# 2019 Sky Blue FC season

The 2019 Sky Blue FC season was the team's tenth season as a professional women's soccer team. Sky Blue FC plays in the National Women's Soccer League, the top tier of women's soccer in the United States.
Since the 2018 Sky Blue finished in last place and only won one game, 2019 offered opportunities for improvement. The off-season didn't get off to a promising start as two of the team's top draft picks, Hailie Mace (2nd overall pick) and Julia Ashley (6th overall pick) chose not to sign with the club. Mace signed with FC Rosengård and Ashley with Linköpings FC. Sky Blue's third and fourth picks, Paige Monaghan (10th overall pick) and Julie James (11th overall pick) did however choose to come to preseason and were ultimately signed. During preseason training two Sky Blue players suffered season-ending injuries. Defender Mandy Freeman ruptured her Achilles tendon and midfielder Madison Tiernan tore her ACL and MCL.
On April 9, 2019 General Manager and President Tony Novo resigned from his position, Sky Blue Vice-President Alyse LaHue was appointed to take over as interim general manager. Kyra Carusa, Sky Blue's 19th overall pick in the 2019 Draft signed with Le Havre AC in France on April 25, making her the third Sky Blue draft pick to sign in Europe.
On June 28, Denise Reddy was fired as the team's head coach. Her record as head coach was 1-8-24. Goalkeeper coach Hugo Macedo filled in on a temporary basis until the club named Freya Coombe interim head coach on September 4.
Sky Blue played their first ever game at Red Bull Arena on August 18 against Reign FC. They set a club record with 9,415 in attendance for the game, which finished in a 1–1 draw. The positive feedback and high demand led the club to move their September 29 home finale to Red Bull Arena, where they drew 8,314 for a 1–1 draw against the Orlando Pride.

## Team
### First-team roster

As of July 19, 2019
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | CAN | Kailen Sheridan |
| 3 | DF | USA | Caprice Dydasco |
| 4 | MF | USA | Paige Monaghan |
| 5 | MF | USA | Julie James |
| 7 | FW | USA | Jen Hoy |
| 8 | DF | USA | Erica Skroski |
| 9 | FW | JPN | Nahomi Kawasumi |
| 10 | MF | USA | Carli Lloyd |
| 11 | MF | CRC | Raquel Rodriguez |
| 12 | DF | USA | Gina Lewandowski |
| 13 | GK | BIH | DiDi Haracic |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 14 | MF | USA | Kenie Wright |
| 16 | MF | USA | Sarah Killion |
| 17 | DF | USA | Domi Richardson |
| 19 | MF | USA | Elizabeth Eddy |
| 22 | DF | USA | Mandy Freeman |
| 24 | DF | CMR | Estelle Johnson |
| 28 | MF | USA | Imani Dorsey |
| 29 | DF | CAN | Amandine Pierre-Louis |
| 73 | MF | USA | Madison Tiernan |
| — | MF | USA | Nicole Baxter |

## Competitions
### Regular season
#### Regular-season standings

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | North Carolina Courage (C) | 24 | 15 | 4 | 5 | 54 | 23 | +31 | 49 | NWSL Shield |
| 2 | Chicago Red Stars | 24 | 14 | 2 | 8 | 41 | 28 | +13 | 44 | NWSL Playoffs |
| 3 | Portland Thorns FC | 24 | 11 | 7 | 6 | 40 | 31 | +9 | 40 | NWSL Playoffs |
| 4 | Reign FC | 24 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 27 | 27 | 0 | 38 | NWSL Playoffs |
| 5 | Washington Spirit | 24 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 30 | 25 | +5 | 34 | |
| 6 | Utah Royals FC | 24 | 10 | 4 | 10 | 25 | 25 | 0 | 34 | |
| 7 | Houston Dash | 24 | 7 | 5 | 12 | 21 | 36 | −15 | 26 | |
| 8 | Sky Blue FC | 24 | 5 | 5 | 14 | 20 | 34 | −14 | 20 | |
| 9 | Orlando Pride | 24 | 4 | 4 | 16 | 24 | 53 | −29 | 16 | |

##### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: September 22, 2019. Source: NWSLsoccer.com

##### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| Stadium | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | H | A |
| Result | L | L | D | D | L | L | L | L | L | W | W | L | L | L | D | L | W | D | W | L | L | W | D | L |
| Position | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |

