“That night was so crazy,” said Samantha Coffey. “That week honestly was so crazy. I didn’t even know that being drafted was going to be a possibility probably until a week before, maybe not even a week before.”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Women’s Soccer League waived registration requirements for the 2021 NWSL Draft, meaning all Division-1 players who had exhausted three years of eligibility prior to the 2020-21 academic year could be drafted.
“Coach Erica [Dambach] here, our head coach at Penn State, the living legend herself, called up seniors and was just like, ‘hey guys, so there has been a little change in how the NWSL does things,’” said Coffey.