SoccerWise - NWSL Soccerwise | Who's Making Their Case for NWSL's Top Awards?

Episode Date: August 11, 2026

The NWSL delivered another wild weekend, with North Carolina and Portland both giving up three-goal leads and Gotham grinding out a 1-0 win over San Diego. David Gass and Jordan Angeli break down what stood out from the weekend. Then they discuss who is in the conversation for the awards at the midseason point, including Rookie, Defender, Goalkeeper, Midfielder and Coach of the Year. Plus, breaking news during the show: Olivia Moultrie is out for the season with a torn ACL. What does that mean for Moultrie, Portland and the rest of the 2026 season?0:00 Intro & Weekend Goal Fest4:04 Ted Lasso Takes, Temwa Chawinga & WAFCON9:03 North Carolina's Wild Comeback18:29 Portland's Explosive Start 22:28 Gotham Grinds Out a Win Over San Diego26:08 Debinha Makes NWSL History30:09 Goalkeeper of the Year32:26 Defender of the Year36:48 Rookie of the Year39:39 Midfielder of the Year44:22 MVP46:16 BREAKING: Olivia Moultrie Out for the Season51:29 Golden Boot & Coach of the Year👍 Like • Subscribe • Listen • Follow🎧 Listen & follow Soccerwise on your favorite podcast app:https://soccerwise.captivate.fm/🎥 Watch full video episodes on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@SoccerwiseHQ🌐 Visit Kickback Soccer for more podcasts, news, and coverage:https://kickbacksoccer.com📰 Subscribe to The Kickback newsletter:https://the-kickback.ghost.io📲 Follow Soccerwise on social media:Instagram: SWWomenFC https://www.instagram.com/swwomenfcBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/soccerwisehq.bsky.social

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Soccer. David Goss and Jordan Landjali with you for another big NWSL show. We had goals galore this weekend. We have a couple World Cup teams now coming out of Africa. We've got some big time mid-season awards to give away as we start to look towards the end of the season and the best performers in the league. But of course, it's the most dangerous time of the show because the opening 15 minutes as we learned this weekend. That's when people score goals. Not just one, not just two, mostly three goals.

Like if you're going to score, you're going to score them all, and it's going to be at the beginning. Because that's what happens at NWSL. There have been, I would say, Goss, this year, we have had some of the wackiest weekends that we've ever seen in this league. And I think part of that is because we have better attackers than we've ever ever had, but also I think some of these teams, I don't know.

I'm like, what is going on that we'll have four to three games on a regular basis? Good for the fans. I don't think coaches are very happy, but the fans got to love it. At the end of the show, we are going to pick our midseason awards. We are trying to do defenders and goalkeepers in that, and it got a lot harder when everyone has conceded like a thousand goals. Have you played in games where you were up 30 or 40? Oh, man. I remember a game where I was not up 3-0 or 4.

It was the other way around. It feels hopeless on that side. But on the flip side, and some of this is, with all the games happening at the same time, I go back and watch some games. So I already know maybe, and that changes it. But it felt like for Portland and for North Carolina, it's like they went up 3-0.

And then the rest of the game was played as if it was assumed they were going to concede the lead and it was like they were just kind of like waiting to do it. Like it just felt like a very odd energy for the teams that were ahead. And I understand for behind you feel like it's helpless. But for ahead, it just felt like the teams weren't really sure what they wanted to do. Whereas opposed to a couple weeks ago, I think it was midweeking, we saw Kansas City play Louisville. And they were like, all right, three, okay, four, okay, five. We're just going to keep scoring, which I would feel like that would be the mindset because you would think everything is just going to

go in if you score that many goals that quickly. And a four to two half time score, you don't really think that that's going to get any closer than it was in that Portland, Boston game. But somehow, some way it did. And it's a weird thing, Goss, because I'm kind of here for it. I want this league to continue to grow in all the ways it can. And sometimes entertainment is valued as this, right? The most goals that you can get. As we then hook people in, will they also value the games that are one to nothing like we saw this weekend? That was also a really fun game. I hope so, but, and I think that that is kind of the juxtaposition of this league. You can have entertainment in a four to three game and you can have entertainment in a one to nothing game. You just have to be

willing to appreciate the nuances of this. And so NWSL is giving you at all. It really is. You mentioned that Gotham, San Diego 1-0 win for Gotham on Friday night was I wrote down the most entertaining 1-0 game I can remember. There was chances left and right. The opening 20, 30 minutes were phenomenal end-to-end soccer. Posts were hit. Opportunities were missed. And yet in the end, someone looks at the scoreboard and they go, oh, 1-0 game. Like, not much to see here.

And it's like not true at all. But then on the flip side, if you leave a 4-3 game, I think you could tell people like, yeah, we saw it. entertaining one. We saw a pretty wild one. We're going to talk about that. We're going to do our awards. We will get you set for the weekend to come as well. In the mention of entertainment, though, I forgot to say this to you before we started. Have you watched Ted Lassau yet? What's the right answer here? The truth or I have. I watched it. I have not watched it. I have not watched it. Okay. Do you watch the show in general? I watched the first two seasons. Honestly, I did not watch season three. I didn't really like season two.

Sorry, going to say. Didn't like season. Loved season one. Didn't like season two. Have not watched season three, want to watch season four, obviously, because of the women soccer ties. It is, I think it is slightly overrated. And like people are like, it's the greatest TV show of all time.

