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Kamilla Cardoso Named Most Outstanding Player Following NCAA Women’s Tournament Performance

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Kamilla Cardoso has ended an outstanding NCAA women’s tournament and her college career with a special honor.

After leading the South Carolina Gamecocks to an 87-85 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes to help her team become the10th team to ever finish a season undefeated while giving the team its third NCAA championship in program history, the 22-year-old Brazilian college basketball star was awarded the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player award.

Kamilla Cardoso, The All-America player helped create a wonderful ending to a unique collegiate career with 15 points and 17 rebounds.

The Montes Claros, Brazil native wasn’t given anything during her time at South Carolina, it was earned.

The Gamecocks weren’t the most respected undefeated team, but people knew about how good this team was, and what the 6-foot-7 Cardoso brought to the game.

“They’ve got so many really good shooters that you can’t sit down on (Kamilla) Cardoso and collapse on her, because they got a lot of people that can knock down threes around her,” NC State coach Wes Moore said ahead of the Final Four. “Even as great a player as (Cardoso) is, you’ve also got to be concerned about the others.”

Cardoso dominated NC State with 22 points and 11 boards while making 10 of her 12 field goal attempts.

Kamilla Cardoso,Next up was Iowa’s coach Lisa Bluder, who spoke on how good Cardoso had been the day before the championship game.

“You know, Kamilla (Cardoso)’s been playing so well, (she) just runs the floor beautifully, rebounds incredibly, (and is) shooting the ball well,” Bluder said. “One person can’t stop her. There’s no way. I don’t know if two or three can stop her, to be quite honest. So I’m not going to give that up just to one person to have to try to handle that.”

But no one better than her own coach, Dawn Staley, had spoken on the second-half adjustment made in the semifinal win over NC State and alluded to her team needing to give Cardoso the ball if they are unsure of their next decision.

“If you want to score, have a plan. If you don’t, pass the ball. Give it to Kamilla, give her an easy look, knock down a 3 here or there when you’re open — very, very simple,” Staley said.

Her teammates would do so early on Sunday against Iowa, but it wasn’t gelling at first.

Cardoso’s performance in the first quarter could’ve been better. She still gave the rebounding presence needed with six rebounds in the period, but missed layups she’d usually make, and missed four of her first six field goal attempts.

It also didn’t help that Iowa went on a 10-0 run to start the game. And Caitlin Clark had already gotten going with 18 of her team’s 27 points in the period, breaking her own record for most points in a quarter in a national championship game.

If the Gamecocks were to finish on top, Cardoso had to mark her territory in the paint. And for the rest of the game, she did.

The Gamecocks started the second period on a 7-0 run, capped off by Cardoso completing a three-point play after she banked in the layup while fouled by Hannah Stuelke.

Cardoso grabbed seven points and made one block in the quarter, only missing one of her four field goal attempts.

“I think (I was) just trying to get the post-ups, and my teammates (were) finding me and giving me the ball, even though I didn’t shoot really good tonight,” Cardoso said. “I think just by — we just move the ball really good, and they were able to find me while I was open.”

The better Cardoso played, the better the Gamecocks played in holding the game in a chokehold.

She helped put the game away in the fourth, from blocking Addison O’Grady layup when Iowa tried to make a late game push, to out-rebounding (seven) Iowa’s whole team (four) in the last quarter.

With a little over 2:30 left in the game, Cardoso was fighting for position with O’Grady down low. Raven Johnson’s shot was a miss, and Cardoso’s position moved O’Grady back, and after Iowa’s Sydney Affolter jumped to fight for the ball with Cardoso, she fell to the ground and Cardoso simply banked in the layup to put the Gamecocks up eight.

Cardoso finished the game with 15 points, 17 rebounds and three blocks.

“It was amazing. I feel like I just wanted to get out there in this tournament and just play really well for my teammates, for my coaches, and to win the championship,” Cardoso said. “So I think that’s what I did.”

What makes this win for Cardoso even sweeter was her grind to becoming the Gamecocks’ best player. All three seniors on the roster this year were transfers, and Cardoso was the only returning player.

After winning Atlantic Coast Conference co-Defensive Player of the Year during her freshman year at Syracuse, Cardoso decided to transfer to South Carolina ahead of the 2021-22 season.

