Orlando Pride trade Emily Sonnett for draft picks, allocation money

The Orlando Pride have traded U.S. women’s national team defender Emily Sonnett to the Washington Spirit for two draft picks, midfielder Meggie Dougherty Howard and $140,000 in allocation money.

The Pride are slated Spirit’s No. 9 pick in the 2021 draft and the first-round pick in the 2022 or 2023 draft. The Spirit already traded their 2022 first-round pick to the Utah Royals as part of a deal to acquire U.S. women’s national team player Kelley O’Hara. If O’Hara plays a minimum number of games, which could be in question during an Olympic year, the Pride would get the 2022 pick. If O’Hara meets the participation threshold, the Pride would get the 2023 first-round pick instead.

The Washington City Paper was the first to report the transaction.

“As we enter 2021 and work to elevate our roster, we are pleased to come to terms with Washington on this deal. Acquiring two first-round draft picks and a substantial sum of allocation money will continue to set the Pride up for sustained success, not just now, but in future seasons,” Orlando Pride executive vice president Amanda Duffy said.

“With the addition of Meggie, a player who is from Florida, we are adding a hard-working midfielder who has tremendous league experience at a young age. We’re excited to welcome her to Orlando. While we wish we would have been able to see Emily as part of the Pride, we are pleased to find a beneficial deal for all parties and we wish her luck with the Spirit organization.”

Due to COVID-19 test results that forced the Pride to withdraw from the NWSL Challenge Cup, Sonnett never played a match for Orlando. She spent the fall playing abroad, signing a short-term contract with G 1/4 u00f6teborg FC in the Swedish Damallsvenskan. Sonnett made 10 appearances for the Swedish club, helping the team win its first league title Nov. 7.

Howard is a Florida Gators alum who earned All-America honors in 2016 and was named the All-SEC Tournament MVP the same season. She played for the Washington Spirit Reserves in the W-League while still in college, helping win a W-League championship in 2015.

In 2017, Howard was selected by the Washington Spirit with the No. 29 pick in the NWSL draft. She made her debut for the club as a sub during a 2017 match against the Pride. She has played in at least 22 matches all three seasons with the Spirit, starting in 18 last season. Howard played 1,562 minutes in 2019, delivering an 83.8% successful pass rate, including 89.2% accuracy on the defensive end of the field.

While she attended U.S. national youth camps, she is not in the senior national team pool and would be a consistent contributor for the Pride while others are called up for the Olympics.

The trade closes Sonnett’s unusual tenure with the Pride that involved relatively little time with the club. Orlando coach Marc Skinner protected Sonnett during the expansion draft, assuring the Pride would land assets in return for the defender.

The Pride originally traded the No. 1 pick to the Portland Thorns to acquire Sonnett and the rights to Caitlin Foord, who is currently playing in Europe. The Pride retain Foord’s rights should she ever choose to return to the NWSL.

Sonnett, 27, is working to prove she should be part of the slimmed-down roster the U.S. women’s national team takes to the Tokyo Olympics.

She appeared in 78 Portland Thorns matches, playing in two championship matches.

The Georgia native was looking forward to playing in a region where she could frequently visit one of her favorite restaurants, Waffle House.

While it was a challenge leaving a championship contender in Portland to join a rebuilding Orlando franchise, Sonnett said she was looking forward to learning from Pride veteran defender Ali Krieger and goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris. Orlando, meanwhile, was thrilled to add a player who would bolster the team’s defense.

Shortly before play was shut down due to the pandemic, Sonnett said she wanted to forge strong connections and find ways to help the Pride.

“I think my role is always kind of, ‘What does the coach need for this specific game?’” Sonnett told the Sentinel in March. “If I can fill one of those roles, then that’s something that I think is very valuable to the team. I’m just excited to come and find those little partnerships on the field to hopefully do whatever I can to help the team.”

This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Iliana Limón Romero at ilimon@orlandosentinel.com.