I’m curious if the new USL W League will have any impact on NCAA soccer?
USL W League Announces Inaugural Season Division Alignment
I wasn’t sure if college players were able to play in the summer when school is out.I can't see it having much of an impact on college soccer. I think this new league potentially offers college soccer grads another track by which to pursue a professional career, especially for those who don't get drafted by the NWSL or get a pro contract with an overseas team. A lot of college players register for the NWSL draft but only a very small number get selected, so there is a potentially a large pool of pretty good/good players who might want to join one of these semi-professional teams. I'm not sure if W-League players will get paid. I presume they'll get a little money--but any salary is likely to be quite low, and the facilities at a lot of the teams probably won't be as good as those at Tennessee and other Div. 1 colleges. Still, those college soccer grads who are determined to pursue a professional career may give it a go for a year or more and check it out, and so that will be a good thing.
I wasn’t sure if college players were able to play in the summer when school is out.
“The USL W League is a pre-professional league open to elite youth players, collegiate players, aspiring professionals, and former professionals. The League is focused on developing the next wave of elite talent in the women’s game while also respecting the amateur status of players in order to protect collegiate eligibility.”
There is also going to be a new Super League starting in 2023 that’s supposed to be a professional league just below NWSL.
USL Super League | uslsoccer.com/usl-super-league
That’s exciting newsThis may be good news: When we saw forward Brooke Wilson being honored on Senior Day, I naturally assumed her college
eligibility was over. Not true, apparently, as it was next reported by the Daily Beacon that she was in the transfer portal, meaning she still had a grad year of eligibility and would use it to play at another school, perhaps because she'd been told that there was no scholarship money for her what with several new players entering the program, but that's only a guess. Now I see that the roster has been updated--the two other transfers (Cook and Schleifler) missing and two freshmen January enrollees added--and Wilson is on it. This leads me to believe that she will be playing again for the Vols next year. That would be good news, as she can come off the bench and score, and scorers in the this game are, of course, very valuable. Fingers crossed that we see her on the field this fall.