The Transfer Portal Provides A OnE Stop Shopping Center For Coaches Who Seek To Fill A Gap With An Expereinced Player.
Hannah Bebar – Graduate Student – Midfielder – Duke – Bebar transfers to Duke from Harvard. She is among several highly regarded transfers who will join a Duke team under Robbie Church in 2024 that seeks to rebound from an uncharacteristic 6-7-3 overall record in 2023 that halted an eight-year streak of NCAA Tournament appearances and three consecutive seasons in which the Blue Devils advanced to the Elite Eight.
Bebar was a two-time United Soccer Coaches All-American at Harvard who will add playmaking ability to a Blue Devil team that managed a total of only 15 goals in 2023 with Kat Rader (7g, 2a), a 2022 and 2023 All-ACC Second Team selection, the only Duke player who scored more than two goals. Compare that to the 2022 Elite Eight team that put 45 in the back of the net with an attack that was powered by All-American Michelle Cooper (19g, 11a).
Bebar appeared in 47 games with 45 stars over a three-year span for the Crimson during which she scored 17 goals and contributed 25 assists including six goals and seven assists in 2023. Bebar was a three-time All-Ivy First Team selection and a member of the U-23 and U-20 Women’s National Team and participated in the 2018 U-17 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Ella Rogers – Senor – Midfielder – Arkansas –Rogers transfers from Xavier to Arkansas. She was a three-year starter at Xavier, a 2023 and 2021 All-Big East Second Team selection and the 2021 Big East Freshman of the Year. Rogers is a center midfielder who had eight goals and eight assists while at Xavier.
She was a key ingredient in a Xavier team that was 14-4-3 in 2023 and earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament for three consecutive seasons. Rogers is a talented box-to-box addition to a Razorback team that will be without the services of forward Anna Podogil, a four-time United Soccer Coaches All-American and All-SEC First Team selection as well as midfielder Bea Franklin, a 2023 United Soccer Coaches All-American and the SEC Midfielder of the Year.
Elin Hansson – Junior – Forward – Xavier – Hansson makes the transition to Xavier from D2 Lenoir-Rhyne where where she was the South Atlantic Conference Offensive Player of the Year in 2023 and 2022 with 16 goals and 12 assists in 2023 and ten goals and five assists in 2022. Hansson was named the D2CCA Southeast Player of the Year and a D2 All-American.
Dean Ward who was the head coach at Lenoir-Rhyne takes over the head coaching job at Xavier from Nate Lie who departed at the end of the 2023 season to become the head coach at the University of Kansas. Hansson has the potential to add an additional dimension to Xavier’s attack depending on her ability to transition to D1.
Emily Colton – Senior – Midfielder – Wake Forest – Coltan makes the short trek from Chapel Hill to Winston-Salem transferring from North Carolina to fellow Atlantic Coast Conference member Wake Forest. Colton was a stalwart three-year starter for the Tar Heels with 67 appearances and 67 starts with ten goals and eight assists. She will joint a Wake Forest squad that includes her twin sister midfielder Abbie Colton sister.
Emily, a U-20 Women’s Youth National Team member is a talented, soccer savvy, and experienced addition and a potential difference maker for a Demon Deacon side under head coach Tony da Luz that was 10-3-5 overall last year but was not awarded a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Wake Forest has earned a total of 22 invites to the NCAA Tournament with the most recent being the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
Jazmin Ferguson – Junior – Defender – LSU –Ferguson takes her game to Baton Rouge after two productive seasons at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina where she was a two-year starter at center back. Ferguson was the American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year in 2022 and an All-AAC Second Team selection. She was named the AAC-Co-Defensive Player of the Year and an All-Conference First Team member in 2023.
LSU head coach Sian Hudson stated, “Her (Ferguson) presence is felt in both 18-year boxes, as she is an incredible box defender, but also a goal threat at the other end of the pitch from set pieces.”
Ferguson is a solid addition to a Tiger backline that will be without captain and center back Maya Gordon who was a five-year starter with 86 appearances and 78 starts. Ferguson joins an LSU team that was 8-8-4 last year and has earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the past three seasons.
Ryan Campbell – Graduate Student – Goalkeeper – UCLA –In one of the more surprising transfers, Campbell departs Stanford to join the Bruins in 2024. Campbell was the starter in goal for the Cardinal in 2022 and 2023. .
As a junior in 2022 Campbell was an All-Pac-12 Third Team selection and United Soccer Coaches All-Region Third Team honoree allowing a total of only 11 goals with a goals against average of 0.549. As a senior In 2023 she was the Pac-12 Goalkeeper of the Year, a United Soccer Coaches All-Region First Team selection, and a College Soccer News Third Team All-American with 11 solo shutouts and a goals against average of 0.061 for a Cardinal team that was 16-1-4 overall.
Campbell gives UCLA an additional very composed, experienced, and talented shot stopper. UCLA is coming off an otherwise stellar season that came to an abrupt end in the first round of the NCAA Tournament when the number one seeded Bruins were upset by UC Irvine in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Sophia Green – Graduate Student – Forward – Oklahoma – Green transfers to the University of Oklahoma from Omaha where she was a four-year starter with 23 goals and 11 career assists with a Summit League leading ten goals and five assists in 2023.
Green was named to the 2023 United Soccer Coaches All-West Region First Team. She was the 2023 Summit League Offensive Player of the Year and an All-Summit League First Team member. Green was a 2022 All-Summit League Second Team selection.