But I watched it. I binge watched the first season because I hadn't watched it live, which I enjoy binge watching TV. So like, if I don't have to wait week to week, I almost fell off in season three because that's when I reached week to week. week and I find that really hard. But it was like peak COVID, if I remember correctly. And it was like, what else are we doing? So I'm pretty sure I'd watch it on like Thursday afternoons because it was like in between working and like I was home and whatever. I understand my, my, well, I guess I can say

this now because she watched it for like work purposes and never ended up finishing it. But my wife never finished it either. So I can understand not getting all the way through it. But I did. I did watch the new season. And one of my complaints coming into the season was like, Like, here's spoilers for people. I think the last season ended like years ago. So I think I'm okay to say stuff. So like Ted Lassow goes back to Kansas City for the show to end. That's where the show now picks up.

And I had said the whole time like Kansas City current should be the focus of the show. And they are heavily involved as many people have seen. I'm not going to give away the whole thing. But I will say they show a real game. In the real game, spoilers. Temwa Shawanga scores. Not a huge surprise. right but it is a tough moment for jess carter

and i don't know if she watches ted lasso oh no i can bet you money if we said oh there's a game she would tell you the mistake of what happens and it is very much on the show it is not the focus of the show it is not the point but it's a hard one to watch did they do it because she's english

no they did it because i think that's the only goal that was scored so showinga scores off it's basically like a sort of through ball and Jess Carter either mist touches it and it goes behind her or just hits it. And then Shiawinga picks it up and goes and scores. And then we'll just say, Jess, we love you.

Yeah. And they did you dirty. I think you're one of the best defenders in the world. I think you should start at the World Cup. You will not be on my defender for the year list, which I probably should have time. You still have time. Yeah.

You still have time. All right. Let's start with Temo Shingo, who is going to the World Cup for the first time ever. Malawi ranked 153rd in the world. They knocked off Ghana to 1 in the quarterfinals to clinch their spot at the 2027 Women's World Cup. Temwa Shuenga, one goal, one assist. Jordan, I said this last week.

I say it even stronger now. I think she's the best player in the world. And I feel like I can say that now because she's done at the international level and she's done at the club level. What I like most about Shwinga right now, Goss, is that she is proving that she's just not a one-trick pony. Not only she's scoring goals in NWSL, on the international level, but she's also the number of assists that she has just keeps racking up. And to me, that is showing her maturity over the last couple of years, how as much she's grown.

And you might have a case in point. And we'll see next year because she'll get to prove if she's the best player in the world at the World Cup. She will not be the only debutante, Algeria, qualifying for their first ever Women's World Cup, two, one, come from behind win over Ivory Coast. probably helped that Ivory Coast picked up a red card in the first half. So it gave a little space there for this Algeria team. But a pretty good record throughout this tournament falling only to the host, Morocco, who also qualified.

So they will be heading back to the Women's World Cup alongside, as I mentioned, Cameroon, who knocked off Nigeria after Nigeria snuck through. So Cameroon is headed back to the Women's World Cup. So those are four clinched teams and two more teams from Africa of the four losing. in court of finalists. We'll have a chance to go to the Inter-Confederation's playoffs, which are still to come. So Conccaf still to play there qualifying. That will be a tournament in Mansfield, Texas, which is near Dallas. Coming up in November, of course, the U.S. will enter at that stage alongside Mexico and Costa

Rica and Canada and some of the biggest teams in the region, single elimination to make the World Cup. We've already seen Asia clinched there qualifying. We've already seen South America do so as well. and then Europe's will continue through their round of Nations League slash World Cup qualifying. That will continue some more to come on that side of things. But let's talk NWSL. We talked about some of the big news.

Last week, Jenna Nyswanger officially has joined the league. She has joined Bay FC. But the story of this weekend was all about the goals. As we said, North Carolina, they jump out to a 3-0 lead in 15 minutes after traveling midweek to Denver and then going to Washington to play against the spirit. E.J. is on fire for this team. She has now entered the golden boot conversation that we will have later. And yet, as I said, awkward maybe to play with a bit of a lead. And Washington came back. They got an equalizer from Rebecca Bernal in the 91st minute. And then they proceeded to lose to the goal by Natalie Jacobs.

She starts the play out of the back. She continues her run. And it was a strikers finish, Jordan, with the way she put that away with an on Russian goalkeeper. Yeah, I loved that finish. One of my favorite goals, I would say, in NWSL, because the way that Washington was actually, Washington was pressing Hal Herschfeld had just hit the post.

They had many numbers forward. The centerbacks were pushing up into the attack. And it was actually Tara Rudd, who gets herself in a kind of a dangerous position in the midfield. And Jacobs recognizes their space and behind. And she just had that little extra burst of pace and found that there was a gap, beautiful finish from her.

And it allows North Carolina to win the game. And I would say in general, Goss, when I look at this North Carolina team, they have done a couple of things that have, has really helped them. And I think case in point, like their main thing is E.J. is a center strike. They have a point at which they can always play the ball up into the forward line. If they play it to the middle of the field, she's going to, she probably occupies, what would you say the width? Like, maybe a little bit wider than the goal.

But if the ball goes anywhere in there, she's going to win it and at least touch it back to a midfielder and find that connection piece. So then you can play Sanchez into the left side. You can get Ryan Williams in on the right. But that point of just that reference point up front has helped them tremendously. Yeah. She has been sort of this piece we've talked about for this team for the last three years, which is that center forward who can do all those things and then score goals.

