SQUAD UPDATE | Saracens Mavericks

Saracens Mavericks can confirm that attacker Sophie Egbaran has joined the club for the remainder of the 2024 season.

The Goal Attacker was formally part of the Wasps pathway system and has since played for Central Warriors, where she was named U21 NPL Player of the Season in 2023, and Loughborough Lightning in the NPL.

She won a bronze medal with England at the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games and has recently been selected as part of the Future Roses programme for the first time.

Egbaran replaces Emma Thacker, who has been ruled out of the remainder of the season, having picked up an ankle injury.

Head Coach Camilla Buchanan expressed her disappointment that Thacker’s season had been curtailed by injury.

“We’re gutted for Emma. She’s had an amazing first season with us and we wanted her to continue the growth that she’s had. It’s not a huge injury, so she will hopefully be back for her England commitments in the summer. We wish her well and can’t wait to have her back on court with us.”

The Head Coach though is delighted to welcome Egbaran into the NSL squad for the remainder of the season, explaining that she will be returning to Loughborough at the conclusion of the season.

“We’re really excited to welcome Sophie into the squad. We’re grateful to Loughborough for working with us and allowing us to bring one of their U21s into our squad for the remainder of the season. She’ll be returning to Loughborough for their NPL tournament in the summer, but for us, we feel that this is a really forward-thinking way of bringing a young player through into the league. It’s a great way to bring some young talent into the NSL and having Sophie with us will strengthen our squad for the rest of the season. Sophie has been in training this week and has been fantastic. She takes on information really well and I’m excited to see what she can do for us in the last few games of the season.”