Vancouver Rise sell Canadian forward Holly Ward to NWSL's Seattle Reign

Forward Holly Ward, who scored the winning goal for the Vancouver Rise in the inaugural Northern Super League championship game, has been sold to the National Women's Soccer League's Seattle Reign.

It's been a rapid rise for the 22-year-old from Vancouver, who made her senior debut for Canada last April against Argentina and now has nine caps to her credit. Ward only wrapped up her collegiate career with the University of Texas in November 2024.

"I almost living day by day because new things are happening and they're all exciting things. But they're still new and they're still big deals for me," Ward said in an interview. "Whirlwind is a good way to describe it."

"I'm accomplishing my dreams," she added. "So it's what I want to be doing."

On Thursday, Seattle sold Canadian international forward Jordyn Huitema to the Chicago Stars for $200,000 US in allocation money and a $300,000 transfer fee.

"Holly Ward is an exciting young forward with tremendous upside and a mentality that fits exactly what we're building at Seattle Reign FC," Seattle GM Lesle Gallimore said in a statement.  "She's already shown her ability to impact games with her pace, work rate and creativity in the attacking third, and her rise with the Canadian national team speaks to the quality and potential she brings to our club."

“We're thrilled to welcome Holly to Reign FC and look forward to supporting her continued development while she helps strengthen our team and compete for championships."

Ward scores the winning goal to lead Rise to 1st-ever NSL title

Ward joins fellow Canadian international Emma Regan, a close friend, in making the jump from the NSL to NWSL. The former AFC Toronto midfielder was sold to Denver Summit FC, one of two NWSL expansion