And the way she takes her goals in this game, the first one, again, just being on your toes, which is like this natural center forward stuff that you can. can't teach, but you need to know, which is just being able to read what's going to happen next inside the six gets the finish. And then her second goal in that first half, first time. And she never really checks her shoulder. And it's only a, it only needs to be a first time shot if the keeper is coming off her line. Yeah.

And so she like naturally just knows that McIver's coming. And therefore I can sort of like use the pace of the tax. from Ashley Sanchez, by the way, which might be my favorite play of the entire season, a slide tackle from Sanchez as Tara Rudd tries to go bypass her on the press and get past her into the midfield. So Sanchez slide tackles, the tackle goes to E.J.

And E.J. uses the pace and spin of the ball to then clip that around the goalkeeper. It's an unbelievable finish. And it's like that's the next level stuff on top of all the things you talked about, which helped the whole flow of the team. Yeah. And I think on the other side of things for this spirit team, they, one, depth is going to be crucial. And they almost got themselves back in this game, I think, are going to be super disappointed that they give up a goal so late in the game at home the way that they did. But they make the changes of Bernal-Bolt-Contore and say at halftime. I can't think of another team in this league that can make changes like that. And it was instant impact. from, I would say, every single one of them, which is incredible. I also think, and I don't know if you noticed this, it felt like to me in the first half, Washington was playing with a double pivot and they were trying to pull North Carolina a little

bit lower, but North Carolina was pressing. So then they could win that, they could say, okay, play it through the middle. We might not win the first pass, but then we're going to win it in beyond and keep the pressure on you. They did win the first pass many at times. But if they didn't, they still had numbers centrally. they almost were baiting this spirit team to play centrally. But then in the second half, they switched it.

And they just played Bernal mostly as a single pivot. And there were a couple times where Hershfeld would try to then switch it up and come low, but she was playing a little bit more advanced. I thought that opened things up so much more. And it made North Carolina's midfield adjust and have to sit a little bit deeper. So I liked that move tactically from Washington, maybe too little too late. But it also shows you that this is an adaptable team. And I mean, if that Hirschfeld goal goes in, that doesn't have the post.

We're talking about that as one of the best goals because the way she struck it was so clean. Yeah. From the right corner of the box, she hits the left post facing the goal. But she hits it like mid height up towards the corner. It's still shaking. Yeah. It's still vibrating now. But let's talk about Nally Jacobs, by the way.

So her fifth start of the season, her second start, excuse me, her fourth start or third start back. She had started the first two games of the season and then had been out until July 25th. So wearing the captain's arm band, a leader for this team from the back. She, as we said, starts the attack. She wins it back in her defensive third, bypasses the first two pressing players, lays it off. And then just decides, I'm going to continue this run. And it is a casual. down the middle of the field

as most of North Carolina's attackers are sort of shading to the far post and it is fairly roused to Natalie Jacobs for the game winning goal was not in open play is not really the formula you draw up but Jordan you could see the emotion for her

she talked about a post game how much she cares about this team the opportunity the day before to go honor her grandfather who had passed away and was honored in the Arlington Cemetery and I just think overall this is a team trending in the right direction. And you can feel a lot of it off of the experience around Natalie Jacobs,

around the belief to make the run. Right after you've conceded three goals to be tied three, three on the road, then the connection, the way the team celebrated with her, the way the team supported her, the thing she had to say, it really feels like a high point for North Carolina. It also adds a player with experience in this league to the, the spine of your team. Because if you look at everybody else, how many times did they talk about how young the midfield for North Carolina is, which is one of their, I think the things that

benefits them because they can cover a lot of ground. But you're bringing Jacobs into one of the centerback's positions, solidifying the spine. You give experience, you put experience in there, and then the midfield can cover ground. And I think Parkinson has been a really good, she's not Monaca, but she has been such a good piece to this midfield, because you have to manage where she is all the time if you are an opponent. And I think she has like a little bit of greenness to her. Like people don't really know or what to expect from her yet. So it is a good balance into this midfield of ball winning players,

players that think forward all of the time and super excited about what this North Carolina team can do because they are trending in the right direction. Big news for them as well. Emma Sanders reporting online that Meg Parkinson and Lauren Thompson have withdrawn from the England U-20 squad. That was the final preparation camp heading towards the U-20 Women's World Cup, which will be taking place in Poland coming up

in about six weeks. So North Carolina won't lose those players. Unclear how that went about. I saw a report that North Carolina denied the call, but I don't think you're allowed to for official FIFA competition. I'm unsure about that because it's obviously a youth competition versus a senior competition where you can't for like a women's Afghan. but whatever it is

is going to be a better team to have them in it and obviously they're a huge part of what they're building we do know Serena Vigman has been over to watch them play so you would assume maybe this partially is hey you're past the U20s like you're starting for a good NWSL team you're in a conversation for a senior call-up whatever it is big news there

and then I will say as we're going to try and get into our awards Washington since we both selected them to win both the Shield and Cup have lost back-to-back home games. So that is sort of the curse that we have the potential to put on you. And we will try to avoid that going forward. We are sorry to Douglas. Who's going to have to fly cross-country to see his team win?

Was not the only four-three game, though, as we mentioned, Thorne's four-three winners in Providence over Boston coming into the game. Portland Thorntons had scored seven goals in the opening 15 minutes of games already this season in 18 games. So they already were the like hot start team. Obviously Sophia Wilson scored the fastest goal of the season last week in the 34th second on the road against Utah. And they almost bettered it.

