San Diego Wave forward Melanie Barcenas, 15, became the youngest player to appear in an NWSL game Saturday against the Orlando Pride. Here’s what you need to know:
- Barcenas entered the game as a substitute in the 72nd minute. The Wave lost the game 3-1.
- The San Diego native signed a three-year deal with the Wave in March at 15 years and 138 days old, becoming the youngest contracted player ever in the league. She signed via the NWSL’s new under-18 entry mechanism.
- The 5-foot-4 Barcenas played youth soccer with the San Diego Surf and has been called up to multiple U.S. women’s youth national teams. She recently joined the under-17 squad for games against England.
Melanie Barcenas making her NWSL debut.
The youngest player in NWSL history! pic.twitter.com/Bc6H9lOXzK
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) April 30, 2023
The Athletic’s instant analysis:
How did Barcenas look?
Barcenas subbed on in the 72′ while the Wave were still down 3-1 to the Pride. It was as good a vote of confidence that any player could get from coach Casey Stoney, let alone a 15-year-old. Barcenas came on as a forward and occupied the right half space looking to support Amirah Ali and Jaedyn Shaw in the box. She immediately faced up multiple players one-on-one, although Orlando defenders grew savvy to her predilection for stepovers fairly quickly. But Barcenas didn’t look overawed by the occasion, playing in front of a loud home crowd of 16,225 at Snapdragon Stadium. — Yang
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What they’re saying
Stoney said she had been “wanting to get (Barcenas) on for a little while,” but that Barcenas had been dealing with an illness.
“I thought tonight was the night where we needed a little bit more quality on the ball, maybe a bit of creativity, and I felt she brought that,” Stoney said.
“(Her creativity) is what we see every day, so I wasn’t surprised,” Stoney added. “It’s a big stage to go on in and it’s not ideal that she goes in when we’re losing. I would have liked her to have made her debut when we were winning. But I think that’s shown that I think she can get us back into the game. So that shows the value that we put in her.
“She’s creative. She’s an exceptional talent. She’s obviously still only 15 so we need to look after her. She’s still got lots of lessons to learn. … But I think she’s going to be a player that’s going to get people off their seats and a player that people will want to come watch.”
Backstory
Barcenas was younger at signing than the Washington Spirit’s Chloe Ricketts, who was the prior youngest player when she signed in early March. Ricketts, in turn, was three days younger than the Portland Thorns’ Olivia Moultrie was when she signed almost two years ago.
Moultrie debuted in 2021 following a successful battle against the league where she won the right to play. The midfielder had trained with the Thorns since turning professional with a nine-year endorsement deal with Nike at the age of 13.
Required reading
(Photo: Kiyoshi Mio / USA Today)
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