## Player transactions
### 2019 NWSL College Draft

    Source: National Women's Soccer League
| Round | Pick | Player | Pos. | Previous Team |
| Round 1 | 2 | Hailie Mace | F | UCLA |
| Round 1 | 6 | Julia Ashley | D | University of North Carolina |
| Round 2 | 10 | Paige Monaghan | F | Butler University |
| Round 2 | 11 | Julie James | M | Baylor University |
| Round 3 | 19 | Kyra Carusa | F | Georgetown University |
| Round 4 | 28 | Kaylan Marckese | G | University of Florida |
| Round 4 | 29 | Kenie Wright | M | Rutgers University |
| Round 4 | 34 | Sabrina Flores | D | University of Notre Dame |

### In

| Date | Player | Positions played | Previous club | Fee/notes |
| January 10, 2019 | Caprice Dydasco | DF | Washington Spirit | Acquired in Trade with the Washington Spirit for the 3rd Overall Pick in the 2019 NWSL College Draft |
| January 10, 2019 | DiDi Haracic | GK | Washington Spirit | Acquired in Trade with the Washington Spirit for the 3rd Overall Pick in the 2019 NWSL College Draft |
| January 10, 2019 | Estelle Johnson | DF | Washington Spirit | Acquired in Trade with the Washington Spirit for the 3rd Overall Pick in the 2019 NWSL College Draft |
| January 14, 2019 | Nahomi Kawasumi | FW | Reign FC | Acquired in Trade with Reign FC in exchange for Shea Groom |
| April 10, 2019 | Gabi | MF | Esporte Clube Iranduba da Amazônia | Signed. |
| May 7, 2019 | Gina Lewandowski | DF | Bayern Munich | Signed. |
| June 11, 2019 | Elizabeth Eddy | MF | North Carolina Courage | Acquired in a trade with the North Carolina Courage in exchange for McKenzie Meehan |
| July 19, 2019 | Nicole Baxter | MF | Asarums IF | Signed. |

### Out

| Date | Player | Positions played | Destination club | Fee/notes |
| November 14, 2018 | Amanda Frisbie | DF | Klepp IL | Signed with Klepp IL in Norway. |
| November 20, 2018 | Rebekah Stott | DF | Avaldsnes IL | Signed with Avaldsnes IL in Norway. |
| January 9, 2019 | Katie Johnson | FW | Chicago Red Stars | Traded to the Chicago Red Stars in exchange for the 6th overall pick in the 2019 NWSL College Draft and the highest second-round pick in 2020. |
| January 12, 2019 | Christina Gibbons | DF | | Retired |
| January 14, 2019 | Shea Groom | FW | Reign FC | Traded to Reign FC in exchange for Nahomi Kawasumi |
| March 8, 2019 | Caroline Casey | GK | | Retired |
| June 11, 2019 | McKenzie Meehan | FW | North Carolina Courage | Traded to the North Carolina Courage in exchange for Elizabeth Eddy. |
| June 19, 2019 | Savannah McCaskill | FW | Chicago Red Stars | Traded to the Chicago Red Stars in exchange for a First and Second Round draft pick in the 2020 NWSL College Draft |
| July 14, 2019 | Gabi | MF | | Released |
| July 19, 2019 | Sabrina Flores | MF | Sevilla | Released |

## Awards
### NWSL Team of the Month

| Month | Goalkeeper | Defenders | Midfielders | Forwards | Ref |
| April | Kailen Sheridan | | | | |
| July | Kailen Sheridan | | | | |

### NWSL Weekly Awards
#### NWSL Goal of the Week

| Week | Result | Player |
| 6 | Nominated | Raquel Rodriguez |
| 13 | Nominated | Jennifer Hoy |
| 16 | Nominated | Imani Dorsey |
| 18 | Nominated | Paige Monaghan |
| 23 | Nominated | Carli Lloyd |
| 24 | Nominated | Carli Lloyd |
| 25 | Nominated | Domi Richardson |

#### NWSL Save of the Week

| Week | Result | Player |
| 2 | Won | Kailen Sheridan |
| 3 | Won | Kailen Sheridan |
| 4 | Nominated | Kailen Sheridan |
| 5 | Nominated | DiDi Haracic |
| 6 | Nominated | DiDi Haracic |
| 7 | Nominated | DiDi Haracic |
| 9 | Nominated | DiDi Haracic |
| 10 | Nominated | DiDi Haracic |
| 12 | Nominated | Kailen Sheridan |
| 14 | Nominated | Kailen Sheridan |
| 15 | Nominated | Kailen Sheridan |
| 16 | Nominated | Kailen Sheridan |
| 17 | Nominated | Kailen Sheridan |
| 18 | Nominated | Kailen Sheridan |
| 21 | Nominated | Kailen Sheridan |
| 23 | Nominated | Kailen Sheridan |
| 25 | Nominated | Kailen Sheridan |