Pietro Tordin with the goal in the first minute. Wilson then in the fifth minute, the three goals scored were the fastest three goals in NWSL history to beat their own record from 2022. They scored on all three shots they took in the opening. I think it was 42 minutes. of this game. So an electric performance out the gates for a Thorin theme that really felt like they were sort of hampered and falling back. And it was led by the pressure on the front line,

which Boston kind of played into. And Sophia Wilson talked about it before the game on the broadcast of like she loves to set that energy, the tone from the front line. And with, with Olivia Moultrie out for this one, they pushed Maria Mueller up a line. And it's her pressing that creates the second goal coming inside her physicality, I think, allowing them to be able to get out. And just her body presence on that, how she gets herself around the ball to dish it to Wilson, to thread it through. Really impressive from Mueller. The Thorns knew that one goal wasn't going to be enough. And it was a nice goal from Tordon, right? The set piece goal in the first minute was, or second minute, it was incredible. I think, unfortunately for Casey Murphy,

she's going to be disappointed in a few of those goals and how they were scored. But for Boston, for a team that has been so good at closing space, they looked like they did back. You remember the beginning of the season when they were playing Houston? And they just were so stretched and looked like playing out of the back, the gaps were so big, which if you're playing Boston, you know that they're going to play out of the back. That is what they're going to do. And if you can if you can manage your numbers and almost bait them into certain passes centrally, you can jump the pass, which we saw them do, Fleming, NYSTAT, whoever, centrally, and win the ball back.

I thought it was a really good game plan from Villalham. I don't think he was planning on getting the red card later. I don't think that was part of the plan. But overall, I think he really set the tone of how, hey, we're going to go after them. We're going to high press. And there will be chances we have to make sure we're ready to score them. So impressed by Portland's mentality in this one, really after what had been a really tough stretch for them coming out of the summer break. Yeah, it was, I think, a clear emotional lift for them.

You have to know if you're playing this team, you've got to be awake in the opening, like minutes of the game. Like that has to be the start of every pre-match speech. It has to be the focus of the week. And I think Sophia Wilson is like the main focus of that. Because if you make mistakes, she's going to take advantage and you can't catch up. Like once you lose possession, once you get beat, once your body positioning is off along the back line, you don't catch her. And now it's just whether or not she finishes it.

It's one of the reasons I think she might be able to win the golden boot this year based off the way she's playing. But to do this without mulchry, I think shows the quality across the lines for this team. I thought it was another good game from Fleming. Obviously, Torridan has the hat trick. So an incredible game. from her she ends up scoring late in the first half to make it the fourth goal, which is really what saves them from having to sort of like fully deal with the pressure, maybe that North Carolina dealt with.

And maybe quality of Boston versus Washington is a little bit of the difference there. But don't rest on your laurels is what we learned from this weekend. It doesn't matter how many goals you come out and score early on. As we mentioned towards the top, Gotham 1-0 win over San Diego, one of the best one-zero games you will see. I talked about it last week, like, there is real quality at the fullback positions in the attack,

especially in Reiton. Can you put them under pressure? I think San Diego did in the opening 30 or 40 minutes and there's some chances. Fajer, buyers had two big chances that they'll look back on in which they scored. But to Gotham's credit, from the moment they scored

and a special goal from Jaden Shaw, they amped up their possession to try and take that away. And that's Gotham's way out of using the quality of the fullbacks going forward and limiting the deficiencies of having to defend one B one on their heels. It has to be. And we have seen Gotham over the years be a team that if they get the first goal, they are so difficult to come back against.

And one of the reasons is this, Goss, is they can't, they have the skills, they have the players in every single position who can keep the ball and make teams chase. And that has to be something that they continue to do. I would like to see them be a little bit more aggressive in moments to try to find that second goal to try to find the third goal. I think I will keep like hitting this because I think this is one of the most talented teams we've seen to see them win so many one to nothing games feels like a travesty in this league because they can be so lethal when they get into the attack. But one of the signs of a good team is you can win games that are tight and you can get the one goal and you can see out a game. And when you have a backline like they do, you have a burger in the goal. You know that defensively they're going to step up, but you don't want to only put all that pressure on the defense.

So possession has to be big. And they prove that if they can do both those things, get a goal, keep the possession. Their defense will see it out. And I think just difficult for San Diego because they were in so many good positions. And they win that game or they get a result in that game. I think they feel very different. But gosh, I still just, I don't know that we're still in a, we're still in a window where the window doesn't close until August 25th. Of course, you can still do interleague trades.

I don't think rosters are closed until October. But I think San Diego needs a piece up top. Well, full disclosure, both of us got hoodwinked by the same fake posts saying that they had gone out and put out a big offer for Kat Radler of Houston. Raider. What a genius. Raider, sorry. What a genius move, although tough for Houston. Turns out it was untrue.

Right. And she will be in our rookie of the year conversation coming up. But it is the type of move that we thought could be on the table for a team like San Diego. There are these moments. I mean, there are these moments where Van Zincennes. Zanton and Moroni are exchanging passes in Zone 14, which is the center top of the box, and they are the fullbacks on this team. There are these wild moments throughout the game.

I do think Gia Corley looked better in this game being pushed out wide, and I think clearly Godfrey should start central and Corley should start out wide, but it's going to be tough because you're looking for finishing final third consistent quality from young players, and that's just not the case of the way it normally works, and they don't really have the veterans for them to lean on. Ken Zadali is still working her way back, but that's not really her role in terms of that finishing quality. She is more the setup.

