ALUMNAE SHINE AS 2026 WPSL INTERNATIONAL COMBINE WRAPS-UP

 

By WPSL Communications Staff

 

PINEVILLE, N.C. — The WPSL International Combine wrapped up Wednesday at OrthoCarolina Sportsplex outside of Charlotte, home of Women’s Football Club of Charlotte. 

 

Current and former WPSL standouts made up the majority of the 35-player pool that took part in training sessions and matches for scouts from Europe and the United States. 

 

Sophia Cucchetti (in blue) dribbles past Maya Askew (Photo by WPSL Communications Staff) 

 

After two long days of soccer, players fought through considerable fatigue and niggling injuries to make one final impression in the final match of the combine Wednesday morning. 

 

Early in the match, Red team forwards, Natalie Mangayi and Sedina Dancu, a standout forward the Jacksonville Armada FC in 2025, forced a turnover deep in the offensive third, forcing 2025 All-Pioneer Division Honorable Mention goalkeeper, Laia Roch Font, off her line. Roch Font’s pressure forced a shot by Dancu that smacked squarely off the crossbar. Mangayi’s pressured follow-up went just wide. 

 

Natalie Mangayi (in red) escapes defensive pressure Photo by WPSL Communications Staff) 

 

After absorbing pressure from the Red team for the first quarter of an hour, the Blue team struck first on a counter. FC Dayton midfielder, Sophia Cucchetti, forced a close-range save from WPSL alumnae goalkeeper, Autumn Scanlon. Forward Leila Smith, who, at just 14-years-old, made two starts in four appearances in WPSL play for TLH Reckoning last season, poked the ball in for her first goal of the combine to put the Blue side up 1-0 in the 19th minute. 

 

Just before the final whistle, Smith helped make it 2-0 for the Blue team with some deft one-on-one dribbling, skinning her defender in the corner before getting off a cross that deflected off a Red defender in for an own goal. 

 

Following Wednesday’s match, Cucchetti, a 21-year-old midfielder who played the past two season in the WPSL for FC Dayton and stared collegiately at Cleveland State University, and Mangayi, a 23-year-old product of the Real Colorado, Seattle Reigh, and ISC Gunners youth programs, were offered opportunities to embark on their professional playing careers in Spain by Malaga FC scout, Maria Flores Tome. 

 

Both Cucchetti and Mangayi stood out over the three-day combine. Cucchetti, who demonstrated the ability to dictate the pace and direction of play from her place in the center of the park, earned plaudits from the scouts for her calmness on the ball and ability to find teammates despite her unfamiliarity with their movements and preferences. Mangayi’s pace and physical prowess was demonstrated throughout the combine. She accounted for the opening goal of the combine, a brilliant individual effort from just past the midfield line, outpacing her defender on the dribble before deftly putting the ball past an onrushing goalkeeper, and contributed to at least two other goals with her ability to pressure defenders into mistakes on the ball. 

 

Profiles of all players attending the combine, which includes detailed individual video analysis of their performance in each of the three games, will be sent to scouts in Europe as clubs look to strengthen rosters for the 2026-27 season. 

 

Red: Hayleigh Lewis, Lailah Benz, Samantha Holsenbeck, Jasmin Salinas, Mijara Robinson, Sedina Dancu, Sophia Barrientos, Maya Askew, Miranda Carrasco, Natalie Mangayi, Celina Pinelli. Subs: Katie Reyes, Abygail Giles, Bianca Torres, I’Mani Dawkins, Autumn Scanlon, Adriana Torres

 

Blue: Mikayla Kendall, Ryan Jergovich, Shannon Studer, Mazzy Cirinelli, Mystique Ortega, Soraya Puerto-Khalil, Brianna Morris, Kira Gelles, Gabriella Capra, Sophia Cucchetti, Makinna Winterton. Subs: Laia Roch Font, Leila Smith, Natalie Zibinskas, Bailie Dull, Evan Whitaker