Sky Blue re-signs Stanton; sends her on loan to Australia's Perth Glory

The Perth Glory isn't a farm team for the Sky Blue FC, although it might seem that way. Today, Nikki Stanton became the third Sky Blue FC player to join the Australian W-League during the National Women's Soccer League's (NWSL) off-season.

Stanton was re-signed by Sky blue FC and made the loan to Perth Glory official at the same time. She joins Australian internationals Sam Kerr and Caitlin Foord on Perth.  Both scored in the 2-1 victory over Melbourne Victory in the season-opener last weekend.

"Nikki really emerged when she joined our reserve team in 2014 and earned herself a professional contract," said assistant coach Christy Holly, in a press release. "She is the type of player who is always looking to do something extra when it comes to her development. She has continued to improve since originally joining our reserve team in 2014 and is now a key part of our full roster. The move to Australia will be very beneficial in Nikki's development, and we look forward to seeing how much she has grown when we open up our preseason camp in 2016."

The W-League concludes in January.

The move was Sky Blue FC's lone personnel move in a busy week otherwise for the NWSL. The league awarded its 10^th franchise to the Orlando before a blockbuster trade and roster moves brought United States national team stars Alex Morgan and Meghan Klingenberg to the new Florida franchise. Orlando also announced Tom Sermanni, a former coach of the US Women's National Team from 2012-2014, would be the head coach.

In addition, eight players - none from Sky Blue FC - were made available on the league's waiver wire as part of the Offseason Waiver Process.  The only player picked off the waiver list was Brittany Bock, who was picked up by the Chicago Red Star. Bock played the 2013 season with Sky Blue FC before being the first pick by Houston in the 2014 Expansion Draft. She suffered a knee injury in the Dash's first game and only made five appearances the last two years.

Seven other players officially notified the NWSL they were retiring and would not be part of the waiver process. The list included USWNT player Lauren Holiday, Stephanie Cox, German international Nadine Angerer and former Rutgers University assistant coach Karina LeBlanc.