NWSL Flavors of the Week 2026

Season is coming up, a reminder of how domestics did last season. Since goals/assists are more quantifiable, it's offense oriented.

Last season:

US-eligible NWSL stat leaders
Goals:
10 - Sears (2nd yr)
8 - Tiernan (R), Moultrie (20 y.o.)
6 - Alyssa, Adames (2nd yr, 19 y.o.), Hatch, Hatch, Cooper (2nd year), Hocking
5 - Turner (2nd year), Rodman

Assists
League leader 6
6 - Rodriguez
5 - Schupansky (R), Mace, Gisele (2nd yr), Schlegel
4 - Staab, Malanson, Coffey,
3 Kennedy Fuller (2nd yr), Gareis, G. Thompson, Coffey, Cooper (2nd yr), Malonson, Conti, Graham (rookie), Demelo, Peterson, Dahlien

Goal contributions:
12 Sears (2nd yr)
9 Tiernan (R), Cooper (2nd yr), Moultrie
8 Alyssa, Dahlien (R)
7 Rodriguez, Fuller, Schlegel, Fuller, Ryan, Hocking, McCutchen
6 Turner, Schupansky, Conti, Graham, Staab, Rodman, Fisher, Giselle, Coffey, Malonson, Lavell, Shaw
5 Ascanio, Demelo, Flint, Patterson, Mace, Howell

On the Sofascore Player of the year rankings, It's who you would expect, except Flint and Howell were top 10.

Aside fro mthe obvious players, including all the returning players (including Hatch), I'll be interested to see how the young forwards who radiate talent (Tordin, Adames) will do. If Turner can become a top-level forward. The progress of Dahlien. Howell came on strong in the second half of the season. Can she cement her status. I was mesmerized by Hanks' talent. Can she come back? What does Tiernan do? Through the first half of the season, she was on pace to blow out the rookie scoring record, then nada. Hocking is a rising star, imo. If Kayla Fischer can get hold of her temper, she can be an excellent player in the league.
Can Giselle force her way into the Patterson-Fox competition at RB? How do the young CB's progress - Bugg, Wesley. Can Hershfeldt cut out the red cards and put her shots on frame? Can Schupansky build on her strong rookie season?

And, what rookies that I've never heard of will explode onto the scene?

 

US-eligibles in the first weekend:
Spirit: Hatch (is she back?), Hershfeldt (can she limit the yellows and keep her shots down?), Kingsbury, Krueger, Metayer, Rodman, Rudd, Sullivan (is she back?), Weisner
Spirit gets a solid A+ for US fan interest. A starter, three fighting for roster spots, a vet, a keeper, two returning from pregnancy.

Thorns: Hanks (will she be back this season?), Moultrie, Tordin & Turner (could be breakout seasons for them), Vignola, Wilson (when will she be back?), Weaver (is she back?) and 22 other rostered US-eligibles that I don't know anything about. A+ for US fan interest. Moultrie, 2 very good forwards that are on the verge, 3 outstanding forwards that are somewhere in the process of returning, and roster filled out w/ US-e's.

 

US-eligibles first weekend continued
Boston Legacy - Chloe Ricketts and a bunch of players I haven't heard of. With what looks like an import heavy roster. Grade from a US-e perspective: F
vs.
Gotham: Tierna (is she back?) Jaelynn Howell, Rose, McCaskill, Midge, Lily Reale (is she healthy?), Schupanski, Shaw, Sonnett, Stengel and a roster that is filled out with a ton of US-e's Grade: A+

KC: Cook, Croix, Cooper (healthy?), DiBernardo, Lobonta, Izzy, Sentnor, Sharples, Wheeler and lots of other US-e's Grade: A
vs.
Utah: McGlynn, Mozingo, Grade: D-

Bay: Dahlkamper, Dydasco, Hocking, Huff, Hutton, Lema, Malonson, Silkowitz. This is a tough one to grade, I'm going with B, because Hutton is a huge draw, and I am an inordinately big fan of Hocking, Dydasco, Malanson, and Silkowitz.
vs.
Denver: Gaetino, Oke, Carson Pickett. Grade; D Oke makes it interesting, but ....

Courage: Jackson, Sanchez, Schlegel Grade D Jackson makes it interesting, I'm a bigger proponent of Sanchez than anyone I've seen on the board. But, that's it.
vs.
Louisville: Bloomer (Sofascore's #1 rated US-e in NWSL), Demelo (is she healthy?), Fisher, Flint, Milliet, Sears. Grade: B+

Wave: Armstrong, Ascanio, Barcenas, Corley (is she team USA?), Wesley. Grade: B They get a youth boost. And, an intrigue boost as I don't know why Wesley is ahead of Armstrong with the WNT - no knock on Wesley.
vs.
Dash: Campbell, Colaprico, Patterson, Ryan Grade: B

Pride: Abello, Lemos, Mace, McCutcheon Grade: F
vs.
Reign: Adames, Biyendolo, Bugg, Dahlien, Fishel (is she back?), Dickey, Huerta, Menti, Meza Grade: A They get a big youth boost

ACFC: Anderson, Fuller, Gordon, King (is she back?), Leroux (she's still playing? One of my favorites), Sams, Shores, Giselle, Tiernan Grade: B+
vs.
Chicago: Gareis, Joseph, Naher, Staab, Swanson (when she returns) Grade B-, B+ when Mal returns.

