NWSL Draft: Crystal Dunn, Rose Lavelle & what happened to every No.1 overall pick

A handful of future USWNT stars were chosen in the first round of the 2013 NWSL Draft, with Kristie Mewis, Casey Krueger and Adrianna Franch among them. But it was Zakiya Bywaters, an exciting and versatile forward from UCLA, who was the first ever No.1 pick when selected by the Chicago Red Stars.

A regular in the U.S. youth teams, Bywaters was ever-present for the Bruins during her time at college, and her senior year was a stand-out, with no one in the Pac-12 Conference scoring more goals. Unsurprisingly, she racked up plenty of individual honors as a result before being seen as the pick of the lot in the NWSL Draft by the Red Stars.

However, injuries would hurt Bywaters' career in the league massively. Her first season was marred by them, though she did show flashes of brilliance, and after a steadier 2014 campaign, hip surgery saw her miss the entirety of the following year. Bywaters was waived by the Red Stars ahead of the 2016 season, and that was the last we saw of this talented prospect on the field.

The first of our future World Cup-winning No.1 picks came in 2014 when Crystal Dunn was selected by the Washington Spirit just ahead of two more future USWNT internationals, Kealia Watt and Julie Ertz. The first-ever player to be named ACC Defensive Player of the Year as a freshman, Dunn enjoyed a wonderful college career with the North Carolina Tar Heels, one which resulted in an NCAA Championship as well as a heap of individual honors, including the Hermann Trophy.

Already a full USWNT international, Dunn unsurprisingly thrived with the Spirit, most notably winning the Golden Boot and Most Valuable Player accolades at the end of the 2015 season. Shockingly, though, she didn't make the U.S. roster for that year's World Cup.

Having fallen just short of the NWSL Championship title in 2016, Dunn left the Spirit early the following year for an opportunity with Chelsea. She won the league in England and has continued that winning feeling since returning home in 2018, racking up three NWSL Championship titles, three NWSL Shields and a Challenge Cup across spells with the North Carolina Courage and the Portland Thorns - as well as a World Cup win with the U.S. in 2019.

She'll be starting a new chapter of her NWSL career this year, having signed for reigning champion Gotham at the end of 2023.

Another World Cup winner, Morgan Gautrat was the youngest member of the USWNT when it lifted the trophy in the summer of 2015. That incredible feat came only a few months after she'd been drafted as the No.1 overall pick in the NWSL Draft by the Houston Dash, too. Again, she was the top pick of a class stacked with talent - Abby Dahlkemper, Sam Mewis and Lynn Williams were all among those to be chosen in the first round alongside Gautrat.

In college, Gautrat starred for the Virginia Cavaliers, so much so that she became only the fifth woman to win the Hermann Trophy twice, joining an exclusive club that includes prestigious names like Mia Hamm and Christine Sinclair. Her ability to bring that quality to Houston was limited though, with her inclusion on the USWNT roster for both the 2015 World Cup and 2016 Olympics meaning she missed large parts of her first two NWSL seasons.

A knee injury meant her 2017 season started late, too, before she was acquired by the Chicago Red Stars in August. Here began a little more disruption as the midfielder signed for European heavyweights Lyon on a two-and-a-half-year deal, only for her to come back to the U.S. within a few months. However, once finally granted a bit of stability upon her return to Chicago, Gautrat thrived. Her 2021 season in particular, in which she helped the Red Stars reach the Championship game, was incredible.

Now 30 years old, the midfielder ended her time in Chicago in 2022 to join the Kansas City Current, and has since moved to the Orlando Pride ahead of the 2024 campaign.

The 2016 NWSL Draft had quite an international flavor to it, with Costa Rica's Raquel Rodriguez, England forwards Rachel Daly and Leah Galton, and Canada's Janine Beckie among the noteworthy picks. However, it was Emily Sonnett who went first overall, following Gautrat as Virginia's second player to have the honor when she was chosen by the Portland Thorns.

The versatile defender enjoyed a fruitful start to life in the NWSL, winning the Shield in her first year, the Championship in her second and being named to the league's Best XI in her third. Sonnett's first experience outside of the NWSL was a success, too, as she lifted the Damallsvenskan title with Goteborg in a short stint in Sweden in 2020.

A member of the USWNT's triumphant 2019 World Cup roster, she returned to the U.S. in 2021 to join the Washington Spirit, where she would once again become an NWSL Champion. A season with OL Reign in 2023 saw her return to the Championship game, too, but she couldn't help USWNT icon Megan Rapinoe go out on the ultimate high.

It was Gotham which emerged victorious on that occasion, and Sonnett will hope that can be the case again in 2024 as she has since joined the club, along with fellow Reign and U.S. team-mate Rose Lavelle.

That leads us nicely into 2017, as Lavelle was that year's top draft pick. It was another fantastic class, with 2021 NWSL Golden Boot winner Ashley Hatch off the board second and 2022 NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year Kailden Sheridan selected in round three, but the Boston Breakers went for Lavelle after a college career that saw her become the first Wisconsin Badger to be named first-team All-American since 1991.

Her first year in the league was one of mixed fortunes, as a Player of the Month award straight off the bat was followed up by a frustrating hamstring injury. Her second year with the Breakers, meanwhile, never even came as the club folded before the 2018 season.

Lavelle was picked up by the Spirit, but her time in Washington was disrupted by injuries and USWNT duty, with her missing a large chunk of the 2019 season while she helped her country lift the World Cup.

