When he graduated, the WSL had merged with the east-coast based American Soccer League to form the American Professional Soccer League (APSL). After briefly flourishing in 1990, by 1991 the APSL had less than half the teams remaining from the 1990 season. When one of his college team mates suggested that Woodring pursue a professional career in stable European leagues rather than in the United States he left for Germany for a fall 1991 trial with SV Wiesbaden of the German third division. Woodring played through the 1991–92 season with Wiesbaden, where scouts from first division team Hamburger SV noticed him.