Oklahoma head coach Matt Mott who will begin is second season as the Sooner head coach in 2024 stated, “We needed to add a center forward in the portal, and we have added a great one in Sophia. She proved herself as one of the best out of the Summit League and she is ready for the SEC.”
Green should help fill the void that exists due to the graduation of forwards Emma Hawkins who contributed 15 goals and 4 assists during two seasons at Oklahoma and Dani Wolfe (5g, 3a). Green will join a Sooners team that will move from the Big 12 Conference to the Southeastern Conference in 2024.
Meg Hughes – Graduate Student – Forward – Michigan State – Hughes transfers to Michigan State from Providence where she appeared in 70 contests with 61 starts with 23 goals and 13 assists over four seasons.
Hughes is coming off a 2023 season in which she was a United Soccer Coaches All-East Region Second Team selection and an All-Big East First Team member. She was also a 2022 All-Big Ten Second Team selection, a 2021 All-Big East First Team honoree and the 2020 Big East Freshman of the Year. Hughes completed her tenure in Providence among the program’s top-four all-time career leaders in scoring with 59 points.
Hughes will join a Michigan State team that returns midfielders Justina Gaynor (6g, 12a), the 2023 Big Ten Midfielder of the Year, Bella Najera (9g, 6a), the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Emerson Sargeant (4g, 6a), an All-Big Ten Second Team selection, Gabby Mueller (6g, 2a), Regan Dalton (0g, 5a) and forward Jordyn Wickes (7g, 0a). The Spartans will seek to build on a solid 2023 season in which they were 14-5-3 and advanced to the Third Round of the NCAA Tournament. Much will depend on their ability to fill the gaps that exist on the defensive side of the ball due to the departure of All-Big Ten First Team backs Celia Gaynor and Raegan Cox.
Leah Pirro – Junior – Midfielder – Texas A and M – Pirro departs Grand Canyon where she was a two-year starter with five goals and 18 assists including a two goal and 13 assist season in 2023 to join Texas A and M.
She was a 2023 All-Pacific Region Second Team selection and All-WAC First Team member who ranked fourth nationally in assists. Pirro was an All-WAC second team selection as a redshirt redshirt freshman in 2022.
Texas A and M head coach G Guerrieri stated, “Leah has been the most creative and one of the most dangerous players in the WAC the last couple of years.” He added, “Leah, who is an All-WAC First Team and All-Region caliber central midfielder, is well versed in playing the kind of sophisticated style we pride ourselves on at Texas A and M.”
Pirro will add an additional dimension to an Aggie midfield that includes senior Mia Pante, a three-year starter and 2023 All-SEC Second Team selection with seven career goals and 19 assists. Texas A and M was 10-8-4 last year and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament where they were edged 1-0 by eventual national champion Florida State.
Kelsey Oyler – Senior – Defender – Arkansas – Oyler transfers to Arkansas from Gonzaga where she was a three-year starter, a 2023 United Soccer Coaches and College Soccer News All-American, a First Team All-West Region selection, and was named to the All-WCC First Team. Oyler set new season (12) and career (21) assist records at Gonzaga in 2023.
She was a key ingredient on both sides of the ball for a Gonzaga team that was 14-3-2 overall, won the West Coast Conference title for the first time in program history, returned to the NCAA Tournament field for the first time since 2005, and won the program’s first ever NCAA Tournament game.
Oyler is a playmaker who should be a good fit and positive addition to an Arkansas team under head coach Colby Hale that has some gaps to fill due to departures but nonetheless should once again be very talented.
Caroline Kelly – Graduate Student – Forward – TCU – Kelly transfers to TCU from Saint Louis where she was a three-year starter with 31 career goals and 13 assists. She was a 2023 United Soccer Coaches All-Region Second Team member and an A-10 All-Conference First Team selection with 12 goals and five assists. In 2022 Kelly was a United Soccer Coaches All-Region First Team honoree, the A-10 Offensive Player of the Year, and an All-Conference First Team selection with 13 goals and six assists.
Kelly will join a TCU team under head coach Eric Bell that will seek to return to the NCAA Tournament field in 2024 after its streak of seven consecutive appearances was halted last year. Kelly is a goal scorer who will add an additional dimension to a Horned Frogs attack that will include junior forwards Seven Castain (7g, 1a) and AJ Hennessey (4g, 4a) and senior forward Camryn Lancaster (2g, 4a) among others. TCU has some big shoes to fill due to the departure of stalwart All-American and three-time All-Big 12 First Team midfielder Gracie Brian who was a five-year starter with 35 career goals and 27 career assists.
Farrah Walters – Junior – Forward – Duke – Walters makes the switch from the west coast to the east coast transferring from Santa Clara to Duke. She is part of a talented Blue Devil recruiting class that includes several veteran players like graduate students Ella Hase from Northwestern and midfielder Hannah Bebar from Harvard who should give Duke the additional firepower needed to rebound from an uncharacteristic 6-7-3 overall record in 2023.
Walters is a playmaker with the ability to score in multiples. She was a 2023 All-West Coast Conference First Team selection and Second Team All-West Region honoree with 11 goals including four multi-goal games and two assists. As a freshman in 2022 she was a WCC All-Freshman Team selection with five goals and four assists. Her resume also includes representing the United States on the U-20 Women’s National Team.
Picture from Harvard Athletics
