Leave it to standout coach Laura Harvey to capture the sentiments swirling around NWSL and the U.S. women’s national team heading into 2018 without even setting out to capture them.
Harvey instead tried to process how she ended up as the coach of NWSL side Utah Royals, a team that didn’t even exist at the start of November. The former Seattle Reign coach planned on taking a job somewhere — U.S. Soccer and the English FA featured among the suitors — after leaving her last club. She just didn’t expect a trip to the Wasatch Mountains.
"It’s been a whirlwind for sure," Harvey told reporters. "Putting a surfboard on my car sums up where my mind was right then. A couple days later, I was on a plane to Salt Lake, and since then I feel like I’ve been back and forth a couple of times. Went to Portland to decide the uniform and training kit for the team. And I’ve been on the phone talking about how we can build the roster moving forward and make sure the players have everything they need when we get here."
Even in a time of personal upheaval, Harvey managed to carve out some sense of normalcy. Those moments occur more and more often in NWSL as the league sets its course toward the next stage in its evolution.
