Reign Acquire Foxhoven, Send McDonald And Moros Rights To Thorns

The Seattle Reign's epic offseason roster rebuild shows no signs of slowing down. Just a week after picking up Sydney Leroux and Kim Little, the team has finalized a trade with the Portland Thorns that sends Jessica McDonald and the NWSL rights to fullback Rebecca Moros — who currently plays in Japan — down south in exchange for forward Danielle Foxhoven.

Foxhoven, who's a University of Portland graduate, was Portland's second discovery signing in preseason, but spent much of last season stuck on the Thorns depth chart behind world class forwards Alex Morgan and Christine Sinclair. She managed to work her way onto the starting roster toward the end of the season with 10 consecutive starts to end the year — first as part of a three-forward set with Sinclair and Morgan and then in a pairing with Sinclair while Morgan was out with a knee injury. That stretch included starts in the Thorns' two playoff games, and it means the Reign now have two of the Thorns' starters from their victorious NWSL championship match ‐ the other being defender Nikki Marshall, who was acquired from the Washington Spirit earlier in the offseason after being waived by Portland. Foxhoven finished the season with 4 goals, which would have been tied for second on the Reign — with fewer minutes played than either of Megan Rapinoe or Jess Fishlock, the Reign goal-scoring leaders.

Setting aside Moros' rights, this is essentially a swap of forwards. McDonald was signed by Seattle in midseason after being waived by the Chicago Red Stars with the hope that she could be the answer at center forward, a position the team struggled to get production from all season. She ended the season with 3 goals, but didn't stand out as the answer to either the forward or the winger positions.

With Leroux expected to own the forward spot in Seattle's lineup, you'd have to expect that Foxhoven's playing time will primarily come on the wing. . especially given that the team just lost Christine Nairn in the deal to get Little and won't have Rapinoe for the first half of the season. Then again, who knows what the roster will look like in a few weeks, much less at the beginning of the 2014 season.

Moros is a seven year pro who played for 4 different WPS teams and has spent the last two seasons playing for Japanese side INAC Kobe Leonessa. I haven't seen any indications she intends to come back stateside, but presumably the Thorns know something if they wanted her rights.

Bonus Reign Update: In other news, the team announced this week that they've signed Lauren Barnes (the reigning Sounder at Heart Defender of the Year), Kirsten Dallstream, and local favorite Kate Deines through the 2014 season with club options for 2015.