Wellington Phoenix have signed American attacker Isabel Cox on an injury replacement contract for the remainder of the Liberty A-League season.
Cox joins Wellington only days after finishing her fifth season at the University of North Carolina (UNC), playing for the Tar Heels women’s football team that has won 21 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships, the fifth most of any sporting programme in NCAA division one history.
The 22-year-old’s arrival comes as a replacement for Grace Wisnewski, who ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) last month.
Cox played alongside England international Alessia Russo during her time at at UNC, and came close to winning the National Championship with the Tar Heels.
Featured image: Jeffrey Camarati/University of North Carolina Athletics.
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“I loved Chapel Hill,” she said.
“It was definitely a great four and a half years playing here. I wish I could have left with a national championship. We were really close. We made it to the final twice, the final four one year and the elite eight this past year.
“It was a really fun time and we won the ACC championship in my freshman year.
“I feel like I made really good connections with my teammates, and it’s definitely been a great experience.”
Her move to Wellington is her first foray into professional football and she’s looking forward to linking up with the squad next week after she sat her final test for her communications degree today.
“I’ve been watching highlights of the team and I think I’ll definitely be able to add a lot to this team and work with these players really well,” she said.
“I think the Phoenix fits my style of play a lot.
“I’m tall, I’m 5’10, and I like to think that I’m fast.
“I love to cross the ball in and find good seams to pass to people, but my favourite thing to do is get the ball, face up and take someone on 1 vs 1.”
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Cox decided to forgo the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) draft to sign with the Phoenix, becoming the latest player to join the A-Leagues straight out of the American college system, following the likes of Melbourne City’s Julia Grosso and former Sydney FC striker Madison Haley.
“I think more and more top college players are considering the A-League now,” Phoenix coach Paul Temple said.
“We saw it in the league last year with Madison Haley, where she wasn’t out of the NWSL and came from college, and did really well for Sydney FC and has now got a move to the WSL (Women’s Super League).
“Isabel’s been in a really good programme and quite possibly could have gone into the NWSL draft, but players are seeing that unless you’re one of the very top draft picks it’s hard to get minutes in the NWSL because of the quality of that league and the standard of the players in each squad.
“So, they’re looking at other opportunities overseas and the Americans look really kindly on the A-League and think this is a really good place to come.”
Cox has been on Wellington’s radar since pre-season and her arrival comes at the perfect time, with the ‘Nix also losing Chloe Knott and Marisa ven der Meer – with the latter also suffering a season ending knee injury on international duty.
“I really liked her straight away as a player and thought she’d be a great fit for our style of play, but at that point we’d just finished signing our squad, so we didn’t have any room,” Temple said.
“I went back to the agent and just said ‘can you keep me posted on her over the course of the season in the U.S. because you never know what might happen with injuries etc’.
“As fate would have it we’ve been able to now go back to her and bring her in because we need to bring some players in to replace Grace and Chloe [Knott] and now Marisa [van der Meer].”
Wellington return to action this Sunday, when they host Melbourne Victory at Porirua Park.
