Orlando Pride signs 18 y/o Canadian forward Amanda Allen to three year deal

Just two weeks into their NWSL season, Orlando Pride bolstered their forward ranks on Monday, signing 18-year-old Canadian forward Amanda Allen to a three-year deal through 2025. 

Allen becomes the 17th Canadian on an NWSL roster this year, and a second on Orlando, joining new teammate Jordyn Listro. 

A native of Mississauga, Ontario, Allen joins Orlando directly from NDC Ontario’s development team, which is mainly comprised of Ontario’s top youth players, who compete against players several years older than them in League 1 Ontario.

Despite that, NDC was a force to be reckoned with in 2022, as they finished second in regular season play, before bringing home the title after cruising through the playoffs.

Allen was a big part of that, scoring 10 goals in 16 games, emerging as a key contributor for NDC as the season went along. As a result, many expected her to move onto big things at the University of Syracuse, where she was committed for the fall of 2023, while potentially remaining at League 1 Ontario over the offseason. 

Instead, she decided to make the leap to become a professional, a route not taken all that often by many top young Canadians in the past, with Jordyn Huitema standing out as the lone other exception over the last couple of years. Yet, with NWSL skewing younger in recent years, thanks to the aftermath of the Olivia Moultrie and Alyssa Thompson cases, Allen could be the first of many Canadians to follow a similar path. 

Now, Allen will now hope to break through for minutes with Orlando, as she looks to take advantage of this move, while also looking to crack Canada’s 2023 World Cup squad as an outside shot. 

Having made her senior debut last fall, after playing for the U17’s at the CONCACAF Championships and then World Cup, there’s no doubt that she has a chance, and her latest signing will only bolster her hopes, especially after she was called into Canada’s latest senior camp. 

Either way, there’s no doubt that she’ll be donning the Canadian shirt for years to come, so even if it doesn’t happen this summer, she’s definitely one to keep an eye on from a Canadian perspective as she adjusts to the new move.