She had started 23 games for the Orange as a freshman and was starting from scratch as she competed with South Carolina’s “Freshies” class.

The “Freshies” were five players who came in together in 2019 and complied a record of 129-8 going into the 2023 Final Four. This included three of the 2023 WNBA Draft’s top 10 picks, featuring the No. 1 overall selection in Aliyah Boston.

Despite being the tallest player on the roster since her arrival, she stayed the path and waited her turn, never starting a game for the Gamecocks until her senior year.

Last season as a junior she averaged 9.8 points and 8.5 boards in 18.8 minutes a game, and of course played in the Gamecocks’ Final Four loss to Iowa.

Fast forward to her senior year and coach Staley gave the native Brazilian a chance to lead this team.

“I feel like, especially me, I’m international, and I don’t have my family here (in America). She’s just like a family for me, a family away from home, and I’m just so thankful to have her as a coach,” Cardoso said while crying.

Cardoso led the team this season in points (14.4) and rebounds (9.7) per game, along with tying for 13th in the nation in blocks (2.5). She averaged 18.5 points, 14.0 boards and 2.5 blocks in the Final Four games.

But most importantly, she capped off a unique college career with a second national championship and a Most Outstanding Player award, and cemented herself as one of the best players ever to come out of the South Carolina program.

Kamilla Cardoso Helps Lead South Carolina Gamecocks to NCAA Women’s Tournament Title

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Kamilla Cardoso is officially ending her college basketball career with a bang.

The 22-year-old Brazilian college basketball player helped her South Carolina Gamecocks vanquish the Iowa Hawkeyes on Sunday 87-75 in the NCAA women’s tournament title game to become the 10th team in Division I history to complete an undefeated season (38-0), joining UConn (six times), Baylor (2011-12), Tennessee (1997-98) and Texas (1985-86) as the only programs to achieve such a feat.

Kamilla CardosoThe emotional win came a year after a stunning Final Four defeat that ended what could’ve been a perfect season and national championship run.

“We’re unbeatable,” junior Bree Hall said. “That’s the statement that was made tonight.”

After graduating 2023 No. 1 WNBA draft pick Aliyah Boston and four other starters from last year, South Carolina became the first team since at least 2000 to win a title after returning none of its primary starters from a team that reached the Final Four the previous season.

“They made history,” coach Dawn Staley, overcome with emotion, told ESPN‘s Holly Rowe. “They etched their names in the history books when this is the unlikeliest group to do it.

“When [God] closes a door, he opens up a door that’s giving you unimaginable success.”

With its third national title in seven tournaments and second in three seasons — including a 109-3 record in that span — South Carolina tied Baylor and Stanford for the third-most championships ever and cemented its status as women’s college basketball’s newest dynasty, one that won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. Staley — a former two-time Player of the Year who played in three Final Fours but missed out on a championship herself — became the fifth head coach to win at least three national titles.

To clinch history, the Gamecocks defeated the team that ended their season last year in Iowa and Caitlin Clark, the presumptive No. 1 pick in next week’s WNBA draft.

Clark ended her collegiate career with the most points in Division I men’s or women’s history at 3,951. Staley thanked Clark during the postgame ceremony for her contributions to the sport, saying, “You are one of the GOATs of our game, and we appreciate you.”

Iowa, which beat South Carolina in the national semifinal last year before losing to the LSU Tigers in the title game, once more fell short of its first national championship.

“The biggest thing is it’s really hard to win these things,” Clark said. “I think I know that better than most people by now. To be so close twice really hurts.”

Cardoso finished with 15 points and a career-high 17 boards, becoming the fifth player with at least 15 points and 15 rebounds in a championship game in the past 25 seasons. Having already announced she is entering the draft, where she is expected to be an early pick, Cardoso is the only major contributor for South Carolina who won’t return next season.

“Kamilla Cardoso was not going to let us lose a game in the NCAA tournament,” Staley said. “She played through an injury, she played like one of the top picks in the WNBA draft and her teammates did something that no teammates have done for anybody who went to the WNBA in our program. They send her off as a national champion. So this is history for us.”

With Cardoso’s help, the Gamecocks outrebounded the Hawkeyes 51-29 on the afternoon, using those opportunities to score 30 second-chance points.

