San Diego Wave acquire Katie Johnson, Makenzy Doniak, and Kelsey Turnbow

After a busy day of roster moves yesterday, the San Diego Wave continued to fill out that roster today. As the team prepare for both the NWSL Expansion, and Collegiate drafts, they have made it a point to not lean entirely on the draft to build their roster.

This morning, San Diego announced that they had once again made moves, this time with the Chicago Red Stars, to acquire three incredible talents. Mexican International, Katie Johnson, Makenzy Doniak, and Kelsey Turnbow all swap Chicago for sunny San Diego. All three players are listed as forwards, so this is a huge boon to the attack after the Wave spent most of the time until now, building up the defense.

“This is a deal that infuses our team with quality young talent and bolsters our attacking options,” said Wave FC President Jill Ellis. “Katie and Makenzy bring valuable NWSL seasoning to us, and Katie more so through her experiences on the international stage with Mexico. We hope Kelsey’s achievements at a top NCAA women’s soccer program such as Santa Clara translates to a promising professional career with us. We are excited to give Katie, Mankenzy and Kelsey fresh starts as pioneering members of Wave FC.”

“We are working with a blank canvas this season and this trade shows our desire to build an attacking team that values both experience and youth. I am a coach that believes in developing players and it is at the heart of everything we do and I am very much looking forward to working with Katie, Makenzy and Kelsey in our drive to create a team they relish being part of and one in which they have the platform to perform,” added Wave FC head coach Casey Stoney.

On the return, San Diego will send allocation money to Chicago Red Stars, but more importantly, the Red Stars will be protected from San Diego during the NWSL Expansion draft later this month. With other moves made today, that ensures Chicago Red Stars will be completely safe during the Expansion draft. For San Diego, this is a huge step in filling out their roster. They’ve worked out some attacking talent, defensive presence, and will be looking to round out the middle of the park, in the coming weeks. If the off-season has proven anything so far, it’s that San Diego aren't going to sit and wait, they are looking to compete from match day one in 2022.