With just two minutes left before the Portland Thorns had to announce the 12th pick at the National Women’s Soccer League draft in January 2023, Izzy D’Aquila ’22 heard her phone buzz and her future arrive.
Thanks to a text from Thorns coach Mike Norris, the uncertainty of the draft process ended a few minutes early, allowing D’Aquila to huddle with her family and quietly take it all in together. “It was a surreal moment. My parents were crying,” she says. “It was a lot of time and effort, and years spent working.”
D’Aquila graduated with a degree in biology in December 2022 and moved to Portland weeks after the January draft. “I couldn’t have asked for a better place to start my career,” she says, noting the Thorns celebrated their third championship win in 2022. “They’ve got that same championship culture we have at Santa Clara.”
So what does a rookie bring to a team that won it all? For D’Aquila, it’s goal scoring. The center forward was second in the nation goals in 2022 with 19 and says she plans to bring the “same tenacity” to Portland.
Perhaps more immediately, D’Aquila is focused on not taking anything for granted. “I don’t want to rely on everyone else to lift me up because I’m a rookie,” she says. “I want to do my part to make sure the practice environment is super competitive.”