The Newcastle Jets have completed their A-League Women's roster with the acquisition of Chicago Red Stars forward Sarah Griffith.
The 23-year-old is the fourth United States player signed by Newcastle as they target a return to finals in the 2022-23 season.
She joins defenders Cannon Clough and Emily Garnier among the Jets' 17 contracted players as well as former college star and versatile attacker Murphy Agnew, who has experience playing in Iceland.
Griffith was drafted for her rookie NWSL campaign this year by the Red Stars from Purdue University and held multiple records for the Boilermakers, including most goals in a season and scoring in the most consecutive games with a run of eight goals in a seven-game stretch.
She featured in 19 games for Chicago in the 2022 NWSL, which has just concluded, starting in six and scoring twice.
Scoring has been an issue for the Jets in the past few seasons. They had the third-worst attacking record of 15 last campaign.
Newcastle started the season strongly only to finish eighth with 10 points from 14 outings.
But coach Ash Wilson will be hopeful the additions of Agnew and Griffith can help spark the Jets attack. The club has only featured in A-League Women's finals twice and not since 2017-18.
"I'm excited for Sarah to be finally joining our squad," Wilson said.
"Her attitude, work ethic and quality with the ball were key aspects we looked at when deciding she was someone we really wanted to bring into our environment.
"Sarah is a player who is hard-working, versatile and has a capacity to score goals."
Newcastle's all-time leading women's scorer Tara Andrews has been re-signed along with attacking players Lauren Allan and Ash Brodigan.
The Jets have handed Maitland strike weapon Sophie Stapleford her first ALW contract and this year's NPLW NNSW leading scorer and player of the year Adriana Konjarski has earned a national league recall.
Wilson is hoping to capitalise on the attacking combinations of Konjarski, Allan, Andrews and midfielder Cassidy Davis, who were pivotal in Warners Bay securing the NPLW NNSW premiership and championship this year.
"The combinations there were quite evident," Wilson said.
"I was watching a lot of those last games in the NPLW season so you could see that, and definitely at training you can see there's that little bit of familiarity with those girls as well.
"Obviously, it's a different level and we're putting some different people into the mix as well."
The Jets open their campaign against Brisbane away on November 19.
They play Western Sydney in a trial game this Saturday then have a final pre-season hit-out against Sydney FC on November 12.
