{"id":26067,"date":"2020-02-14T12:58:38","date_gmt":"2020-02-14T17:58:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsoccer.com\/?p=26067"},"modified":"2020-02-17T10:08:36","modified_gmt":"2020-02-17T15:08:36","slug":"nwsl-sky-blue-re-signs-imani-dorsey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/2020\/02\/14\/nwsl-sky-blue-re-signs-imani-dorsey\/","title":{"rendered":"NWSL: Sky Blue re-signs Imani Dorsey, Reign FC bring back Barnes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Howell, New Jersey<\/strong> \u2014 Imani Dorsey began her <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsoccer.com\/category\/nwsl\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NWSL<\/a> career three years ago after being drafted by Sky Blue FC. Ever since, Dorsey has remained an impact player for the club. She has recorded 36 appearances and scored six goals in two seasons. Now, she&#8217;s staying in New Jersey for a third season.<\/p>\n<p>Dorsey and Sky Blue FC agreed to a one-year contract, with a potential option when the season ends. However, terms of the deal were not disclosed. Dorsey, who shifted into a more defensive role last season, will be coached by Freya Coombe.<\/p>\n<p>Coombe said she&#8217;s excited to work with Dorsey, an alum of Duke.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;She is a very talented player who is very driven and shares the ambitions of the club,&#8221; Coombe said, via a press release. &#8220;I am really looking forward to working with her in the upcoming season.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Sky Blue FC General Manager Alyse LaHue said that keeping Dorsey with the club was a priority in the offseason. LaHue has also re-signed Nahomi Kawasumi and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsoccer.com\/2020\/01\/13\/nwsl-weekend-mccall-zerboni-sky-blue\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">added McCall Zerboni<\/a> from the North Carolina Courage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cImani has had an incredible start to her pro career with the season and a half she\u2019s spent at Sky Blue,\u201d LaHue said. \u201cFrom her NWSL Rookie of the Year campaign in 2018 to now, we\u2019ve seen tremendous versatility and growth. She is the type of player you want to build your club around for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dorsey recently earned her first U.S. women&#8217;s national team call-up in November. Meanwhile, Dorsey was also part of Vlatko Andonovski&#8217;s Identification Camp for the national team in December.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Ready to goooo! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/kmsRYmuC8c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/kmsRYmuC8c<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Imani Dorsey (@Imdorsey96) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Imdorsey96\/status\/1228037523743662087?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 13, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Lauren Barnes re-signs with Reign FC<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Ever since the NWSL&#8217;s inception, Lauren Barnes has been an undeniable force in the league. Barnes has spent her entire NWSL career in the same place, too. The Seattle and Tacoma area has become her home, as Reign FC picked her up in 2013.<\/p>\n<p>Now, she&#8217;s staying for her eighth season on the Puget Sound.<\/p>\n<p>Barnes signed a one-year extension with Reign FC on Thursday. She has 149 regular-season appearances for the Reign, where she features at centerback. Bill Predmore, current Reign CEO, said that bringing Barnes back was a priority.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe has been one of the most consistent, reliable and accomplished defenders in the NWSL since its inception,&#8221; Predmore said. &#8220;Lu is a brilliant leader and truly great person. We are thrilled to have her back for the upcoming season.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Barnes said it&#8217;s an &#8220;honor&#8221; to play for the Reign.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe club strives to provide a culture where players can grow and reach their potential,&#8221; Barnes said. &#8220;I\u2019m proud to be a \u2018Reign original\u2019 back for my eighth season and can\u2019t wait to see what the 2020 version of the Reign can achieve. It\u2019s going to be an exciting year with <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsoccer.com\/2019\/12\/19\/nwsl-ol-groupe-reign-fc\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the addition of the OL Groupe<\/a> and our originals Bill and Teresa.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"vmgi1aG3SPJIzg6kwPBKQQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1185752245\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'vmgi1aG3SPJIzg6kwPBKQQ',sig:'RotGfEg5W3Qaj_LtuL-t2nbhctafEdpkWeVRwbzuhsU=',w:'594px',h:'425px',items:'1185752245',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Imani Dorsey is staying in New Jersey and Lauren Barnes is entering her eighth year with Reign FC, as the two players agreed to one-year contracts for the upcoming NWSL season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2497,"featured_media":26069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,353,2907,2908],"tags":[2411,1783,172,2796,730,1504],"class_list":["post-26067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-news","category-nwsl","category-ol-reign","category-sky-blue-fc","tag-imani-dorsey","tag-lauren-barnes","tag-nwsl","tag-reign-fc","tag-sky-blue-fc","tag-womens-soccer"],"modified_by":"Rachael Kriger, Senior Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2497"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}