NWSL draft steals are the stories every scout tells themselves on a long flight home. NWSL draft steals are the players taken late, or not taken at all, who walk into camp and change a club’s reality. They arrive with smaller profiles, smaller contracts, and zero guarantees. They leave with captain’s armbands, playoff minutes, trophies, and fan bases that swear the league slept on them.
This list leans into that gap between expectation and result. It is about players who came from later rounds, open tryouts, or undrafted deals, then grew into real cornerstones. The kind of players who let a front office fix three problems somewhere else because this one spot is handled for years.
Context: Why Draft Steals Matter In NWSL
The NWSL has never been a league where money solves everything. Rosters are tight, travel is long, and seasons can flip on one injury or one hot month. When you hit on a late pick or an undrafted player, you are not just saving cap space. You are buying stability.
Draft steals also matter more in a league that has now paused the traditional college draft and moved toward a different entry system. That earlier era of drafts produced players who carried clubs for years after hearing their names late on a stream that most casual fans never watched. Those picks still shape who wins now.
And there is something emotional in it. Fans remember the stars, sure. But they also remember the midfielder who went from non roster invitee to every minute, or the defender from an open tryout who ends up closing out a title game in goal. Those are the stories that stick.
Methodology: This ranking leans on NWSL official stats, club sites, and trusted outlets, weighing on field performance, longevity, and impact on team success, with light era and role adjustments when numbers are close.
The Draft Steals That Rewired Clubs
1. Lo’eau LaBonta NWSL Draft Steal
The defining scene for Lo’eau LaBonta is not one play. It is a stretch of years. Taken with the thirty fourth pick in the 2015 college draft, she bounced, fought, and then settled in Kansas City as the heartbeat of a rising club. The real turning point came as the Current moved into a new era with a purpose-built stadium and LaBonta right in the middle, pushing tempo and talking nonstop.
By that point she had passed the hundred match mark in the league, a number very few fourth round picks anywhere get near. She added double digit goals in Kansas City colors and a Best Eleven nod in 2022, production that stacks up with many first round midfielders in her era.
Here is the thing about LaBonta. Her value is not just in numbers. It is in the way she drags everyone into the moment. When she signed a new deal she said, “We are concocting something beautifully dangerous here with this new squad,” and you could feel that she meant every word.
That edge, plus her comfort in front of the new home crowd, turned her from handy late pick into the emotional center of the project. If you are building a for Kansas City, you start with her.
2. Caprice Dydasco Down the Board
Back in the 2015 draft, plenty of people focused on the top of the board. Caprice Dydasco slipped to nineteenth overall, a tidy second round pick who was meant to add depth at fullback in Washington. Years later she was lifting the Defender of the Year trophy after a breakout season with Gotham, bombing forward and picking passes like a winger.
In that season she logged over two thousand minutes, led all defenders in the league in chances created, and finished near the top of the assist charts. Those are numbers that many high profile forwards would accept. For a player taken outside the top tier of her draft class, it is ridiculous value.
Her teammates talk about how steady she is. There is a reason a coach once noted how confident she felt about what Dydasco brought every day, and Dydasco herself said, “I feel confident in what I can contribute to the team.”
You could feel that calm in big moments for both Gotham and now Bay. She turned a spot that used to be about surviving pressure into an extra creative lane. That is what a real draft steal does. It changes what you think that position is supposed to be.
3. Kaleigh Kurtz From Trialist To Anchor
Start with a date. March in a preseason where Kaleigh Kurtz was just another player on a North Carolina trial list, not a name in any draft tracking piece. She had already gone overseas to Sweden and ground through minutes there before the Courage staff decided to bring her in.
Fast forward and she is sitting on a long iron woman streak for the Courage back line, logging more than nine thousand straight regular season minutes and well over a hundred consecutive starts in all competitions. Those totals put her in the very top tier of durability and trust across the league, not just on her own roster.
Maybe it is just me, but you could see the respect in the way younger defenders watched her. Shoulders square, body always half turned, talking through every cross. She never felt like a hype player. She felt like the one who makes sure everyone else’s night is easier.
Her rise from undrafted player to two time league champion with North Carolina is the exact story front offices point to when they scout outside the usual draft board. Get the personality and the game will follow.
4. Paige Metayer NWSL Draft Steal
The Paige Metayer story starts in a place players dread. No name called on draft night. She showed up to Washington Spirit camp as a non roster invitee in 2023, fighting for a training bib before she ever fought for a starting job. By opening day she was in the eleven, breaking up plays and crashing every set piece.
Her rookie numbers look even better when you sit with them. She started twenty one matches, scored three goals, all headers off corners, and finished first across the league in goals scored from corners and second in headed goals. That is an absurd return from a player who did not cost a draft pick at all.
I have watched those corner routines back a few times. The timing feels almost unfair. She runs off the blind shoulder, plants, and attacks the ball like a center back who grew up on set pieces. The league even leaned into it with a feature calling her start a Cinderella run.