South Carolina trailed early Sunday, falling behind by as many as 11 in the first quarter as Clark put up the most points by a player in any quarter of a women’s championship game.

But the Gamecocks did what they do best and stormed back to hold the lead for over 21 minutes, including the entire second half. They extended their streak of winning games when having trailed by 10-plus points to 11, the longest active one in Division I, and became the first team to win the national championship game by at least 10 points after trailing by 10 points.

South Carolina went into the break up 49-46 and built its game-high 14-point lead in the fourth behind a barrage of 3-pointers from Hall and freshman Tessa Johnson, a marked difference from the meeting against Iowa last year when the Gamecocks hit just 4 of 20 shots from beyond the arc. They finished 8-for-19 from 3 on Sunday, and when they weren’t getting it done from there, they got it inside, managing 48 points in the paint.

Although the Hawkeyes pulled within five with a little over four minutes to go, Iowa got no closer.

Of South Carolina’s 38 wins this season, 31, including Sunday’s, were by double figures.

Three-point shooting wasn’t a trademark of the Gamecocks, but their depth was, and it was on display once more Sunday as South Carolina’s backups outscored Iowa’s 37-0, the most bench scoring for any team in a championship game since at least 2000.

That effort was led by freshman guard Johnson with a career-high 19 points, the fourth freshman in the past 25 seasons to lead her team in scoring in a national title game. She joined former Gamecock Destanni Henderson (2022) as the only players to set their career highs in a national championship game in the past 25 seasons.

Kamilla Cardoso Helps Lead South Carolina Gamecocks to Women’s NCAA Tournament Championship Game

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Kamilla Cardoso is one win away from a second national championship trophy…

With the 22-year-old Brazilian college basketball player and All-America center scoring 22 points, the South Carolina Gamecocks emphatically kept their unbeaten season going, advancing to the championship game of the women’s NCAA Tournament with a 78-59 victory over North Carolina State on Friday night.

Kamilla CardosoThe talented and tenacious Gamecocks (37-0) led by just one at halftime before putting their full arsenal on display in the third quarter.

They clamped down on defense, started knocking down 3-pointers and outscored the Wolfpack 29-6 to turn what had been a tense matchup into another one of their blowouts.

“We turned up the heat,” coach Dawn Staley said.

South Carolina will meet Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes for the national title on Sunday in a rematch of a Final Four game last year, when the Hawkeyes ended the Gamecocks’ perfect season.

After rallying past UConn in Friday’s later semifinal, Clark and her teammates will have their hands full. South Carolina appears to be on a mission.

“I could tell by our faces and voices,” said Gamecocks forward Ashlyn Watkins, who had 20 rebounds. “We wanted it more.”

Aziaha James scored 20 points on 6-of-17 shooting for No. 3 seed N.C. State (31-7), which knocked off a No. 1 and a No. 2 seed to get to Cleveland.

But the Wolfpack had no shot against the Gamecocks, who were a unanimous No. 1 most of the season in the AP Top 25 and are aiming to become the first undefeated national champions since UConn in 2016.

They look all but invincible.

“They just punched us in the mouth in the third quarter,” James said. “I felt like the third quarter really hurt us. I feel like we could have fought harder. It was 6-29. We can’t let things like that happen to win a championship.”

Cardoso added 11 rebounds while playing just 23 minutes.

She hurt her right leg late in the first half and returned in the third quarter, wearing a black compression sleeve. Staley had the luxury of resting her star center in the fourth quarter to make sure she’s ready for Sunday.

“She’s not going to like this answer, but she’s a beautiful Brazilian warrior,” Gamecocks guard Te-Hina Paopao said of Cardoso. “She’s just awesome, man. She’s going to play through some pain. She’s going to push through that. Knowing we have one more game, she’s definitely going to be OK.”

Watkins was just as dominant inside for the Gamecocks, getting 15 of her boards on the defensive end and scoring eight points. Raven Johnson added 13 points.

Saniya Rivers, who transferred from South Carolina to N.C. State after winning a title as a freshman, shot just 2 of 11 and had five turnovers as her former teammates made every touch a tough one.

N.C. State coach Wes Moore knew his team would have to play its best to have any chance of bringing down bigger, badder South Carolina.

On Thursday, he likened the semifinal to a David-vs.-Goliath matchup and promised his team would “put the stone in the sling and let it rip.”

