Voting for the best of the season is always hard. There were so many players who stood out and it’s always hard to pick just one but it was required.
As our editor and All For XI site manager, Phuoc Nguyen, already mentioned, this is how votes are computed: Players (50%), Board/GMs/Head Coaches (25%), Media (25%). For the final round, the Fan Vote (10%) will open on Tuesday, November 10, with Players (40%), Board/GMs/Head Coaches (25%), and Media (25%).
For the preliminary round, the voting asked for the top three for rookies, goalkeepers, and coaches. For MVP, midfielders, and defenders, it was a top five.
Rookie of the year
My pick for ROTY is none other than Sarah Schupansky. She has played 23 games for Gotham, starting 16 of them. She’s among the top 3 regarding assists (five) after Delphine Cascarino and Izzy Rodríguez (both with six).
The rookie leads the league in Assists/90 with 0.35, she’s 3rd in xAG/90 with 0.31, and 4th in xA/90 with 0.24. Her dribbling and 1v1 abilities are also very good, and she ranks 5th this season with 69.2%
Honorable mentions: Lilly Reale, Pietra Tordin.
Goalkeeper of the year
Lorena: It wasn’t hard to choose the goalkeeper who only conceded 12 goals in 23 matches played. Such a low number in goals against helped her to finish with 14 clean sheets, the most this season, and she’s first in goals against/90 with 0.54. She’s first in save percentage with 82.4%.
Honorable mentions: Ann-Katrin Berger and Claudia Dickey.
Defender of the year
The team with the fewest goals against has also what I consider the best defender of the season in Izzy Rodríguez.
Staff writer Phuoc Nguyen has already said pretty much everything about her here, so I won’t bore you with the same stats. In compensation, I’ll put this chart here, courtesy of FB Charts:
FB Chart
Honorable mentions: Tara McKeown, Kayla Sharples, Kate Del Fava, and Phoebe McClernon.
Midfielder of the year
The Portland Thorns wouldn’t have finished third this season if it weren’t for Olivia Moultrie. The youngster came alive this season and has helped the club get key results to help in their playoff push.
Just like with Izzy Rodríguez, let me add here a link to the stats Phuoc already mentioned. And now, enjoy her chart. There are actually two charts: One of Moultrie compared to other midfielders (right) and another of her compared to other attacking midfielders (left), courtesy of FB Charts:
Honorable mentions: Manaka Hayashi, Kenza Dali, Taylor Flint, and Sam Coffey.
Coach of the year
In Vlatko Andonovski’s second season with Kansas City Current, he has taken this team to a whole other level. Under his tenure, he has built what can arguably be the best team in NWSL history. Kansas has become a teal machine that seems unstoppable in the final third and almost impenetrable in the initial third.
Regarding stats, we can mention a few, such as Kansas being the team that has set a league record on points with 65, the one with the most wins in a single season with 21, and the most wins on the road with 10. They can also boast of having the most clean sheets (16).
If Andonovski wins the NWSL Coach of the Year award this season, it’ll be his third after having won it in 2013 and 2019
Honorable mentions: Laura Harvey and Rob Gale.
Temwa Chawinga might not have scored as many goals as last season, but that doesn’t mean she has run cold. This year, she’s tallied 15 goals — two more than Gotham’s Esther González — and has won the Golden Boot award back-to-back, something that only Sam Kerr did while playing for the Chicago Stars.
Some of her stats include: first in Goals/90 (0.75), first in Goals+Assists (18), tied first with Jess Fishlock in Goals + Assists/90 (0.90), first in Non-Penalty Goals (15) and Non-Penalty Goals/90 (0.75), tied first with Fishlock in Non-Penalty Goals + Assists/90 (0.90), first in xG (14.2) and xG/90 (0.70), first in Non-Penalty xG (14.2) and npxG/90 (0.70), and first in npxG/Shot (0.24).
If you got lost reading so many numbers, let’s just say this: She’s too good, leads the run for MVP, and most likely will win it back-to-back… unless Kansas City doesn’t win the championship this year.
Honorable mentions: Esther González, Delphine Cascarino, Emma Sears, and Sam Coffey.
