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KC Current acquire forward Haley Hopkins

Kansas City acquires Hopkins from North Carolina

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Haley Hopkins | Credit: Thad Bell KC Soccer Journal

The Kansas City Current acquired forward Haley Hopkins from the North Carolina Courage on Thursday. The Current exchanged $50,000 in intra-league transfer funds. Hopkins will join the team for preseason in Irvine, California.

“We are very excited to bring a player of Haley’s caliber into our organization,” said head coach and sporting director Vlatko Andonovski via press release. “She is an established player in the NWSL with a diverse attacking skillset that will strengthen our forward group.”

“Bringing in an attacking threat like Haley is a great opportunity as we are always looking for ways that we can improve our roster and create competition,” said general manager Caitlin Carducci vis press release. “Throughout her time in college and in the NWSL, Haley has displayed an ability to score goals in a variety of ways. We are looking forward to seeing how she boosts our roster in 2025.”

Expectations

Shortly before the trade was announced, Andonovski was asked in a press conference if he was looking to add more players. His response gives insight into his thoughts on Hopkins, the player he was clearly referencing in his answer.

“We want to add at least one more forward that will bring a different dynamic to the team,” Andonovski stated. “Maybe a little more physical forward, a little more of a presence, aerial challenges, someone that has NWSL experience. That would be an ideal one.”

Hopkins is a strong forward that has an ability to score. She notched three goals and an assist in 24 appearances during her second season. She added another goal and assist in the Summer Cup. Her three regular season goals would have tied her for fifth on a prolific scoring Current squad.

Andonovski sees her best spot at the nine but Hopkins can play wide as well. Hopkins will likely fight for that center forward spot with Nichelle Prince and Bia Zaneratto. When Bia was healthy last season, the Current were absolutely overwhelming on offense. Temwa Chawinga would combine and play off of Bia in lethal combination.

When Bia was sidelined for much of the season, Chawinga was still dangerous and won the Golder Boot and set records, but was more one dimensional than Andonovski would prefer.

Prince started to fill that center forward role late in the season after the Olympics but never quite filled the spot left by Bia.

With Bia, Prince, Hopkins, Mary Long and others, Andonovski will have the depth he needed last season to start and come off the bench.

Update on Bia:

“The pain is gone, the healing is done, now she is in the return to play protocol,’ Andonovski responded to questions about the Brazilian forward. “I think she is going to be in that for another week or so. Then she is going to go with High Performance and start building her fitness and stamina and hopefully join the team in two to three weeks.”

Bia celebrating | Credit: Thad Bell

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ar_jhawk

That gets them to 27, which I think is one too many, except they have 2 recovering from long term injuries (Pfeifer/Robinson). I did notice on the website that all the new players had been assigned jersey numbers – except for Mary Long. Maybe she is some type of development category that doesn’t count against the roster? Or maybe since she’s working for her dad’s company, she just counts as an intern?…

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