The NWSL has a new youngest goalscorer.
Washington Spirit midfielder Chloe Ricketts, who is just 16 years, two months, and six days old, scored in a 4-2 Challenge Cup win over NJ/NY Gotham FC, making her the youngest player to ever notch a goal in a competitive NWSL match.
“My little sister told me I had to score, so that’s what was going through my mind the whole time,” a grinning Ricketts told reporters at Audi Field. [Ashley] Hatch played a beautiful ball straight to my feet, so I could finish it easily.”
The goal capped off a wild game, with the Spirit falling 2-0 behind after just eight minutes, a 70-odd minute lightning delay, the return of veteran Tori Huster after a 629-day battle to come back from a torn Achilles, and Washington scoring three times in 15 second-half minutes to break out of a four-game winless streak in all competitions.
Ricketts shot home from an angle in the 70th minute after Hatch dished the ball her way, capping off a stunning Spirit comeback following the oddity of a long weather delay, a very abbreviated return to play before halftime, and then a second half played in rainy conditions on a sweltering night in the District.
“I don’t think she was good last week,” began Spirit head coach Mark Parsons when asked about Ricketts’ goal and overall play. “This week has been much better, and I think tonight’s performance was very good… She received one ball in the first half, and [Ali] Krieger was right there trying to steal it, and Chloe was like ‘I don’t care.'”
Ricketts’ goal came as the latest development in the NWSL’s youth movement. She was very briefly the league’s youngest-ever player before the San Diego Wave signed Melanie Barcenas, and her debut goal came around 11 hours after the North Carolina Courage announced the signing of U.S. Under-17 captain Riley Jackson.
NWSL introduced the Under-18 Entry List this winter, a mechanism which allows teams — provided they meet certain safeguarding requirements set by the league — to sign players who are under the age of 18 without having to pick them in the draft. Ricketts was the first player signed under those new rules, with Barcenas going pro less than two weeks later.
With the Spirit, Ricketts has seen her role increase as the season has gone on, starting four of the team’s five Challenge Cup matches. Earlier in July, she got her first regular season start in a 2-2 draw opposite Barcenas and San Diego.
“She can dribble and wriggle out of everything, and then, I mean she crushed some big players for Gotham tonight [in duels],” added Parsons. “Bravery in possession, she’s a menace out of possession. It was a good performance.”
The youngest player to score in NWSL league play remains another youngster, Portland Thorns playmaker Olivia Moultrie. In June 2022, Moultrie (aged 16 years, 8 months, 28 days) scored against the Houston Dash.
Watch Chloe Ricketts make NWSL history
.@ChloeRicketts89's first pro goal was PRETTY pic.twitter.com/KK4bjotgmX
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) July 29, 2023
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