Orlando Pride notebook: Ali Riley’s rights traded to Angel City FC
With preseason starting early next week, the Orlando Pride continued tweaking their roster — and this time another veteran player departs.
The rights to New Zealand defender Ali Riley were traded to expansion club Angel City FC in exchange for $15,000 in allocation money and a 2023 third-round draft pick, the team announced Thursday.
“On behalf of the club, I want to personally thank Ali for her time, effort, and energy throughout her stay in Orlando,” Pride general manager Ian Fleming said in a statement. “She is a professional in every sense and has been a pleasure to work with. We wish her the absolute best in the future.”
Riley was out of contract with the Pride, but the club still held her NWSL rights until it traded them to Angel City on Thursday, a club source confirmed with the Orlando Sentinel.
Riley, 34, originally signed for the Pride heading into the 2020 season. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, delayed the fullback’s debut until the 2021 season where she made 23 appearances.
Riley spent the 2020 on loan at Swedish club FC Rosengård.
Pride preseason camp officially starts Tuesday.
Draftees signed
The Pride also announced that they signed forward Julie Doyle to a 1-year contract with an additional option year for 2023.
Doyle was selected as the Pride’s 11th overall pick out of Santa Clara University in last month’s NWSL draft.
“We are very pleased to add Julie to the squad this year and excited to see how her qualities complement our existing group,” Fleming said. “We were fortunate enough to have Julie train with us for a short period over the summer and what we saw first-hand, beyond what we already knew of her accomplishments in college and at the youth national team level, gave us the confidence to make her a priority target in the draft this year. We are glad that the opportunity did indeed present itself and look forward to seeing her in purple soon.”
On Wednesday, the Pride announced they signed midfielder Mikayla Cluff to a 2-year deal.
Cluff, a finalist for the 2021 MAC Hermann Trophy, was selected as the 14th overall pick out of Brigham Young but decided to finish out her eligibility.
BYU would eventually make a deep run in the 2021 NCAA Women’s College Cup tournament before losing to Florida State in the final, 4-3, in penalties last month.
Cluff was named the 2021 TopDrawer Soccer player of the year for 2021.
Moore moves to United
Out of contract, English midfielder Jade Moore signed with Manchester United of the Women’s Super League on Thursday.
Moore signed with the Pride in 2020 but was later loaned to Spanish club Atletico de Madrid for the 2020-21 season. She returned to Orlando for 2021.
The 31-year-old did not feature in any games for the Pride last season and now will reunite with former Pride coach Marc Skinner, who took the job at Manchester last summer.
