Washington Spirit trade Ashley Sanchez, Sam Staab, draft 6 new players
In a night of surprising decisions, Washington Spirit traded center back Sam Staab to the Chicago Red Stars and midfielder Ashley Sanchez to North Carolina Courage to obtain the third and fifth overall picks of the 2024 NWSL Draft last night. The team used those picks to select star midfielder Croix Bethune from the University of Georgia and Hal Hershfelt from Clemson University.
The Spirit also selected defender Kate Wiesner from Penn State and midfielder Makenna Morris from Clemson in the first round, forward Anna Podojil from Arkansas in round three, and midfielder Courtney Brown of the University of Utah in the final round.
All of these players are talented and will bring different styles and abilities to the team, but it’s the trades of two reliable, stand-out starters that have fans talking, and in some cases feeling shocked and betrayed.
Ashley Sanchez – whose mid-draft trade also brought the Spirit $250,000 in allocation money – is a magician of an attacking midfielder known for her creativity and ball handling skills that make her incredibly fun to watch, as she twists to avoid defenders or pops the ball into the air around one to keep it in bounds at the end line. Drafted by the Spirit in 2020, she scored 16 goals and made 8 assists for the club. In that time, she also made 25 appearances for the U.S. Women’s National Team, scoring 3 goals and making 4 assists.
“Ashley is an exceptionally gifted player with an intense competitive drive,” Spirit President of Soccer Operations/General Manager Mark Krikorian said of Sanchez in the team’s press release.
One thing that will make Sanchez hard to replace is her chemistry with forwards Ashley Hatch and (especially) Trinity Rodman. Over three years together, they had developed an excellent sense of where the others would be, often combining for quick one-touch passes to surprise their opponents and score.
The loss of Sam Staab – whose trade was announced shortly before the draft and sent the initial shockwaves through Washington’s fanbase – could be even more acutely felt. Drafted to the Spirit in 2019, Staab soon became the team’s most reliable player, playing every minute of every Spirit game in 2022 and 2023 and set a league record for most consecutive starts at 90 games. Capable both of game-saving tackles in the goal area and precise long-range passes to the forward line, Staab was a finalist for Defender of the Year and selected for the the NWSL Best XI First Team in 2023.
““We can’t say enough about Sam’s reliability and defensive acumen over her five years with the team,” Krikorian said in the team’s announcement. “She has truly been an unsung hero since joining the Spirit, and the organization wishes her nothing but the best going forward in what will be a promising career.”
Staab is also highly effective on set pieces, with a throw-in that can easily reach the near post and a strong, accurate kick to assist on a corner or occasionally score herself on a free kick.
Both Staab and Sanchez have brilliant careers ahead of them and are poised to thrive at their new teams. Trading two such strong players with skills that would seemingly have fit right into coach Jonatan Giráldez’s style of play in exchange for inexperienced (though talented) college stars feels like a big gamble by Krikorian. It will take a lot from Washington to convince fans that the risk was worth it.
Re trading Sanchez and Staab, unless they indicated that they wanted out of the Spirit (which I doubt), the only thing that makes sense is that Jonatan Giraldez has greater talents to move with him from Barcelona in May-June. Otherwise, I’m just shocked.
Sanchez just wrote in an Instagram post that she is “shocked and heartbroken” to be leaving, which answers part of the question.
Was their salary hit so immense they couldn’t be saved?
NCC which come to closest to playing a possession/tika-taka style that you expect Giraldez to use. And they eagerly traded for Sanchez. So I can’t see Sanchez being dealt because she wasn’t a fit. The only rationale explanation is that Giraldez intends to bring someone from Barcelona (Bonmati? Putellas?) and they need cap space and they need money to pay for a transfer. That is the ONLY explanation that makes sense to me. Sanchez wanted to be here. Unlike last year’s scheme, she fits a possession/shorter game approach. What I really think is that Krikorian just undervalued her.
As for Staab, that’s a really tough subtraction. Right now, I figure that Kate Weisner (usually a left back) is going to play inside. I know the book on Weisner is good but it’s as a left back. Unless there is other talent coming in at CB, I think this makes the defense weaker.
[…] Washington Spirit trade Ashley Sanchez, Sam Staab, draft 6 new players (DP) […]
[…] Ashley Sanchez and center back Sam Staab, two consistent starters and fan favorites who were traded on NWSL Draft day. Though they were able to use the resulting picks to add some incredible young talent, it’s […]