Which stars switched cities, divisions, or teams ahead of the 2025 club season?
July 11, 2025 by Josh Katz in Analysis, Opinion
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The Line brings together lists of sevens from our reporting staff.
Which Club players suiting up for new teams this year could have the greatest impact on their respective division?
Despite his claims to the contrary, Barney Stinson had many rules, one of which was, “New is always better.” While I quibble with the “always” part of that statement, new players are generally more fun to discuss. As undeniably excellent as they are, there’s only so many ways to talk about how San Francisco Fury will use Anna Nazarov and Carolyn Finney, how Minneapolis Drag’n Thrust could deploy Erica Baken and Caleb Denecour, or what Pawel Janas and Nate Goff will bring to Chicago Machine. But with each new club season comes a new round of players changing teams, bringing about debates over fit and usage and which transfer could be the missing piece that puts a team over the top. With many elite players finding themselves in new homes this club season, I’ve outlined seven players putting on a new jersey that could end up defining the 2025 season.1
Liv Player (Boston Sprocket to Boston Brute Squad)
Has any player had a more meteoric rise in stock over the last calendar year than Liv Player? Last September, she came in 56th on our Mixed Division Top 25 Players Ranking, which certainly felt fair at the time. Since then, she has put out a DPOTY-caliber performance at Nationals, earned a tryout for the Team USA World Games team, crushed it at tryouts, and earned a spot as an alternate for the World Games. Now, she’s taking her talents to the Club Women’s division, in what might be my favorite transfer of the year. Player’s dogged defending and willingness to grind out long points is a perfect fit for Brute Squad — a famously defense-forward outfit — and she might be exactly what they need to get back to the summit of the division.
Devin Quinn (San Diego Wildfire to Boston Sprocket)
One elite WMP exits Sprocket, and another one enters. While not the most exact replacement stylistically, Sprocket could’ve done a lot worse than recruiting Devin Quinn back east to fill the Liv Player-sized hole in their lineup. Fresh off an appearance on the D-I OPOTY podium and a First Team All-American spot with UC Santa Barbara, Quinn should slide in perfectly onto an offense that was a bit too reliant on the heroics of Tannor Johnson-Go last year. Her dominance as a cutter will help keep Sprocket in flow, but the best part of this move will hopefully be watching Johnson-Go, Quinn, and Zach Singer run a dominator up and down the field.
Anders Juengst and Ben Dameron (Raleigh Ring of Fire to New York PoNY)
Two-for-one special here: once again, PoNY have, on paper, won the offseason with another slew of high profile additions. This time, the headliners are Anders Juengst and Ben Dameron, a pair of All-Club-caliber players moving up the East Coast. Juengst is an elite offensive weapon as a cutter, particularly in the red zone, where he has a particular knack for beating his matchup to the front cone. Dameron is the classic jack of all trades, master of none player, except he’s closer to master in just about everything. Expect the pair to feature heavily as PoNY aim to win their first title since 2018.
Lukas Ambrose (Seattle BFG to Portland Rhino Slam!)
Lukas Ambrose is on the move again, taking his talents down I-5 and joining the reigning champions. Many would classify his recruitment as the epitome of overkill: Rhino, who already had the best defensive unit in the division, are adding one of the best defensive players in the country in Ambrose. Last year’s UFA Defensive Player of the Year and first runner up for the Mixed DPOTY award will feel right at home on Rhino’s aggressive defense and should have ample opportunity to show off his trademark skill: hunting and getting blocks. If Rhino are to repeat as champions, Ambrose will have been a big reason why.
Sadie Jezierski (Seattle BFG to New York XIST)
A second BFG star is leaving the team after just one season, as Sadie Jezierski moves across the country to join up with New York XIST this summer. XIST have been right on the cusp of a championship in recent seasons, falling in semis in 2022 and 2023 before coming up short in a tight quarterfinal last fall. Jezierski just might be that missing piece New York needs to get over the hump, an extremely versatile player who could slot into any one of a number of different roles for XIST. On a team that already has plenty of star power, an elite connector like Jezierski could be the difference between another semis defeat and XIST’s first championship.
Mika Kurahashi (Vancouver Red Flag to Seattle BFG)
It’s impossible to offset the losses of Ambrose and Jezierski with just one addition, but if anyone could make that sort of impact, it’s Mika Kurahashi. BFG are the primary beneficiaries of Vancouver Red Flag folding, as they get to add the newly-minted college champion and POTY. BFG could stick her and Sam Rodenberg together on offense and leave opposing coaches staying up all night, trying to figure out how to properly contain two of the division’s most dominant cutters. Or they could slide Mika over to defense and let her chase blocks and eat up yards on the counter attack. Regardless of how BFG deploy her, Kurahashi is going to have an outsized impact on how far their season goes. She’s just that good.
Jesse Shofner (Nashville ‘Shine to Denver Molly Brown)
Rounding out this list is Jesse Shofner, the lone returnee of these players. After four years with ‘Shine, Shofner is going back to Denver and rejoining a Molly Brown team that, after a dominant championship performance in 2022, have struggled to reach those same highs in the two years since.2 While she may no longer have the same quickness3 that made her so lethal with Molly Brown in her first stint, Shofner remains one of the game’s smartest players, and she’s still more than capable of making an impact every time she steps on the field. Her expertise and presence alone will be invaluable for Molly Brown as they try to win their second title.
Shoutout to ultirzr.app for making it very easy to tell who’s new for any given team, an invaluable resource for those with bad memories for rosters, like myself. ↩
Not that it’s easy. ↩
Editor’s note: I am skeptical of this claim. Shofner looked awfully quick last season. ↩
