Carli Lloyd has worn sky blue colors before — with Manchester City. (Photo courtesy of Manchester City)
It’s official.
Sky Blue FC confirmed Friday morning what has been known since Thursday — a blockbuster trade that sent Sam Kerr to the Chicago Red Stars and broke Carli Lloyd back to her home state.
The New Jersey club acquired Lloyd, a two-time FIFA Women’s World Player, Canadian international Janine Beckie and Princeton University graduate Jen Hoy from the Red Stars.
Sky Blue FC acquired the sixth and 13th overall picks in the NWSL College Draft, which the club used to select defender Amandine Pierre-Louis and goalkeeper Casey Murphy Thursday. In the deal, Chicago received Kerr and midfielder Nikki Stanton, as well as the 15th pick in the draft.
Lloyd grew up in Delran, N.J., and played her college soccer at Rutgers University. She made her debut for the U.S. Women’s National Team in 2005, and she is now approaching 250 international caps and 100 international goals. Lloyd has been known to rise tallest on the grandest of stages, scoring the game-winning goal in the Gold Medal Match of both the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. She was also responsible for one of the most memorable performances in Women’s World Cup history when she registered a hat trick in the opening 16 minutes of the 2015 final against Japan. She finished the competition with six goals and received the Golden Ball as the best player of the tournament, which was the first Women’s World Cup championship for the USWNT since 1999. She capped off 2015 by being voted the Women’s World Player of the Year, again winning FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year honors in 2016. She was also voted the runner-up to the award in 2017.
A dual-citizen of Canada and the United States, Beckie spent the first three years of her life in Saskatchewan before moving to Colorado. She attended Texas Tech University and became the program’s all-time leading goal-scorer with 57 career goals. After playing with the Canadian Under-20 women’s national team, she made her debut for the Canada senior team in 2015. The eighth overall selection in the 2016
college draft, Beckie scored three goals in the 2016 Rio Olympics to help Canada earn the bronze medal. In two seasons with the Houston Dash, Beckie recorded five goals and three assists on 33 starts over 38 appearances.
Born in Pennsylvania, Hoy attended Princeton University in New Jersey and was selected by the Red Stars with the no. 25 overall pick in the 2013 NWSL College Draft. In five seasons with Chicago, she was one of the most consistent offensive performers for the club, tallying 15 goals and 10 assists on 51 starts over 72 matches played. Internationally, Hoy competed with the U.S. women’s national team at the U-23 level.
Kerr played her third season with Sky Blue FC in 2017 and was named the NWSL Most Valuable Player after scoring 17 goals and winning the 2017 Golden Boot. The Perth native was also named to the NWSL Best XI and became the league’s career goal leader (43).
A member of the Sky Blue FC reserve team in 2014, Stanton earned herself a professional contract with the full squad later that year. Over the past four NWSL seasons, she has made 20 starts and 41 appearances.