The Wolfpack needed more than stones.

“I’ll probably throw up a few times when I watch that third quarter,” said Moore, who regretted not switching to a zone defense earlier. “I don’t feel like a very good coach after that butt-kickin’. But our players, you’ve got to have players.

“I always say you don’t win the Kentucky Derby with a mule. You’ve got to have horses.”

Relishing the underdog role, the Wolfpack, who lost a double-overtime heartbreaker to UConn two years ago in the Elite Eight, were hoping to replicate some of the magic the school conjured in 1983. Back then, N.C. State’s Jim Valvano-coached men’s team shocked the hoops world by beating heavily favored Houston in the NCAA title game — an upset that helped define March Madness.

But unlike a year ago, when South Carolina stormed into the Final Four in Dallas with an identical 36-0 record before losing to Iowa, the Gamecocks kept this season pristine.

The 6-foot-7 Cardoso made sure of it despite not moving as well as usual after the injury. South Carolina, which won by an average of 29.6 points this season, left no doubt after halftime, showing its dominance to a sellout crowd and national TV audience.

“Kamilla is a strength of ours,” Staley said. “She’s 6-7. She’s agile. She can command the paint. She plays with a desire to win. She asked for the ball a couple of times as well, meaning get her the ball.

“It’s that. It’s ‘I don’t want to lose, I don’t want our season to end in any way except the way I envisioned, and that’s winning the national championship.’ And when you can put your play behind your vision, it makes a beautiful memory.”

Paopao and Johnson made 3-pointers as the Gamecocks quickly stretched their lead to 10, and they closed the quarter with a dizzying 17-1 run that quieted a rowdy N.C. State crowd.

While this unprecedented season of women’s basketball has been largely driven by Clark’s assault on the record books with her logo-distance 3-pointers and charisma inspiring fans from coast to coast, one team rose to the top.

It’s been South Carolina all along.

These Gamecocks have ruled the roost with equal amounts of depth, talent and swagger.

Staley wasn’t sure what type of team she had when the season began after having to replace five starters from last year’s squad. She also worried about her young team’s carefree attitude and whether this group would mature.

But not only did the Gamecocks bond and get themselves together, they’re one win from cementing South Carolina as a dynasty.

“One more game left,” Paopao said. “We’re excited for that.”

Emma Navarro Earns First-Ever Grand Slam Victory in Three-Set Win Over Erika Andreeva

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Emma Navarro has notched her first-ever Grand Slam victory…

The 22-year-old Latin American tennis player rallied in the third set for a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 win over Russia’s Erika Andreeva in a first-round match at the French Open on May 30.

Emma Navarro Navarro, a former NCAA singles champion at Virginia who is ranked No. 75 on the WTA Tour, trailed by 3-0 in the third set before winning five straight games for a 5-3 lead. She lashed a forehand past Andreeva for a crucial break in game seven, and served out the match in the 10th game.

It was Navarro’s first win in a Grand Slam event; she previously lost a first-round match at the U.S. Open in 2021.

Navarro hit 32 winners to 23 for Andreeva, and had just 23 unforced errors to her opponent’s 31.

In the second round, Navarro will face No. 42 Bianca Adreescu of Canada.

University of Miami Quarterback Jake Garcia Entering NCAA Transfer Portal

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Jake Garcia is ready to transfer…

The Latino University of Miami quarterback  intends to enter the NCAA transfer portal, according to ESPN.

Jake Garcia,He’s informed the Miami coaches of his intentions, and his decision comes one day before the deadline to enter the portal.

Garcia is a former Top 25 recruit in the Class of 2021, per the ESPN 300. He’d originally committed to USC before flipping to Miami in December 2020. He redshirted his freshman year, which means he’ll have three seasons of eligibility at his next school and be immediately eligible.

According to a source, Garcia is looking to enroll somewhere immediately and play spring ball to learn a system and compete for the starting job.

The portal deadline is only for entry, so as long as athletes are in by Wednesday, they can make a decision at any time.

Garcia started one game for the Hurricanes this season, a 14-12 four-overtime victory at Virginia. Garcia finished 15-for-31 for 125 yards in that game. For the season, he completed 59.1% of his passes in eight games, throwing five touchdown passes and four interceptions.

