This article started out as a follow up on the 2021 UWS National Champions, Santa Clarita Blue Heat. I thought this would be a basic follow up piece on some 2022 signings to preview their upcoming season. It turned into an eye popping out of the head jaw on the ground at this sleeper talent feeder for the NWSL and USWNT. Similar to most low division soccer teams social media mentions are some casual retweets of their alumni. Only the difference is their alumni retweets are doing NWSL and national team things. Another casual tweet was CONCACAF recognized them as a top 2021 club in their rankings.

Last season, covering the UWS championship final four teams, Elisabeth Schendel and I wrote preview pieces on each game. I wrote a brief article on the West Conference champions, Santa Clarita Blue Heat. It was hard to find much about this top tier team. They obviously had quality to go deep into the competition, but I wanted to know more. You had to dig to find information.

The list of current and former players starts to be a who’s who of soccer. You can’t follow women’s soccer without hearing about one of their alumni at an elite level.

Lauren Sesselmann, Santa Clarita Blue Heat, Green Bay, WI, defender, Purdue University, 12 yr Pro WPS/NWSL/Canadian National Team/Olympic Medalist/World Cup.

Signing, Nickolette Driesse is a Puerto Rican senior national team player who has call ups by the USYNT and is a former Orlando Pride player.

Savanah De Melo was selected fourth overall by Racing Lousiville in the 2022 NWSL draft. With USC she received All-Pac-12 honors four times, in 2018 was an All-American, Pac-12 Academic recognition three times. She was on the 2016 and 2018 U-20 World Cup squads in Papa New Guinea and France. She has also represented the U.S. at the U-14, U-15 and U-18 levels.

Hillary Beall numbered 285 saves and a 0.797 save percentage at University of Michigan. Beall, was named All-United Women’s Soccer Goalkeeper of the Year twice most recently in 2021 after helping SC Blue Heat to a UWS National Championship. Beall was a member of the U-19, U-17, and U-15 USYNT camps and events, most recently 2018 U-20 World Cup squad in France. Beall is currently on the Racing Louisville roster.

Emily Madril was selected 5th in the 2022 NWSL College draft by the Orlando Pride. She played 4,969 minutes in the backline of the Florida State Seminoles. She finished with 2021 ACC Defender of the Year award. She was on the U-23 USYNT training camp roster. Several articles state she was one of the best center backs in the nation last collegiate season. We should see her skill on the pitch this season.

Ashley Sanchez, who just scored her first senior goal against Uzbekistan with the USWNT while I was writing this, is no stranger to USYNT as she has been on U-14, U-15, U-17, U-20 rosters. She captained the United States at the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup and also played at the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup and the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. Sanchez, won the Golden Ball as the best player in the tournament at the 2016 CONCACAF U-17 Women’s Championships in Grenada and was also named to the Best XI. In 2016, Sanchez became the first player in United States history to play in multiple world cups in the same year. She plays with the NWSL national champions Washington Spirit. She was the fourth pick in the 2020 draft by the Spirit. In her first year she was awarded the ‘Young Player of the Year’ award by the club and the ‘2020 NWSL Challenge Cup Future Legend Award’ by the NWSL. She played collegiately for UCLA Bruins.

Tara McKeown was the eight pick by Washington Spirit in the 2021 College Draft. McKeown, a forward, drew the penalty in the 2021 NWSL championship game that led to tying it up before they went on to win it. USC was her college where she earned the fifth All-American first team selection in program history after being named to the United Soccer Coaches All-America first team, and to the Top Drawer Soccer Best XI first team. She became the first USC player to earn Pac-12 Forward of the Year honors and was named to the All-Pac-12 first team. She garnered All-Pacific Region first team honors and became the fifth Trojan to ever be named a semifinalist for the prestigious MAC Hermann Trophy, given each year to the top player in college soccer.

Viviana Villacorta played for the Blue Heat from 2016-2019, helping them to win the inaugural UWS National Championship. In her 2020 UCLA season Villacorta was named to the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch list in the preseason until she suffered a season-ending ACL injury. Villacorta was selected by Orlando in the first round of the 2021 NWSL Draft as the No. 9 overall selection. Starter for the USYNT at the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.

