FORT COLLINS, Colo. — For the second time in three years, a player who grew up playing soccer in Northern Colorado has been taken with the first two picks in the National Women's Soccer League draft.
Racing Louisville FC selected Jaelin Howell out of Florida State with the second pick in Saturday's draft.
Howell, a 5-foot-8 midfielder, enters the NWSL with a glittering resume. She helped Florida State win the 2021 national championship, her second national title in four years of college.
"I expect (Howell) to step into the ranks right away and grab control of the squad," said former U.S. National team member and CBS analyst Aly Wagner on the NWSL draft broadcast.
Howell's former youth teammate Sophia Smith was picked first in the 2020 NWSL draft. Smith went first out of Stanford to the Portland Thorns. The pair played youth soccer together, were at Fossil Ridge High School together and have risen the ranks of the U.S. national teams together.
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