ALEXA BEN DRAFTED BY THE CHICAGO RED STARS IN THE NWSL DRAFT

Eclipse Select Alumna and Four-year starter at DePaul continues her playing career professionally with the Chicago Red Stars.

CHICAGO (Jan. 25, 2018) – Schaumburg native, Alexa Ben, became the fourth Eclipse Select alumna drafted to play in the National Women’s Soccer League and the ninth alumna to be picked up by the Chicago Red Stars. Ben was selected in the fourth round, 37th overall in the 2018 draft on Jan. 19.

“I am really excited to be staying home in Chicago where I can play in front of my family and friends,” Ben stated.  “The Red Stars have been the organization that I have supported and gone to games to watch for a long time now. Getting the opportunity to play for them is a dream come true!”

Ben joins fellow Eclipse alumnae Casey Short (2013, fifth pick – Boston Breakers), Vanessa DiBernardo (2014, 4th pick – Chicago Red Stars), Michele Dalton (2015, signed by Chicago Red Stars), and Sarah Gorden (2017, 22nd pick – Chicago Red Stars) as current members of Chicago Red Stars. Ben and Gorden were teammates at DePaul from 2014-15.

The midfielder began playing with the Eclipse Select Soccer Club back in 2012 and stayed with the club until she graduated high school and went on to play at DePaul in 2014.

When asked about joining the youth club six years ago, Ben explained “Rory Dames and some of the girls from Eclipse reached out to me and convinced me to try out. The talent and the girls who were already there really made the decision to play for the club a no-brainer.”

Ben will reunite with Rory Dames, Red Stars’ head coach, for the first time since playing for him at the youth club level. “I am very excited to keep Ben in Chicago,” Dames claimed. “Watching her develop as a player from her time with Eclipse and following her success through college has been a gratifying experience. She is a player that comes into the club with much to offer in the midfield and I look forward to seeing how her career unfolds in the NWSL and for the Chicago Red Stars.”

“Rory is a really smart coach,” Ben explained. “As a team, we were tactically prepared for every game we played in. He is also straightforward about what is needed to improve to get where I wanted to be as a player. He always knew how to get my game to turn around if I wasn’t playing well. I became mentally stronger playing for him and he always offered extra training which made me a better player in the long run.”

Ben leaves DePaul as one of the most decorated players in program history receiving almost every award possible during her career with the Blue Demons. She was the BIG EAST Freshman of the Year, BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year (2016), first-team All-Conference (2015, 2016), NSCAA All-Northeast Region (first team in 2016, second team in 2015, third team in 2014) and NSCAA All-American Third Team (2016), contributing to a BIG EAST tournament title in 2014 and regular-season title in 2016.  She was also tabbed to the 2016 NSCAA Scholar-Athlete All-America Second Team, 2016 NSCAA Scholar-Athlete All-Region First Team, and 2015 CoSIDA Academic All-District Second Team while being tabbed with BIG EAST All-Academic Team honors on three occasions.