Norman North alum Ryan goes 6th in NWSL Draft
It didn't take long for Yazmeen Ryan to reach her dream destination.
Just four years after graduating from Norman North High School, Ryan is heading to the National Women's Soccer League.
Portland Thorns FC selected the midfielder out of TCU with the sixth pick in Wednesday's NWSL Draft.
"I just can't believe I'm going to be playing in the league I've always wanted to be in," Ryan said on the NWSL Draft broadcast. "I just can't express enough how excited I am."
Portland traded up to the sixth pick to get Ryan, sending Chicago the Nos. 7 and 32 picks and a 2021 international slot.
Portland Thorns coach Mark Parsons called the first hour of the draft "stressful" because he wanted to land Ryan with their first pick. It made for a nervous hour for Ryan, too, waiting to hear her name called.
"Portland was my No. 1, so I'm glad I was their No. 1," Ryan said. "It was a perfect match."
Ryan scored 19 goals and had 17 assists in 68 games across four seasons with the Horned Frogs. She made the All- Big 12 first team in 2018 and 2019.
"On the dribble," Parsons told the team's website, "she's special. She strikes the ball with both feet like someone I haven't seen in a while."
Ryan also was The Oklahoman's All- City
Player of the Year in 2017, scoring 38 goals as a senior while leading Norman North to the Class 6A state title game.
Ryan gives the Oklahoma City metro area three top-10 pro-soccer picks in the past year, following Edmond North's Daryl Dike and Heritage Hall's Garrett McLaughlin. Dike went fifth overall out of Virginia in the
2020 MLS SuperDraft to Orlando City SC and has already drawn praise from U.S. men's national team coach Gregg Berhalter. McLaughlin was selected eighth overall out of SMU by the Houston Dynamo and played with the USL's Rio Grande Valley FC in 2020.
North Carolina's Emily Fox was the first overall pick of Wednesday's
four- round draft, going to the expansion Racing Louisville team. Washington State's Trinity Rodman, the daughter of NBA legend Dennis Rodman, was selected No. 2 overall by the Washington Spirit.
Arkansas forward and Broken Arrow alum Parker Goins went 21st overall to Racing Louisville FC.