He played just one game during his first season on campus in 2021, throwing for two touchdowns in a 69-0 win over Central Connecticut State.

Garcia’s career has been an odyssey, as he attended five high schools in four years. His career included at stop in his native California at Long Beach Poly, where he backed up future Ole Miss star Matt Corral. He transferred to Narbonne (California) High School and starred there for two seasons before finishing his career in Georgia so he could play his senior season during the COVID-19-altered season of 2020.

Skydance Sports & Meadowlark Media Developing Project That Highlights the Life & Career of Diana Taurasi

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Diana Taurasi’s life story is getting the Hollywood treatment…

Skydance Sports, the sports content division of Skydance Media, has agreed to a partnership with Meadowlark Media for the production of unscripted sports content, including a special project dedicated to the 39-year-old Argentine American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Mercury of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).

Diana Taurasi

The project is billed as the definitive, authorized chronicle of the life and career of Taurasi, considered one of the greatest female basketball players of all time.

Taurasi, the most accomplished player in the history of women’s basketball, whose accolades include three NCAA titles, three WNBA titles, five Olympic gold medals, multiple European League championships and numerous individual honors.

 

Her penchant for scoring in crucial situations has earned her the nickname “White Mamba“, coined by Kobe Bryant.

The companies are also co-producing Good Neighbors, a docuseries on what is arguably the world’s greatest soccer rivalry—that between the U.S. and Mexican men’s national teams. It’s currently in production and will debut in front of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Skydance Media is a diversified media company founded by David Ellison in 2010, which is active across film, television, Interactive, Animation, New Media and Sports, with studios in Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, Spain and Canada. Recent releases from the company include The Tomorrow War and Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse for Amazon Prime, each of which became the streamer’s number one film on the week of their release.

Meadowlark Media is a content studio and creator network founded last year by Skipper and radio and podcast host Dan Le Batard that develops premium content for third-party buyers across audio, video and digital.

Matt Araiza Announces Plans to Enter 2022 NFL Draft

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Matt Araiza is entering the draft…

The 21-year-old Mexican American college football star, a punter for San Diego State and Ray Guy Award winner, has announced that he’ll be entering the 2022 NFL Draft after putting together one of the best punting seasons in college football history.

Matt Araiza“These past four years have been a blessing,” Araiza wrote on Twitter. “Thank you to my family and friends for all the years of support. With gratitude, I am announcing my decision to declare for the 2022 NFL Draft.”

Araiza, who had one year left of eligibility, set the record for punting average in a season with 51.19 yards per punt. He holds the NCAA record of punts of 50 yards or more with 39 and the record for punts of 60 yards or more with 18. He also had two punts of 80 yards or more this season, including an 86-yarder.

Matt AraizaAraiza is a former soccer player-turned kicker from San Diego who made the switch to football early in high school.

“When I made that transition, from soccer to football, it was because I wanted to be in the NFL,” Araiza told ESPN in November.

He said that he studies NFL kickers and models some of his approach after Jake Bailey, who currently kicks for the New England Patriots and has a similar background and body type to Araiza.

 

Araiza also was selected as a first-team All-American, which triggered bonuses for coach Brady Hoke and offensive coordinator Jeff Hecklinski.

Jasmine Camacho-Quinn Claims Gold in Women’s 100-Meter Hurdles at Tokyo Games

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2020 Tokyo Games

Jasmine Camacho-Quinn has passed a major hurdle and earned a place in Puerto Rican sports history.

The 24-year-old Puerto Rican track and field athlete raced to gold in the women’s 100-meter hurdles race on Monday morning at the 2020 Tokyo Games, giving Puerto Rico its first medal of this Olympics.

Jasmine Camacho-Quinn

Camacho-Quinn won coveted medal, just the second gold medal in Puerto Rican history, clocking in at 12.37 seconds. In a photo finish for the second and third place spots, American Keni Harrison claimed silver in 12.52 seconds and Jamaica’s Megan Tapper took home the bronze in 12.55.

“It really means a lot. This year I trained really hard; I don’t have a training partner, I’m by myself, so every time I stepped out there I gave it all I had,” Camacho-Quinn said. “This was what I wanted for this year, I wanted to be a gold medalist, and I manifested that. I spoke it into existence.”