When she signed a longer deal she said she was excited to extend her time with the Spirit, and it sounded like much more than a polite line. For a club trying to reset its midfield after big moves, landing a starting level six from an invite list is the definition of an NWSL draft steal.
5. Nealy Martin Open Tryout To Champion
Nealy Martin did not even start with a contract offer. She saw that Racing Louisville were hosting open tryouts for their first season, paid her fee, and showed up on a cold day just trying to get noticed. From that camp she earned a preseason invite, then a deal, then eighteen matches and thirteen starts in year one for the expansion side.
Those minutes were only the beginning. After moving to Gotham, she helped flip a last place team into league champions, even stepping into goal during the 2023 title match after a red card, the first field player to do that in a playoff game. By 2024 she was leading Gotham in interceptions and setting career highs in appearances and tackles, the kind of stat line you expect from a long term starter taken early in the draft, not from a player who came through an open tryout.
Her story hit a different layer when she finally earned a national team training camp call, then a trade to Angel City where she arrived as a proven champion and leader. She said, “I am so grateful for the opportunity to join Angel City,” and you could hear how much work sat behind that sentence.
There is a reason league marketing keeps using her in features and film sessions. She is living proof that the line between open tryout and lifting a trophy is shorter than people think if the right coach pays attention.
6. Bethany Balcer NWSL Draft Steal Story
Before we even talk stats, remember where Bethany Balcer started. NAIA school. Not the usual pipeline. No draft call. She came into OL Reign camp as an undrafted hopeful and left that rookie season as the league’s top first year player, scoring enough and creating enough that coaches around the league had to learn her name fast.
Her early goal return sat right with many top forwards from power five programs, and she did it on a team that already had big attacking names. Over the next seasons she stayed near the top of Reign scoring charts while helping them chase shields and deep runs. That is first round kind of impact from a player every front office had a chance to draft and did not.
I keep coming back to her off ball movement. The way she drifts off the back shoulder, then snaps into the box at the last second. It is the kind of thing you expect from a veteran international, not a player who had to prove that an NAIA resume belonged in the league at all.
Her story has already changed how scouts think about non traditional routes. When you watch a small school game now and see a forward ghosts into spaces like that, you cannot laugh it off. You have to wonder if the next Balcer is right there.
7. Danielle Colaprico Second Round Cornerstone
Chicago did not exactly stumble into Danielle Colaprico. She was a known college star. Even so, going ninth overall in her class put her outside the top few picks and outside the usual hype. All she did was turn into one of the best deep midfielders of the early NWSL era, a screening presence who read danger a step ahead.
Her numbers show it if you are willing to dig. Season after season she finished near the top of the league in passes completed, interceptions, and recoveries, with Red Stars sides that were constant playoff threats. Compare her career minutes and passing volume to many first round peers from the same years and she stacks up, sometimes ahead.
Watch the film and you see why teammates rave about her. Quick little half turns to open space, no nonsense tackles, and that one clipped ball into the channels she kept hitting for the forwards. She felt like a metronome that was also a safety net.
Moving later in her career did not change that profile. Whether it was Chicago or San Diego, coaches kept building midfields around her traits. That is what a cornerstone looks like. A second round pick you pencil in for years.
8. Olivia Van der Jagt NWSL Draft Steal
When OL Reign took Olivia Van der Jagt with the thirty third pick in the 2022 draft, it felt like a local depth move. A hometown midfielder from Washington, third round, useful squad piece. Within a couple of seasons she had already logged more than fifty league matches for the club, with over thirty starts, ranking near the top of the roster in appearances in that span.
She made an early statement with a stoppage time winner in the Challenge Cup that sent Reign to the semifinals. On a club that went on to claim the shield, that moment mattered. Third round picks are not supposed to be the player you trust to close out knockout games, yet there she was.
Coaches have praised her work in small ways. There was a preview where her coach talked about building on the little details from the previous season, and you could read that as a quiet nod to players like Van der Jagt who do the dirty midfield work.
Her steady play, ability to fill multiple midfield roles, and long run of minutes for a shield winner make her one of the clearest NWSL draft steals in that recent Reign era. You do not expect that kind of return from pick thirty three.
9. Bea Franklin Emerging NWSL Draft Steal
Bea Franklin’s path feels almost scripted. Standout student and two sport athlete at Arkansas, then a third round selection at forty first overall by Chicago. That slot is usually where clubs take flyers. Instead, she walked in and played sixteen matches as a rookie, winning forty plus aerial duels, one of the top totals in the league, and starting playoff games.
By her second season she had become a starter who led the Stars in interceptions and blocks while still bringing that dominance in the air. For a third-round pick to sit near the top of league lists in those categories is exactly what front offices dream about when they line up their draft boards.
Off the field she is the type of person a club wants to market. She earned major academic honors in college and has been the Stars nominee for a community impact award, with work across youth programs and local charities. Her coach and general manager both talked about her as a player who ran with every opportunity and grew beyond her early strengths.
