NWSL Moves: Krieger shipped to Orlando

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Nov 3, 2016

Ali Krieger, who captained the Washington Spirit to the NWSL championship game, was traded to the Orlando Pride. The Spirit's piece of the deal was modest, to say the least.

It moved into second position in the Distribution Ranking, swapping places with the Pride, which moves down to the ninth spot. The Distribution Ranking is similar to MLS's Allocation Ranking as it's used to allocate American stars --  "Distribution-Eligible Individuals" -- though its value is minimal as most are already contracted with NWSL teams.

Krieger, who grew up in Northern Virginia, played all four NWSL seasons for the Spirit after returning from Europe. She was the first U.S. women's national team player back from the Rio Olympics after it prematurely exited in the quarterfinals and helped the Spirit take the lead in the NWSL.

The Spirit reached the final, where it was seconds away from winning the title before the Western New York Flash equalized in overtime and won the shootout.

Sources told the Washington Post's Steven Goff that Krieger's departures came player discontent with management and it was not clear who instigated the move.