Boston Breakers officially sign Morgan Andrews

The Boston Breakers have officially signed their #3 2017 draft pick midfielder Morgan Andrews.

Andrews is fresh off a 2016 NCAA championship with USC and, most recently, a pretty successful tournament for the U23s in La Manga, Spain, where she got the game-winner for the United States in their final game against Norway.

“She's a technically gifted midfielder with a great passing range,” said head coach Matt Beard via team press release. Perhaps this provides a hint as to how he will fit Andrews in with Rose Lavelle, whom Beard has called a box-to-box midfielder. Neither one of them is exactly a bench player, though odds are better on Lavelle becoming a starter right away and the type of player around which to build a squad. Good range would allow Andrews to fall deeper, although she has strengths in being allowed to play higher and add to the forwards as well. Preseason has barely begun, so perhaps speculation right now is futile anyway.

That also makes it 18 players officially on the roster, with four draft picks left for Beard to consider and 20 slots overall. With the team already carrying two goalkeepers, it’ll be hard for Sammy Jo Prudhomme to break into the squad, recent ankle injury to Libby Stout notwithstanding. That leaves two slots for three players: Margaret Purce, Ifeoma Onumonu, and Hayley Dowd. Dowd was Boston’s very last draft pick, taken #38 overall, and is more likely than Onumonu or Purce (#8 and 9 respectively) to perhaps be sent to the Breakers reserve system, or try to find a trial with another club.

The Breakers’ first preseason game is a March 25 closed-door game against Boston College. Fans’ best chance at seeing the Breakers in preseason is probably their April 1 game against UConn, which should take place at Jordan Field.