Alright - that's it. I'm sure some new stars will emerge this season, that will change the grades. Looking forward to it. Going to be tough to keep track for the first month, as I'm very into March Madness, especially the women's.

And, these are just my opinions - I'm sure yours will be different. I was going to do this for myself, to track what matches I want to watch, and I figured that since I'm doing it, it wouldn't harm anyone to post it.

 

Both, I guess.

As I've said, my primary interest in NWSL is as a US fan. Not just the stars, NT players. I like to see US-e's making a living at soccer. Having careers. And, developing.

It's definitely not a science. But, I have a limited amount of time to watch sports. I'm not going to watch Legacy vs. Pride, or Pride vs. Utah. There are other matches that are muuuuuuuuch more interesting to me.

Again, it's jmo. I'm sure that there are inconsistencies in how I graded teams.

Feel free to ignore. The thread is pretty empty anyway.

 

Great info, thanks!

Re: Hocking, she and Fisher, to me, look like super skilled rising players. The US is loaded. There may never be a spot for them. But, if I were a foreign team scouting the US for bargains, I'd look at Hocking and Howell, and next year, if she can get through this season w/o losing her sht, Fisher.

I think Hocking and Fisher, if they can stay on the field, can get to 9 goals this season.

Also, since I'm spewing randomness - I think Fuller is very nearly a Hutton clone. imo, if you put her in the same places that Hutton is, you wouldn't tell much difference. But, AC has brought in at least one imported midfielder, so I hope Fuller doesn't get squeezed out.

My pick for a break out year would be Raelynn Turner. But, with Wilson coming back that's going to be tough for her.

 

Haven't been able to watch a match yet. But, Sentnor with a tremendous goal and Bethune with a very good goal for KC. Also of note: late in the game, KC brought in a 21 y.o. US-e rookie forward - Gianna Paul, and Utah brought in a 16 y.o. US-e forward - Kherrington Ream.

Also, I put Hocking on the wrong team in my US-e preview post. She's on KC.

 

someone needs to tell Sling that the NWSL matches aren't showing up on their ION schedule. The matches stream on ION, but they don't show in the schedule, making it a real pain to record. I failed prolifically yesterday.

 

Here's her goal Bay FC goal by Alex Pfeiffer against Denver Summit FC

And, her assist Bay FC goal by Joelle Anderson against Denver Summit FC

Dang. She changes the watch-worthy grade for Bay FC

 

So, above, I said I feel like Kennedy Fuller is at about the same talent level as Hutton, but worried about her getting playing time, as LA has imported midfielders. Worry no more, they moved her up to forward. Result, she got a peach of a goal, which she created on her own. And an assist on a corner. Nice start!

 

Week 1 FotW stats
Goals:
2 Sanchez
1 Pfeiffer
Fuller
Shores
Ratcliff
Anderson
Robbe
Milazzo
Weber
Bethune
(I love the fact that there are two 32 year old forwards on this list)
Assists:
1 Graham (she had a nice rookie)
Fuller
Sharples
Sears (that's nice. She just had a couple of assist all last season. definitely something to add to her game)
Tordin
Linnehan
Pfeiffer
McCutcheon
Goal contributions
2 Sanchez
Pfeiffer
Fuller

 

I don't have that problem with Sling. I don't love Sling, but it works well enough for me.

Ya, Tubi carries ION. But, I can't record it. (I love Tubi, btw).

I watched part of the LAFC match on Victory+. It's free. They don't have commercials, that I saw. I don't know how they make their money. But, dang, if they cache all the matches, I'm going to be watching a lot of Victory+. Thanks for the tip!

 

Sofascore US-e TotW:

------------------------------------Sentnor---------------Fuller
-----Sears--------------------------------------------Moultrie-------------------------------------Pfeiffer
--------------------------Sanchez

--------Vignola--------------------------------Milazzo---------Shores---------------Thompson

-----------------------------------------------------------Campbell

I tried to take them in order of the list, so that meant shoehorning some players in and a lineup that's not exactly practical.

If someone wants to give me help on what position Milazzo plays, I welcome it.

 

Thanks! I retract my posit that she could score 9 goals this season. She'll struggle to get on the field for KC.