Jasmine Camacho-Quinn

 

In 2016, Camacho-Quinn was a 19-year-old University of Kentucky student coming off an NCAA championship when she came to her first Olympics.

She fell in her semifinal, her trail leg clipping the top of the eighth of the 10 hurdles, and she couldn’t regain her form before the ninth, stumbling and falling to the track.

Jasmine Camacho-Quinn

The daughter of a father born in South Carolina and a mother born in Puerto Rico, Camacho-Quinn chose to represent her mother’s island; even though Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, the IOC recognizes it as its own country for the purposes of Olympic competition and laws. Tennis player Monica Puig won Puerto Rico’s first gold medal in 2016.

Asked how long that Rio stumble stayed with her, Camacho-Quinn said it’s basically been inescapable over the last five years.

Jasmine Camacho-Quinn

“I’m constantly reminded; somebody’s always messaging me and like, ‘Oh I’m sorry for what happened’ and I’m like I need y’all to let that go, please,” she said, laughing. “I need y’all to let it go.

“But yesterday before semis I kind of had a breakdown because I don’t want the same thing to happen again, but I knew how I’d been racing all season, just do that and I’ll be OK.”

She may have allowed that memory to cause her momentary pause, but clearly it didn’t linger: Camacho-Quinn set an Olympic record in the semis on Sunday, running 12.26. It ties her for the fourth-fastest performance of all time.

Camacho-Quinn, whose older brother Robert currently plays for the Chicago Bears, had the three fastest times in the world this season coming into Tokyo, which gave her confidence for the Games.

“This year, when I opened up and seeing where I was” — she ran 12.47 seconds in her opener on April 10 and 12.32 a week later — “I was like, wow, I might have a really fast year this year. From that moment I’m like, ‘OK I know what I can do, and let’s work towards that’,” she said.

Catarina Macario Signs Two-and-a-Half Year Deal with Lyon

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Catarina Macario is future Lyon queen…

The 21-year-old Brazilian soccer player and USWNT prospect, who recently announced plans to leave Stanford and go pro, has signed a two-and-a-half year deal with Lyon, the club has announced.

Catarina Macario

Macario announced on Friday that she’d forego the final year with Stanford in favor of turning professional.

ESPN reported on Monday that Lyon were leading the race for Macario with a contract on the table but that both Real Madrid and Bayern Munich were also still interested in the midfielder.

“It’s an honor to have signed with such a fantastic club,” Macario said in a tweet.

“I can’t wait to get started and to continue to build on its legacy of success. Allez l’OL!”

Sources told ESPN that Macario was attracted to Europe rather than the National Women’s Soccer League as she wants to win the Champions League while competing in the Olympics and World Cup.

Macario scored 63 goals in 68 games for Stanford and contributed 47 assists.

She won the MAC Hermann Trophy twice and an NCAA College Cup in her three seasons at Stanford.

She became a United States citizen in October and has joined every USWNT camp since, including their ongoing January camp.

However, Macario is still waiting on approval from FIFA to allow her to play games with the national side.

She’ll travel to France after the USWNT training ends on January 22.

Catarina Macario Announces Plans to Turn Pro

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Catarina Macario is ready to go pro…

The Brazilian-born Stanford midfielder and promising prospect for the United States women’s national soccer team, has announced she’ll forgo her senior season for a professional career.

Catarina Macario

Macario is currently on the roster for the national team’s January camp, which started this weekend in Florida.

In a statement posted to Twitter, Macario said it is time for her to start a “new phase in life.”

While Macario has been linked to European club teams, she could opt to stay in the United States and play for the National Women’s Soccer League. The NWSL draft is set for Wednesday.

Macario became a U.S. citizen in October, but she hasn’t yet received approval from FIFA, soccer’s international governing body, to play in a match for the national team. The U.S. has a pair of games against Colombia scheduled for later this month.

The two-time winner of the MAC Hermann Trophy as the nation’s best college player, Macario had a Stanford single-season record of 32 goals and 23 assists last season. She was called up to her first national team camp the same day she became a citizen.

Macario is one of three college players on the 27-player camp roster, along with North Carolina‘s Emily Lloyd and Florida State‘s Jaelin Howell. Lloyd and Howell also could be eligible for next week’s NWSL draft because of a waiver from the NCAA that allows drafted players to remain with their college teams this spring and join the NWSL following the season.