McCarthy & Soderstrom Earn First Team Accolades, Williams Garners Nod to Second Team
The USL W League today announced the members of its First and Second Teams of the Year following the league’s inaugural 2022 season, a group that includes three members of Indy Eleven’s Great Lakes Division title-winning squad. Defender Robyn McCarthy and forward Katie Soderstrom were two of the 11 players named to the league’s First Team, while forward Maddy Williams claimed a spot on the Second Team.
McCarthy was a mainstay on the Indy Eleven backline this summer, starting 12 of the squad’s 13 games and finishing second on the squad with 1,022 minutes played while also contributing a pair of assists. McCarthy switched seamlessly between the right back and center back positions, helping to spearhead a defensive united that posted six shutouts and allowed only nine goals all season, including only two games with multiple concessions. The native of Brentwood, Calif., finished her collegiate career at Fresno State last fall by earning the Mountain West Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year award.
Soderstrom was a menace for opposing defenses from start to finish across the 2022 campaign, as she capped the scoring in the Eleven’s historic 3-1 win in the W League’s Inaugural Match on May 6 and finished the regular season with a brace in a 3-0 win over Detroit City FC on July 9. The latter performance gave Soderstrom a team-leading 11 goals on the season (to go along with 1 assist), which when spread across her 902 minutes of action in 11 appearances gave her a 1.10 goals per game average. The Carmel native will return to Butler University this fall for her fifth and final year of eligibility, looking to build on an already impressive resume that include 28 goals and 24 assists, which rank her sixth and fourth, respectively, on the Bulldogs’ career charts.
After injuries derailed her professional career in Europe in recent years, the launch of the W League allowed Williams a successful return to the sport with Indiana’s Team in 2022. The 26-year-old striker appeared in all 13 matches and provided a veteran presence and ample leadership for the young and hungry Eleven squad, while her 10 goals and assist in 885 minutes of play provided an attacking 1-2 punch alongside Soderstrom that proved a handful for the opposition all season long. Williams made club history on June 10, as her three goal outburst during the middle of the first half earned her the first hat trick in the Eleven’s burgeoning W League history. After finishing her collegiate playing days in 2017 as Purdue University’s all-time leader in goals (38) and assists (26), Williams continued her career in Europe with Dutch side PSV Eindhoven (2018-19) and Spain’s Real Zaragoza (2019-20) before injuries and the COVID pandemic brought her back stateside.
To see the full 2022 USL W League Teams of the Year and learn more about the pre-professional women’s league growing the game across the United States, visit uslwleague.com.
To stay up to date on the latest news and notes surrounding the Eleven’s W League side throughout the offseason, including news this fall on impending tryouts, visit indyeleven.com/wleague.