Congratulations to Debiania, by the way. Broke Lindbindolo's record for most goals in all competitions in NWSL. So all competitions means regular season, playoffs, Challenge Cup, Fall Series, and Summer Cup. So all

of the different official competitions that have occurred. It shows the longevity of Debenia's success. One of the things is the also commitment into NWSL specifically. And of course, for North Carolina and Kansas City. So duly deserved for her. It was the one zero winner. Wasn't her prettiest goal.

More of a deflection off of her that goes in on the road against Houston. But she will take it and she will now face off against Gotham on Friday night. Probably the game of the weekend. Casey Gotham, the Amazon game Friday. Friday night to open up the weekend and a big one for Casey who they've been playing better soccer, even without Temwa Shwinga, who won't be available for this game. They still don't have Michelle Cooper, but it feels like they've found a bit of a formula around Croy Bethune that those players are going to come back into for the real first time this season. And the way that Gotham plays,

there is a lot of pressure on Jalen Howell in that single pivot area. And so I think that there is going to be there's going to be questions around her, especially with Croy Bathune and the way that she floats into the space. Like, can they overload that space and make how make a decision and then the opposite side pocket is open? Whatever it may be, I'm very intrigued as to what that's going to look like in this match. And I think Croy has to have a big game against Gotham. And she has been putting up really good numbers on the assist side, but Goss, she probably has. has the most, like the most number of big chances that have not been finished. She gets herself into excellent positions.

I can think of four goals off the top of my head that she could have scored once she's already behind the back line and misses the frame or shoots it right to the goalkeeper, things that she has told herself, hey, I got to be better in these situations. I have to, in order to be the best player in the league, which I think she has ambitions to be, the assists have to be there. But when those goal scoring chances are there, she has to put them away. So I think these are the kind of games she plays for, right? It's a big game against the top team in the league.

And when you show up in those games, that is a real sign of quality. So I'm excited for this one, especially that matchup there in the midfield. Louisville versus Boston on Saturday, a tasty one. Two teams that like to open it up and can play some wild games and obviously must win for two teams sitting towards the bottom of the table. and then Angel City v. Washington to close out Sunday night. You will be on the call. Douglas will be in the building hoping to see a victory for the first time in three weeks. And I will be watching from home.

Okay. So in light of our success of previewing where we believe the standings will fall, we are now doing our awards. Now, Jordan, let me ask you this. Okay. Because we didn't talk about this, which was a mistake. Great. The award people that we're choosing right now,

are they the people who we believe have won it so far? are they the people we believe will win it at the end of this season? Oh. I think I thought of it in both ways. So did I. Okay. So let's just do that. Okay.

Let's see where we've- We clarified things a lot right there. I'm pretty sure. Everybody knows where we're at. We are going to be doing a range of awards based off the ones, the official ones that NWSL gives out. We will not do best 11. We will save that for the end of the year.

we will do coach of the year. And then the player ones, Golden Boot, which is not a voted on one, MVP, midfielder of the year, rookie of the year, defender of the year, and goalkeeper of the year. Let's start along the back line. Let's start with goalkeeper of the year. The three finalists that I had were Ann Katrin Berger, Jordan Silkowitz, and Abby Smith out in Colorado. Jordan, how do you feel about my lists of finalists? Any names you would add?

And where would you fall? I love this because we didn't actually talk about these. And those are the exact three that I had. And I feel like for different ways, I think when we just explained how we were doing this, I do think at the end of the year, it might be AKB who wins it. Because right now, Gotham has only given up 12 goals. She has a negative 9.2 expected goals against. So she's saving goals that should be going in and the best save percentage in the league. So I do think AKB is probably top on that. But, if you had to give a highlight reel of the goalkeepers that are making the biggest plays in NWSL, I think it would be Abby Smith or Jordan Silkowitz. They would be the top two players and they are keeping their teams in games. I think case in point this weekend with Abby Smith against Utah, she was absolutely electric. And Jordan Silkwitz has had game after game where we just say, how did she save that? So yeah, those would be the three that I would choose.

and what's unfair at times, I feel like, the goalkeeper of the year often goes for the team with the most shutouts. But is not always, that's not a solely goalkeeper award. No. But they are important in that award. So, or in that stat. And I think, you know. Yeah.

Listen, I think we're both going to use the eye test and say, Ann Cratchingberger is the best goalkeeper in WSL. She's the best goalkeeper on the planet right now. So she's got the numbers. She has the quality. she affects her team at a high level, and we're going to get into Defender of the Year. But right now,

I didn't have a true candidate from Gotham. And I think that's to the credit of Anne Katrinberger that with injuries and movement and all of that, they maintain as the best defensive team, and I think she's a large part of that. Jordan Selkowitz deserves to be on this list because Jill Lloyden tells me,

Jordan Seward is really good this year, and Jill knows better about goalkeeping than I do. So anything she says, I put down here, but I have AKB, AKB as well. Let's stick with the back line. Let's go to Defender of the Year. I put together six names in here. I didn't feel great about them.

I think this is the hardest, it's the hardest award to give because, again, they are not individual performances, their team performances for a lot of defensive stats, but we're giving an individual award. And at the midway point, it's tough. For example. Yeah. I was going to say, do you want me to go first and give Mila? Oh yeah, you go give your list.

Okay. I think, okay, right now and maybe the winner of this is going to be Kate Delphaba. She's like the one that sticks out to me as this has been an excellent year for her and her consistency. She is week in and week out. One of those players that I love what attacking third, that podcast and what they do, they do a team of the week every single week. And she is often on that. Almost every single week she is on that because their performances are so consistent. So I have her.

