Reign FC acquires rights to Arianna Romero and Veronica Perez in NWSL Distribution Draft
The National Women’s Soccer League held its Distribution Draft this morning via teleconference with the member teams. Seattle Reign FC made the only two selections in the draft, acquiring the NWSL rights to defender Arianna Romero with the eighth pick in the first round and Midfielder Veronica Perez with the the first and only pick of the second round.
Per NWSL rules, the NWSL rights to both players will be held by Reign FC until the start of the 2017 preseason.
Each of the other nine NWSL clubs elected to not make selections in the Distribution Draft.
Romero, who was originally allocated to Seattle Reign FC in January 2014, was then selected seventh overall by the Dash in the 2014 NWSL Expansion Draft. She appeared in 21 matches for Houston, starting 19 and logging 1,765 minutes.
On December 2, 2014, Houston traded Romero to the Washington Spirit for defender Niki Cross. Romero did not play in the NWSL during the 2015 season.
The Glendale, Ariz. native played 44 minutes for the Mexico women’s national team in the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup substituting after halftime during the 0–5 loss to France on June 17, 2015 during the group stage. The 23-year-old currently has 31 caps and one international goal for Mexico.
Romero is currently playing in Iceland for Icelandic club IBV.
Perez, 27, played for the University of Washington from 2006 to 2009. She twice racked up All-Pac-10 second team honors during her college career. During her tenure as a Husky, Perez logged 83 games (70 starts), scoring 21 goals on 194 shots, dishing 11 assists. She is fourth all time in Husky History with eight game winning goals.
Perez, who holds a dual-citizenship, played for the Mexican national team as well as the U.S. Under-23 Women’s National Team. She scored the game winning goal against the United States for Mexico in a CONCACAF world cup qualifying match in November of 2010. She went on to represent Mexico at the FIFA World Cup in Germany in 2011.
Perez also played for Seattle Sounders Women from 2009 to 2012 and was allocated to the NWSL in 2013 to play for the Western New York Flash. In 2014, she was traded to the Washington Spirit where she played 16 games, scored six goals, and played 657 minutes. Perez did not take the field for the Spirit during the 2015 season. She has also taken to the pitch for Saint Louis Athletica and Stjarnan Women in Iceland. Perez signed with KIF Örebro DFF of Sweden’s Damallsvenskan in January of this year.
Arianna “Ari” Romero
Position: DEF
Height: 5’3”
Born: 7/29/1992
Hometown: Glendale, AZ
College: Nebraska
Last Club: Washington Spirit
Veronica Perez
Position: MID
Height: 5’2”
Born: 5/18/1988
Hometown: San Mateo, Calif.
College: University of Washington
Last Club: KIF Örebro DFF
Reign FC will close out a preseason tournament on Saturday April 2, when they take on Oregon State University at 2:30 p.m. PT at Providence Park in Portland, Ore. The team defeated Portland Thorns FC 2–0 on Sunday, March 27 and thwarted the Houston Dash 2–0 on Wednesday, March 30.
The team then returns to Memorial Stadium for their final pre-season appearance in 2016 as they take on the University of Washington Huskies on Saturday, April 9 at 7 p.m. PT.
Reign FC 2016 home-opener against Sky Blue FC is on Sunday, April 17 at 4 p.m. PT at Memorial Stadium. Tickets are on sale right now at Reignfc.com/tickets. Seats start at just $18.