When she signed an extension through 2027, she said she was thankful to Chicago for giving her the start to her professional career and talked about wanting to keep building for the club and the fans. That sounds exactly like a cornerstone.
10. Ava Cook Second Round Creative Spark
Ava Cook came into the league as a second-round pick for Chicago, a Forward from smaller school background who many saw as depth. What she brought was a clever mix of runs and passing that fit perfectly with a forward line built on movement. In her early seasons she chipped in goals and assists at a rate that compared well with many first round forwards from the same drafts, especially on a team that was often battling injuries and off field turmoil.
Look at the way she links play. She checks into midfield to connect passes, then spins out wide, then crashes the box late. In some seasons she sat among league leaders in shot creating actions for players taken outside the first round. That is serious value for a front office trying to rebuild a roster without spending huge on every attacking spot.
Her story also carries that grind that defines draft steals. She did not arrive as a youth national team regular. She made herself hard to drop through steady work and small improvements, especially in decision making in the final third.
You can imagine a future where people talk about her as one of those players who quietly kept teams afloat through awkward transition years. The numbers already point that way.
11. Marisa Viggiano Fourth Round Playmaker
When Orlando used a late pick on Marisa Viggiano in 2019, it barely moved the needle outside Florida. Fourth round, attacking midfielder, nice to have if it hits. Then she started stacking minutes. She worked her way into the Pride midfield rotation, showing up on the ball between the lines and keeping the ball moving on teams that often needed calm inside chaos.
Her pass completion and chance creation numbers compared well with many starting tens around the league in those early seasons, especially when you adjust for how much defending Orlando sometimes did. For a fourth-round pick to stick as a starter across multiple clubs and years is not normal. It is a sign the scouting staff saw something others missed.
There were little behind the scenes stories that stuck. Coaches mentioning how she always wanted extra video, how teammates leaned on her to keep the mood steady in long losing spells. You can feel that when you watch her play. The shoulders never slump. The ball keeps moving.
She may never be the headline star. That is fine. She became the reliable connector in midfields that badly needed one, which is exactly what you hope for when you take a chance late in a draft.
12. Jenna Winebrenner Depth Piece Turned Starter
Jenna Winebrenner joined Kansas City as a fourth-round pick, again at forty first overall. On paper she was depth in defense for a club that still felt new. In reality she played her way into a major role in that back line, logging starter level minutes in her early seasons as the Current climbed from the bottom to the playoffs.
Her defensive stats told the same story. Clearances, blocks, and duels won stacked up well against many higher drafted defenders. In some stretches she was near the top of the league in blocked shots per ninety for center backs, which is exactly the kind of number coaches notice when they decide who they trust to close out one goal leads.
I remember one match in particular where the Current were hanging on late and she threw herself in front of three crosses in five minutes. The stadium sound changed with each one. You could hear the crowd start to believe it would hold.
For a pick near the end of the board to step into those moments and deliver is the kind of outcome that lets a club spend real money somewhere else. That is draft steal value, even if the highlight reels do not always catch it.
13. Erika Tymrak Early Era Draft Gem
Erika Tymrak sits a little further back in the NWSL timeline, but she still belongs here. Taken outside the very top picks in the first college draft, she walked into Kansas City and gave them the creative pulse they needed. Her 2013 season, with goals, assists, and constant chance creation, ended with a league Rookie of the Year award and set the tone for future trophies.
If you measure her output against other players taken in that same range, it is not close. Few mid round picks in that early era matched her combination of minutes, end product, and team success. She helped drive an attack that would go on to lift titles, and those runs started with her drifting between lines and slipping passes that cut defenses apart.
There was always a bit of swagger in her game. The little feints on the dribble, the no look balls into space. For a while she felt like the player other teams feared if they let her get comfortable on the ball.
Her influence also lingered in how that first Kansas City group is remembered. When people talk about that early FCKC side, they talk about the big names, sure, but they also talk about how Tymrak made the attack feel alive. That is a pretty good legacy for a player who did not come in as a top three pick.
What Comes Next
So what happens to NWSL draft steals in a league that has moved away from the traditional college draft. Maybe the names change, but the idea does not. You still need players who come in off a smaller platform and grab a huge role. You still need the open tryout story, the non roster invitee who refuses to leave camp.
Look at this list and you see a pattern. Smart clubs keep betting on players who have already carried heavy loads in college or overseas, even if their path is not shiny. They trust their eyes over pure buzz. They leave a roster spot open for someone people are not talking about.
The real question is pretty simple.
Which future NWSL draft steals are already jogging out for warmups in front of half empty stands while nobody notices yet.
Also Read: The 12 Greatest NWSL Players to Never Win a Championship
I bounce between stadium seats and window seats, chasing games and new places. Sports fuel my heart, travel clears my head, and every trip ends with a story worth sharing.
