Houston Dash head coach James Clarkson and his technical staff selected six players at the 2019 NWSL College Draft earlier today.
The Dash held four picks in the second round and chose defender Ally Prisock, forward CeCe Kizer, midfielder Betsy Brandon and forward Kayla McCoy. In Round Three, the Dash selected defender Jazmin Jackmon and midfielder Grace Cutler.
“We’re really pleased with the day. I think we’ve come out better than I anticipated,” Clarkson said. “We put a lot of work into it. We came up with a real comprehensive list of targets that we wanted, we identified areas in the roster that we thought needed real help, and I think after today we’ve managed to potentially fill some of those spots and raise the level of our overall roster.”
Prisock was selected with the 12th overall pick from the University of South California. The defender led the Trojans to four consecutive NCAA tournament appearances and was a Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy semifinalist in 2018. The Fontana, Calif. native was named to the United Soccer Coaches 2018 All-American First Team, All-Pac 12 First Team and Top Drawer Soccer First Team in her senior season. The defender started in 90 games for the Trojans over four years and won the 2016 National Championship after a historic season in which the defense allowed just 11 goals in 25 games, the second-fewest in school history. The defender joined the U-19 and U-20 U.S. Women’s National Teams in 2016 for training camps in California and Florida.
With the second of back-to-back picks, the Dash chose Kizer out of the University of Mississippi. The two-time United Soccer Coaches All-American (2017, 2018) scored 48 goals and tallied 23 assists in 83 appearances for the Rebels during her collegiate career. The forward finished as the SEC regular-season leader in goals (13), assists (8) and points (34) in her senior season, earning first-team All-SEC honors. Kizer also brings international experience from her time at the U-23 USWNT camps in 2017 and 2018.
With the 16th overall pick, Houston nabbed Brandon from the University of Virginia. The midfielder saw action in 88 games with 71 starts during her four-year career in Charlottesville. A native of Littleton, Colo., she scored 15 goals and added 10 assists for the Cavaliers. Brandon earned ACC Academic Honor Roll accolades three times in her career and has represented the United States at the youth international level from U-14 through U-18.
McCoy was Houston’s final pick in the second round, with the Duke University product coming off the board at No. 18 overall. The forward scored 38 goals and had 17 assists in four seasons for the Blue Devils, including double-digit goal totals as a junior and senior. Like Prisock, McCoy was a semifinalist for the Hermann Trophy as a senior. The Chicago native received the NCAA’s Senior CLASS Award, which honors the attributes of NCAA Division I senior student-athletes in four areas: community, classroom, character and competition. Like her fellow draft class members, McCoy has youth international experience, having played with the USWNT U-23 squad in 2018.
With back-to-back picks in the third round (Nos. 21 and 22 overall), the Dash picked Jackmon and Cutler, respectively. A 5’10” defender from the University of Oregon, Jackmon saw action in all 38 games over two seasons with the Ducks and earned Honorable Mention Academic All-Pac 12 honors as a senior. The Pasadena, Calif. native began her collegiate career at Santa Clara and helped the Broncos advance to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament as a sophomore.
Cutler was a teammate of Jackmon’s at Santa Clara as a freshman before transferring to West Virginia for her last three years. She helped the Mountaineers win the Big 12 title in 2016 and 2018. She played in 73 games with 43 starts at WVU, scoring six goals and adding four assists. As a senior, she started all 23 games and played a career-high 1,813 minutes for the Big 12 champs.
