Stephanie Soares, a Master’s University alumna, was selected fourth overall in the 2023 WNBA Draft on Monday night after years of playing college basketball. 

The Washington Mystics have recently picked The Master’s University (TMU) alumna Stephanie Soares early in ESPN’s broadcast before trading her to the Dallas Wings. 

“What an incredible story the Lord has orchestrated in Stephanie’s life,” said TMU Women’s Basketball Head Coach Lisa Zamroz. “We could not be more excited for what she has accomplished. She is an overcomer in every sense of the word. We are so proud to have Stephanie as an alum of this program. We can’t wait to see her shining the light of Christ in the WNBA.”

Soares is the second TMU alumnae to be selected in the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBA) following Erin Perperoglou (Buescher) who went 23rd overall in 2001. 

Soares is expected to miss the 2023 WNBA season due to the ACL injury she suffered as a graduate transfer this past season, according to officials. 

“The rehab is going really well,” Soares told ESPN. “[The] pure excitement of going to Washington but now getting to go to Dallas, I mean, it’s going to be a great, great next step to the journey.”

During her time at TMU, Soares was a two-time National Association Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Player of the Year who led the Mustangs to the national quarterfinals in 2019 and 2022. 

Soares came to TMU as a nationally recognized recruit before the 2018-19 season and in her first year she led the NAIA in blocked shots and rebounds and was a first-team NAIA All-American and Golden State Athletic Conference Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. 

In all, she earned each of those honors three times as a Mustang between 2018 – 22 and was also the NAIA Player of the Year in 2019 – 20 and 2021- 22 but missed the 2020 – 21 season due to an injury, added officials. 

For her career, Soares ranks near the top of TMU’s record book in scoring average (tied-first), rebounds (first), blocked shots (first), total points (second), and field goal percentage (second). 

Her 450 career blocks are 257 ahead of TMU’s next-best individual career total.

While no other alumnae have ever been drafted as high as Soares in any American professional sports league, the previous benchmark was set by Mark Redman – who briefly played baseball at TMU before transferring to the University of Oklahoma. 

Redman went 13th overall to the Minnesota Twins in the 1995 MLB Draft. 

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