And then it's a mix of players. And I think you probably would have some of these players. I have Phoebe McLernan. I have both San Diego centerbacks in McNabb and Wesley. Love that. And I have Tara Rudd. We have all the same names. And Kate Alfava was my winner as well.

So we're going to be equal there. She has been one of the most consistent on one of the best teams. She has performed on a high level. There's a lot asked of her in what she does because of how much the fullbacks attack and how much space that they have to cover. I had Tara Rudd. I had Kristen McNabb ahead of Wesley. I think I had Wesley ahead of McNabb last year in this conversation.

Then I had question marks around everyone else. So I had Ryan Williams and Janine Sonis with a question mark. Wait, those are good. Thank you. I appreciate that. we often miss fullbacks with this conversation. When you do include a fullback, there has to be, you know, why. Obviously, for those two, it's their attacking play.

Now, I would say Ryan Williams is probably the better defender of those two, but Sonis has probably been more important to her team out of that position, has taken penalty kicks, has created chances and everything else. On the year. Yeah. For sure. Can you give a defender, a defender of the year award? because the amount of goals they've scored.

It's a great question. It's a great question. And then the other two question marks I had were two, which is, if we are doing so far, they would not be able to make it here because they've not played enough, which was Tierna Davidson and Jordan Bug. But if we are projecting to the end of the year, then I think they have a really good shot of being in here.

To my point about Gotham, Jess Carter has led the team in minutes for a defender. She has played three positions out of that. that's to her credit, but she is not as comfortable at the right back position to perform at a high level to be considered defender of the year. And now with Emily Sondit's injury, there's been huge rotation at centerback and Tiana Davidson coming back from injury. I think if she stays healthy, there's a pretty good chance Tuna Davidson wins this award at the end of the year. But right now I have Kate Delfava. How do you feel about putting the fullback slash bug or Davidson on this list?

I think a fullback. I would pick McLernan over bug. for Seattle. I really would. I just think she's last year, I thought she led the back line. This, oh, thank you. This year, I felt like she has gotten even better in her leadership and just what has been asked of them because they've pressed so much higher. She has to cover space in behind and she is capable of that. And then, yeah, I do think one of those outside backs could be in there. I would probably pick Sonas, but then it's kind of back to what you're saying is, are you picking a defender for their attacking contributions?

But I do think one of the reasons I put Kate Delfava as high as I have is because she scored a couple on set pieces. And to me, you're contributing on both sides of the ball. Yeah, I agree with you. I didn't put Tierna Davidson on this because of what you said. I felt like she was kind of working her way back in at the beginning. But if Gotham win the shield, I think Davidson will win this award. Yeah. All right.

Well, congrats to Kate Delfava for the award. as of now. Good luck to all the contestants going forward. Let's go to rookie of the year. So we're probably going to stay around Gotham because Jordan Dudley, as we mentioned last week, we kind of talked this through to an extent last week, Jordan Dudley, high on this list.

Here was my list of names. Leah Godfrey, Mimi Van Zanton, who we forgot when we had this conversation last week, that to me is like Tier A with Devin Lynch entering that category. Then you've got

Houston. You've just got the Houston dash. In general. You've got you've got Ratter, you've got Fossi, you've got clenke, you've got Ulmark, like you've got all of them. But we will decipher through who out of them should be in this conversation.

And then the other names I put in here were Taylor Suarez, who has come on more recently and in the last game they played with the five in the back again. Playing as a left wing back could be a huge factor there for the rest of the season. I put in Solai, Washington. You could say Olivia Thomas as well. Both them have gotten like heavy minutes, but neither of them really

are true contenders. How do you feel about this list? What would be your top? Let's say five candidates. Oh, I was just going to, I was going to go top three. I think, I think, yeah, I think Dudley Godfrey and Van Zanton will be contestants for this award. And we just saw a defender and outside back in Lilly Real win it last year. So it's just dependent on. And And then we go to the conversation that we have so much about these awards when there's two players from the same team. If you had Godfrey and Van Zanton who would choose which one and would they cancel each other out and then it would just be Jordan Dudley? Because right now, I do think Leah Godfrey has been with the minutes that she's played has been the most impactful rookie because she is five

goals and four assists for Houston for San Diego. That is, that's a good stat line for a lot of players. but it feels like Van Zanton's ability Yeah is so crucial to the team including when Godfrey wasn't a part of the group Like part of what Godfrey came into Was already built with Van Zanton And Moroni is obviously such a factor on the left side

But Van Zanton's ability I mean obviously the comment from Trinney Rodman On Instagram about her ability to defend I think if she ends up playing the amount of minutes she's playing and the way this team is performing, I think there's a really good chance that Van Zanton will win it. I'm going to pick her for now. Okay. I like that. As a projection towards the end of the season, I would say this, of the Houston options, Rattor's probably the one who gets on here with Ulmark probably second.

Okay. I feel good with that. Okay. And your final pick was Godfrey. Right. Okay, let's continue in. Let's do midfielder of the year. This one's fun. I love that NWSL officially added this. It celebrates a lot of players who don't get celebrated, although this one I struggled with because you do have those attacking tens who can be in there, but then it starts to look like my MVP conversation where I think the point of this

was to award of Vanessa D. Bernardo, who is a little bit more underrated. Who are your finalists? I struggled with this one. because I feel like there's so many, I mean, Kroybathoon would be in there. I think at times Lacey Santos would probably be in that category. But the player, I wrote down one name because I think this player has been the most consistent midfielder in the league and Jalen Howell. Okay.

