincent
Taylor Vincent, Resident NWSL ExpertJune 06, 2024
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  1. Sophia Smith – Portland Thorns

Previous Contract: Thru 2024 

New Contract: Thru 2025 + 2026 Player Option

With Sophia Smith’s contract expiring at the end of the season—which would’ve left Portland in a free agency bidding war—getting Smith signed to an extension was a big win for the new Portland ownership group. Smith is the current Golden Boot leader thanks to the assist tiebreaker as she has eight goals and six assists on the year thus far and has been involved in 58% of all of Portland’s goals. After a rough start to the season, a coaching change and a refocus on finding joy in play has revamped the Thorns’s energy and lifted them back up into fourth place in the table.

  1. Mal Swanson – Chicago Red Stars

Previous Contract: Expired - Unrestricted Free Agent

New Contract: Thru 2028

After an offseason exodus in the last three offseasons, locking down the attacking threat of Mal Swanson, especially on such a long contract was a big win for the new Chicago ownership. Swanson tore her patellar tendon in a USWNT game last April, leaving the Red Stars without their main goal scorer for the rest of the season. The team wasn’t able to adjust without Swanson and finished the 2023 regular season in last place. Even though Swanson only has three goals and two assists this season, her work off the ball, and her ability to draw defenders has been paramount in the Chicago attack and the fact that the Red Stars currently sit in sixth in the NWSL table. 

  1. Sarah Gorden – Angel City FC

Previous Contract: Expired - Unrestricted Free Agent

New Contract: Thru 2026 + 2027 Mutual

Sarah Gorden was Angel City’s sole ironwoman—a player who plays every single minute of the NWSL regular season—in 2023 and is unquestionably one of the team’s most important players.  Especially with the decision day trade of centerback Paige Nielsen, the fact that the LA-based squad has Gorden leading the backline all the more important. Until her ankle sprain in the week 10 matchup against Washington Spirit, Gorden was on track for another ironwoman season. Despite missing almost two games, Gordon still leads ACFC in blocks, tackle success (with at least 10 tackles) and sits in the top four in interceptions and clearances. 

  1. Emily Sams (neé Madril) – Orlando Pride

Previous Contract: Thru 2025

New Contract: Thru 2026

When Emily Sams was drafted in the 2023 NWSL Draft, she was the sole draftee who already had a contract with the league—all players' contracts are technically with the league. Sams wanted to play professionally in the fall of 2022, but the mechanism didn’t really exist for a collegiate player to join an NWSL team midway through the season. So Sams signed a contract with the NWSL through 2025 and then she was sent on loan to Sweden’s BK Häcken before coming back and entering the league via the draft. Orlando drafted Sams third overall. Sams would almost complete an ironwoman season her rookie year, just three minutes short, and was a finalist for Rookie of the Year. Receiving a new contract not only extended Sams’s stay in Orlando, but it also allowed for restructuring of pay. In 2024 Sams leads Orlando in clearances, blocks, and is tied for second in interceptions, she even has a goal (an unlikely occurrence for a centerback), and an assist so far this season. 

  1. Emily van Egmond – San Diego Wave

Previous Contract: Expired - Unrestricted Free Agent

New Contract: Thru 2025

Van Egmond joined the Wave ahead of their inaugural season and played an important role in the team’s offseason run as an expansion side and San Diego’s lifting of the NWSL Shield in 2024. Head coach Casey Stoney called van Egmond “outstanding” and has lauded her ability to stay calm under pressure, her work out of possession, and her leadership in the midfield. During the offseason, van Egmond joined A-league side Newcastle Jets on a four game guest stint but a few months later signed a two year contract to keep her in San Diego. The Aussie midfielder was recently named to the Australian women’s national team roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

  1. Hina Sugita – Portland Thorns

Previous Contract: Thru 2024

New Contract: Thru 2026

Over her first two seasons with the Thorns, Hina Sugita scored 13 goals and had seven assists over 48 appearances and 41 starts. Prior to the extension, at the end of the 2024 season, Sugita’s contract would’ve expired and left her as a restricted free agent—if she chose to stay in the NWSL. Sugita has one goal and three assists on the season thus far, and is in the Thorns top five in possessions won, interceptions, tackles won, and passing accuracy. 

  1. Bethany Balcer – Seattle Reign

Previous Contract: Thru 2024 + 2025 Team Option

New Contract: Thru 2025

After scoring six goals in the 2023 NWSL season, Balcer is currently the leading Reign goalscorer with four goals to her name in just ten games played. The new contract keeps the option of potentially losing Balcer to free agency off the table. The Reign are coming off a 2023 season that found them in the NWSL Championship game, but are currently sitting second to last with only two wins in 11 matches. The loss of Emily Sonnett and Sam Hiatt in defense as well as Rose Lavelle and Angelina in the midfield, Elyse Bennett and Megan Rapinoe up top has been hard for the Reign to recover in a league that is constantly raising the bar. 

  1. Ashley Hatch – Washington Spirit

Previous Contract: Thru 2024

New Contract: Thru 2026 + 2027 Team Option

Ashley Hatch was set to become an unrestricted free agent in the upcoming offseason if not for the timely extension from the Washington Spirit. Hatch led the Spirit in goals in 2023 with nine, but also impressively was in the team’s top ten for clearances. So far this season, Hatch has only seven starts of the Spirit’s 11 matches with two goals and one assist. Under the new coaching style of interim-head coach Adrián González ahead of Jona Giráldez’s arrival—which should be any day now—Hatch has been playing wider than in previous years and it’s not exactly clear how she fits into the current system.  

  1. Tyler Lussi – NC Courage

Previous Contract: Thru 2024 + 2025 Team Option

New Contract: Thru 2025 + 2026 Mutual Option

Lussi joined the Courage via a trade with Angel City ahead of the start of the 2023 season, and then proceeded to play 19 regular season matches for North Carolina and was ranked second on the team with six goals—five which were game winners. After Kerolin’s ACL injury in the 2023 regular season finale, Lussi has now taken over the mantle and is leading the Courage in goals scored with three, and has an additional assist. The extension keeps Lussi from potentially entering the foray of free agency this October if her original option hadn’t been exercised by then. 


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