A rather frustrating year in England was her first experience abroad, though injuries and a tendency to be played out of position were at least compensated by the FA Cup she won during her time with Manchester City. Lavelle added another trophy to her collection with OL Reign upon her return to U.S., but she couldn't follow that 2022 Shield win with a 2023 Championship triumph, as Gotham emerged victorious in last year's season finale. She's since joined the defending champion ahead of the 2024 campaign.

Kicking off Stanford's dominance at the top of the NWSL Draft - the Cardinals have been responsible for four of the last six No.1 picks - was Andi Sullivan when she was chosen first overall by the Washington Spirit in 2018.

Another former Hermann Trophy winner, Sullivan played in the USL W-League with the Spirit's reserve team for several seasons even before she was at college, so it's certainly not surprising that they were well aware of her talent and what she could bring to the table when she decided to enter the NWSL.

Nominated for the Rookie of the Year accolade at the end of her first season, Sullivan was named the Spirit's team captain the following year, which speaks volumes of the immediate impact she made at the club. With that responsibility bestowed on her, Sullivan has delivered, leading her team to a first NWSL Championship title in 2021 against all odds.

While it has long felt like the USWNT does not get the best out of the 28-year-old, she's incredibly important at club level, and it doesn't feel like that fact will be changing anytime soon.

Our fifth and (for now) final World Cup winner on this list is Tierna Davidson, another Stanford Cardinal who was chosen first off the board back in 2019. Only six months later, she would be lifting that World Cup trophy in France with the USWNT as the youngest player on the winning roster.

It was a dramatic first year in the NWSL for the defender, who also helped the Chicago Red Stars reach the Championship game a few months later. The team would get there again in 2021, but once again fell short, that title eluding both Davidson and the Red Stars during their time together.

The following year was a nightmare for the 25-year-old, who ruptured her ACL before the 2022 season even began. “I've always been a player that has very much liked to contribute tangibly to a team,” she told GOAL last year. “So, to find my value as a team-mate off the field and not being able to contribute value on the field was difficult."

Davidson returned in 2023, but it was a disappointing year. Chicago struggled massively and finished bottom of the ladder, nowhere near the playoffs that it has long been a mainstay in. The defender is ready to turn a new page in her NWSL career in 2024, though, having signed for reigning champion Gotham ahead of the new season.

Another NWSL Draft, another Stanford star at the top of the list. Sophia Smith was the No.1 overall pick in 2020, heading to the Portland Thorns after shining for the Cardinals in college. Her time in the league so far has been nothing short of a success, on both an individual and a team level.

Smith is still only 23 years old, and yet she has pretty much already won everything that she can win as an NWSL player. With her team, the forward has lifted the Shield, the Championship and the Challenge Cup. She even got her hands on the Community Shield in 2020, a trophy that will likely never be awarded again as it was the reward for winning the NWSL Fall Series that tided the league over during the Covid-19 pandemic.

As an individual, Smith has been named the league's Most Valuable Player, she has picked up the Championship game MVP accolade, she's made two Best XIs and she has won the Golden Boot. It's not bad for three full seasons' work, is it?

Emily Fox broke Stanford's hot streak when she was chosen first overall in the 2021 NWSL Draft, the defender earning the status of No.1 pick after a fantastic college career with the North Carolina Tar Heels that had already put her on the USWNT roster some three years before she entered the NWSL.

Selected by Racing Louisville ahead of its first season in the league, the full-back impressed despite the expansion side struggling to really make its mark on the division, falling well short of the playoffs in both 2021 and 2022. It was hardly a surprise when a more established team came in for Fox last year, then, with the North Carolina Courage adding a seriously reliable asset to its roster.

Either side of playing for the USWNT in a World Cup for the first time, Fox was outstanding for the Courage as it finished third in the table, and she was named to the NWSL's Second XI despite making many other Best XIs (including ours at GOAL). She was so impressive, even, that the 25-year-old has been on the move again after her transfer to Arsenal was confirmed on Thursday.

Stanford returned to the top of the NWSL Draft tree in 2022 when star centerback Naomi Girma was selected first overall by the San Diego Wave. The youngster's talent had been known about on a wider scale for some time, with her first call-up to the USWNT coming way back in 2019, but that shouldn't detract from just how impressive her adjustment to senior club soccer has been.

Girma has been outstanding since she stepped into the NWSL, named Rookie of the Year, Defender of the Year and to the league's Best XI after her debut season in 2022. Her performances helped the Wave keep the second-best defensive record in the entire league as it became the first expansion side ever to make the playoffs on first attempt.

Yet, the 23-year-old only got better in her second season. Named Defender of the Year and to the league's Best XI yet again, Girma was superb as the Wave won its first major title in just its second year, lifting the NWSL Shield.

While the 2023 Women's World Cup won't be fondly remembered where the USWNT is concerned, Girma's performances at that tournament deserve a mention, too, as she was one of few players to emerge from it with any credit, despite it being her first experience on the biggest stage.

Alyssa Thompson made a heap of history when she was drafted first overall in the 2023 NWSL Draft. She was the youngest-ever No.1 pick, the youngest-ever pick at all and the first player to be drafted directly out of high school, with her verbally committing to Stanford when she was a 15-year-old but eventually choosing to go pro early at the age of 18.

At this point, Thompson was already a member of the USWNT, making her debut at a sold-out Wembley Stadium against England in October 2022, so plenty was known about her talent. Still, it had only been seen in glimpses on the big stages, and the prospect of seeing this talented young forward develop week-in, week-out in the NWSL was a seriously exciting thought. It still is, even.

Thompson's first year in the league was a very solid one. She produced some real moments of magic as Angel City made the playoffs for the first time, the strike on her debut against eventual-champion Gotham the pick of the lot, and would hit a milestone in her international career, too, when she was named to the USWNT roster for her first senior World Cup.