That is interesting. That's kind of a wild card, isn't it? Not in a wild card because it's such a, midfield is vast because you have players like Jalen Howell and then you have a Rose LaVelle. Yes. And as much as Rose Lavelle does for this team, you expect, have you looked at her stats? She barely has any stats this year, Rose Lavelle. Rose Lavelle.

Like compared to what you would expect for her. Even her impact, like her impact is big, but you would expect her to be like five and five, five goals, five assists. Yeah, four goals. She has zero assists this year. Zero assists. I think we got to go back, rewatch some passes and see if we agree. Yeah, I'm sure. That's what I mean.

Her impact is greater than those stats. But I just feel like J. Alan Howell has been so consistent. And I like that. So it goes to me saying, well, the back line has chopped and changed and it's the best defensive team. Well, if you're going to give AKB an award for that, then you have to mention Jalen Howell because she has been the consistent driving force in front of them.

She is one of the best ball winners in the league. She has covered ground at a high level. She helps the team progress play as well. I think that is completely fair to add in there. At the same time, I have Rose LaVelle as an MVP finalist. So it's hard again to like split that award across it. You mentioned Croy Bethune and Lacey Santos. I think those are great.

I had Tanaka down. I do think a lot of the way Utah plays goes through her. I had Jesse Fleming down. I think it's the best year of her career. She has been a rock amongst a lot of movement for that team. I had Kenza Dali and Rose Lavelle were the other ones that I had in there. Ken Zadali has struggled to stay on the field the last few games.

She is still the best chance creator in NWSL. All the underlying numbers say that. Who was it? It's one of the stats companies that posted a video of her stats. And she's like, well, that's not really fair because I play a quality ball into the box. This was, by the way, this was our own Kat Bush's data. Yes. that was being questioned by Kenzadali.

Yeah, let's go, Kat. And you know what, Kenzadali, I appreciate this because she plays a ball into the box and it is a high quality ball, but her nine doesn't make the run. And she's like, well, why is that my fault? Right. So she doesn't get credited with a big chance created or a completed cross. Yes, yes. So then it goes to like, oh, I think part of the question was like, oh, your numbers are down

on, you know, high quality crosses or whatever it is. And she's saying, yeah. I would say this is the hard thing where I think then it comes down to these little bits to separate players. I still think Kenzadali is the best midfielder in this league. It has just been these last few games where she has been unavailable. And I don't know if that will hurt her in the long run. I hope it doesn't. At the end of the year, you know who I hope wins this award?

I think Kenzadali should win this award. But at the way that other players are playing consistently, will that give them a little bit more drive to, We'll give people a little bit more drive to vote for them. Yeah. So for Kenza Dali, we're seeing some minutes off the bench, but the last three games, she has not started. And so if that continues, then you get into a minute's issue.

I think that I would say Tanaka right now based off the first half of the season. Even though she played a nine and a 10, yeah. See, that's where it's iffy. I know. I get that, but she, to me, is the, like, heartbeat of the team. Yeah. And I don't think it works without her.

And I think she's like the load bearing piece. Someone said that phrase about Barbara Banda the other day because Banda is gone in Orlando's gotten killed. And now I'm like, it's stuck in my head and I can't stop using it. I think that any of these players could win it though. Like this one is one of the most wide open ones. But I will let's get into now MVP. I had Rose Lavelle on this list.

She's the only one from the last list we just said. that I had. Croy Bethune, I had a question mark around. What else? So do you want me to go through some names here? I'll just add two other ones. I had Rodman. I mean, I think Rodman right now is the clear.

Yeah. Clear number one. In my opinion, nine goals, five assists. Tordon, I think is pretty close up there too. I think Tordon has been exceptional this year. And even with that little skid, she is constantly in the mix of chance creation for this Portland team. And it sits now seven goals, eight assists on the year, which is not everything for an MVP. But I do think if she's clicking and you get SOF clicking as well, like she is the one that's going to be providing SOF with the chances.

So her stats are just going to keep going up. So the other person whose stats are going to keep going up there would probably be Sophia Wilson's. So that's the other side of this. Sophia Wilson in her last five and her last six games has four goals. I'm pretty sure she's going to win the golden boot. And like this is obviously like short-term memory because Shawinga is not here and Banda's not here. But also they're not here. So like Banda is going to come back.

Schoinga, is it one more week? Is it two more weeks? then how do you sort of handle the fact that she has to fly across the world and having played the level of intense games she has played. And with the layoffs being pretty tight in a tournament, when do you get her back out there? Especially knowing the injuries she struggled with at the beginning of the year and how important she is and the fact that the focus of this team is that, oh my God,

we are getting the news as we are recording. Did you just read that news from Douglas? Olivia Moultrie is out for the year with a torn ACL. Oh my gosh. She missed the game this weekend. We didn't know why. She was not a part of the group. And that is heartbreaking because she was on my short lists for some of these awards.

And she has leveled up her game in an incredible way. That is huge news. Oh, that's so sad. Yeah. And terrible for the thorns, which goes into the conversation we are slightly having right now around Tordon and Sophia Wilson. Jordan, this was the best year of her career. she has taken her game to a different level and she was like a leader for this group on the field. Yeah.

Man, I just like hate this every time. I am so emotional, but it just breaks my heart when players have to go through this. And it honestly doesn't matter how impactful they are with their team. Like this is a, it impacts your life on so many levels. And just for Moultry, it's August. and there was a chance she's playing in the World Cup next year. And I just immediately think that is a tight timeline. And I'm just so heartbroken.