Peneolpe Hocking named to the United Soccer Coaches All-America first team as well as a Semifinalist for the Mac Hermann Trophy and Earned All-Pacific Region first team recognition while she was with USC. October 2021 she set a scoring record for USC with her 49th goal. Made her first cap for the U-20 USWNT in March 2018 in a friendly against France.

Evi Popadinova (Santa Clarita Blue Heat) recently signed with AaB Kind Elitefodbold in Denmark, marking her second go-round in the professional ranks. Popadinova, the four-time reigning Bulgarian Footballer of the Year, is returning to the pros for the first time since taking a break for college life in 2016. The Bulgarian National Team player previously played for Bristol Academy in The FA Women’s Super League (FA WSL) and London Bees in FA WSL 2. Evi dominated the college ranks – first at NAIA side Northwestern Ohio where she scored 36 goals in 44 matches; before nabbing back-to-back All-American honors at Florida Gulf Coast the previous two seasons. Popadinova played for SC Blue Heat from 2018-2019 in the UWS West Conference.

Yadira Toraya was also part of the 2016 inaugural Blue Heat UWS National championship team. In 2015, Toraya played in the pre-Season for the Houston Dash in the NWSL. On 22 July 2019, Toraya debuted for Club Tijuana from Liga MX Femenil and is still playing there today. In 2015, Toraya played her first match with the Mexico women's national football team, where she suited up and played against the United States on 17 May 2015 in an international friendly. Toraya was named the first Alternate for the 2015 Mexican woman’s world cup squad.

Deyna Castellanos isn’t playing in the NWSL like many of the other alumni, but she’s playing for Atletico Madrid and the Venezuelan Women’s National team. She won the Golden Boot at the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup with six goals and is currently the all-time leading goal scorer of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup with 11. 2017 FIFA The Best Finalist, she was the youngest player in history nominated. She took a selfie with Ronaldo at the awards. In 2021, at the age of 21, she was named captain of the Senior National team for the first time. After spending her three college years at Florida State, on 2 January 2020, Castellanos signed a two-year contract with the Spanish club, Atlético Madrid. She was awarded NCAA National Champion (2018). She has the best website.

And future stars in Gisele and Alyssa Thompson.

It was easy to find information on Alyssa Thompson the 2020-2021 Gatorade National Girls Soccer Player of the Year. Stanford commit. There were multiple posts with her recent honor.

USYNT player Giselle Thompson was called up to the U-17 WYNT World Cup Qualifying Roster for the end of April. Another call up for the U-16 in the UEFA Development Tournament.

2021 UWS National Champion and MVP of the championship game Lena Silano plays for Long Beach State University (LBSU) Women’s soccer. Ranked tied for fifth in the nation with six game-winning goals. Altered the LBSU single-season record books, ranking second in game-winning goals, third in shots, fifth in goals, and seventh in total points.

Olufolasade "Sade" Ayomide Danielle Adamolekun, is an American-born Jamaican footballer who plays as a forward or a midfielder for USC Trojans and the Jamaica women's national team. She had several call ups to the USYNT before she chose to play for the Jamaican national team. She was a key contributor to the 2021 UWS National Championship.

This list of players is not exhaustive. I didn’t want to bore you with roster bios. I could go on. The talent on this team seems to be unending.

What awards hasn’t the alumni of the Blue Heat won? They are racking up Olympic medals, goals, top draft picks, USNT roster spots, and National Championships. This women’s semi-pro team is a low-key development team that has fed the US National team and the NWSL some top players and moments. These names are popping up in my social media every time I open it up. Is this the unofficial feeder team for the NWSL and USNT?

This season how will they fare with key players graduating and moving on to NWSL teams? Will they be able to replace that talent? Has their reputation of national championships and path to pro made them a destination for California collegiate players during the summer? Should one of the new California teams (Angel City or San Diego Wave) lock them in as a partner and a tier two team before someone else does? Do they even need to recruit anymore or does top talent just drift to them?

- Danielle Gawronski