As we look to follow her through her rookie season in the NWSL, both with our words and her own, one trait that shines through with her is an unwavering self-confidence. My parents put me in a bunch of sports, but soccer stuck. During her time in England, she began playing soccer with boys, due to there being no girls team. When we moved back [to the States], soccer, it kind of stuck with me.
Playing with boys really helped my development early, to where when moving back, playing was natural, like a breeze. Throughout her college career, first at the University of Southern California, then at the University of Georgia, she has an ease on the ball that few possess in U.
She has often been regarded as one of the best young players in the country, and it was widely speculated that she would go high in the loaded NWSL Draft. I asked Bethune a bit about her feelings leading up to that night, where she was selected 3rd overall by the Washington Spirit, their first pick of the night.
Once drafted, Bethune was treated like a star signing, whisked away to do an interview with The Attacking Third, before rejoining the mixed zone to give an on the spot interview to multiple journalists. As one of those journalists, I can tell you this: she commanded the space like she had been a pro for several years. I asked Bethune if she felt pressure being such a high draft pick. If there is pressure, then pressure is a good thing. I love pressure, I eat it up!
This is who Croix Bethune is, and going into a team with a new coach, many new and young players, and a playing style unlike anything most Spirit players have seen, she will need every bit of that confidence, that self-belief, to make her way through her first professional season. Bethune is now well into her first weeks of preseason camp with the Spirit. The days are long and the environment is new, but she does know players on the team.