That really makes me so sad for her. And I mean, I know if she'll be able to get over this. But like, man, that hurts. That really makes me sad. So for anyone who doesn't know, and if you're ever in this situation, Jordan has started an organization called the ACL Club. because of her experiences and then the experiences of people around her. Give us an idea sort of as where she's at right now.

You assume this happened over the last week or two. Like what is it that you tell people when it's early? What do people sort of do at the beginning? I tell people that they can be as mad as they want and to be, you know, feel all the emotions. I think it is like this roller coaster of like automatically, okay, I can get over this to what has this taken, you know, it's taken opportunities away from me to what if, to all the different things that your mind can go through when something traumatic happens. And so I say you kind of just have to ride that roller coaster, be with people that love you

and care for you. And, you know, I think the benefit of being a player in NWSL is you have really good medical staffs who are going to set you up with treatment and pre-hab to get you ready to to then go to surgery. And I just hope that this is, you know, I don't know the extent of the injury. I hope it's just an ACL. I hope there's not other damage in her knee. But just it's a mental game because you are,

you feel like your body's broken and you did all the right things. And then still it falls apart and kind of deceives you. So I would just say, yeah, for anyone out there that is going through this, The ACL Club is really a place that can help, but also I can help if you, if you ever need somebody to talk to, reach out. You can find me on social media and I'm happy to help navigate that arena because it is, it's not easy. And that's why it brings me to tears because it changes a lot of things. She is going to turn 21 in the first week of September. One of the youngest players on the planet obviously changed the entire league.

when she fought her way into the opportunity to play as a young teenager with her family taking the league to court so that they could set up a situation where young players who are good enough could enter the league. And as I said, has continued to level up and having her best season ever. And it changes on the field a lot. You talked about off the field. You talk about the individual experience.

I've still had Portland in my top five conversation. I have Portland as a true contender. I think they believe they are, but this is as big a loss as they could have. In a year where they've had a number of them, especially losing players, whether it's Sam Coffey going for signing or injuries earlier this year. And it feels like every time they kind of find themselves, they get thrown a curveball, not to this extent, or they get thrown a curveball and have to refine themselves. And if they're able to stay up there, then that would even be probably a larger argument

for the Pietro Tordins and Sophia Wilson's of the world where they will now have to carry a huge part of the attacking load for this team and responsibility. So devastating news there. Some names just to mention before we get out

of here on the MVP side, Ashley Sanchez with her performances. EJ might end up in this. Barbara Banda, I think we'll have now this weird mix of you saw how bad they were when she was gone. If they're competitive again when she gets back, it's almost this like clear stark difference of the value that Barbara Vanda brings to that team and Roosevelt.

But as you said, right now, hands down, Trinney Rodman is the winner. And the last one is coach of the year. Golden Boot. We've talked about a lot. That's more projecting who performs. I think E.J. has a real shot at this with the way she's played, Ashley Sanchez. But it is basically just the list of the players who are on the top with, I think this is the one 10 which you can really get back into.

because what, she scores three goals every two games. So it'll happen fast if she's back on the field. And no one in the field has run away from Banda, that Banda being out at the women's Afcon really put her behind the eight ball. For coach of the year, I had four candidates down. I had Jimmy Coonrat, Adrian Gonzalez, Yonis Idaval, and Mack Lind. Do you have any additions to that? I think those are, yeah, I think those are all really good choices.

I think Robert Vilaam would be. in there as well, just if Portland is one of those top teams at the top of the table, Villalham will be there. But when I'm looking at this season and the trajectory of teams where they've been, where I think they're going, I think our boy, Jimmy Coonratz is going to win this, which would make me so happy for him. It feels similar to Bevinez last year, where it feels like you can sort of sense the coaches, you know, value in engagement with the team, where,

Adrian Gonzalez is probably the best coach in this league, but he also coaches the best team in this league. So it's harder to like prove that or where Jimmy Coonrat's and as well, we've seen, we've heard from the players how much they feel like he has added. And we've seen the progression underneath him over the last year and a half, two years. It's a real started from the bottom now we're here kind of rhythm to it. Because if you ever take a team that it is the lowest in the table to a top. three, I don't, I don't care how good the other coaches are. I do think that you are probably going to win that. I think you should win that award because, and it has been a few seasons now

with Jimmy Coonauts, and he just really believes in what they're doing and they have bought into him and they have given him time. Kudos to Utah Royals for giving him time. And you have seen players, we talked about it last week, so many players, individual development skyrocket. And if Utah finishes top five. I just he's got he's got to be it. Well, we are probably wrong about everything we just said. So take that with a grain of salt, but we will

put it out there for public voting maybe so that we could get some feedback. Maybe we'll come back next week with some other recommendations or ideas from people. Don't forget to follow us on SWFC Woso, where we are covering all things women's soccer on Instagram.

You can follow us, of course, on Blue Sky at Soccer Wise, where we are talking all things soccer all the time. And besides that, we have a bunch of new shows that we've rolled out. We've got MLS coverage. We've got some big interviews that are going to be coming over the next few weeks. So we're excited to cover it all.

Heartbreaking news right there at the end on Olivia Moultre's injury. So we're wishing the best for her sending good thoughts that way, as well as to the Portland Thorns family. And we will be back next week to talk more NWSL. So thank you to all of you for listening. Big shout out to you

for being here. Huge shout out to Douglas for working through all of our tech problems to make this show happen. It is a true magical piece for this one. I am praying for the Washington Spirit victory to reward it at the end of this week. And we'll talk to you all again very, very soon.