With the conclusion of another season of Fantasy NWSL and award season upon us, it’s only right for us to recognize the top players this Fantasy season. Today, we’ll be unveiling the top players in each position, your fantasy NWSL MVP, Rookie of the Year, and a few other titles we felt worthy of celebration.
Rookie of the Year
Croix Bethune.
In her 17 games, Bethune still outscored every other rookie in fantasy this season. Ally Sentnor came in a close second, and Hal Hershfelt third. The trio were the only rookies to crack the top 50 players overall in fantasy NWSL rankings.
Bethune’s early numbers clued in the ShePlays fantasy fam to what the rest of the league would soon discover – Washington knew what they were doing on Draft Day.
Goalkeeper of the Year
When it comes to goalkeeper of the year, we decided to look at the most important metric – goalkeeper points. And when it came to goalkeeper points, calculated by awarding 0.5 points per save, sweeper action, and cross claimed and rounding down, one player stood out amongst the rest.
Jane Campbell may have been fourth in fantasy points overall amongst goalkeepers, but was a clear leader when it came to goalkeeper points, earning 14 more points than the next player in this category. Credit where credit is due, Jane Campbell is the 2024 Fantasy NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year.
Defender of the Year
Here at ShePlays, we love to celebrate defenders, and this season they made it easy – which made choosing our lineups that much more difficult! While Orlando and North Carolina occupied most of the top spots with three players each in our top 10 defenders of the season, North Carolina’s Ryan Williams took the crown.
Ryan William’s 237 points landed her first amongst defenders, sixth overall in the 2024 season, and for that she is our 2024 Fantasy NWSL Defender of the Year.
Midfielder of the Year
This season in fantasy we saw three forwards lead the player rankings: and then there’s Taylor Flint.
Fourth overall in the 2024 fantasy player rankings, Flint put up a stunning 149 defense points to secure her spot. That’s 66 more defense points than the next highest player, defender Madison Curry.
Players earn fantasy defense points based on the number of interceptions, clearances, aerial challenges, duels, and tackles won in a match. You can check out our fantasy scoring matrix here for points breakdowns for each stat. But with such statistical dominance as a player who truly played in the midfield for Racing Louisville this season, it’s clear that we need to give Taylor Flint her flowers.
U23 Player of the Year
Trinity Rodman, second overall in the 2024 season with 293 points, at age 22, is the 2024 Fantasy NWSL U23 Player of the Year.
Yes, Rodman is still U23.
Even with time off and limited minutes as the season drew to a close and she treated an ongoing back injury that became a real problem post-Olympics and kept her from performing at full-strength, Trinity Rodman showed out with goals, assists, and an attacking tenacity that set her apart.
Fantasy MVP
Temwa Chawinga not only took the league by storm, winning the 2024 Golden Boot with 20 goals scored in 25 matches this season, she also shattered the fantasy NWSL points record set by Sophia Smith in 2022. Smith had earned 257 points in our inaugural fantasy NWSL season, and Chawinga’s 354 points has eclipsed Smith by nearly 100.
Even within the 2024 season, Chawinga sat head and shoulders above the rest, and with this incredible accomplishment, Temwa Chawinga is the 2024 Fantasy NWSL MVP of 2024.
Newcomer of the Year
The criteria for Newcomer of the Year is simple: the player must be playing their first season in the NWSL and not have won in any other categories.
In 2024, this player is Barbra Banda.
Coming in after the season has kicked off to a join a league where many have needed time to adjust, regardless of international prestige, Banda, like Chawinga, seemed to defy these expectations from the start. Banda has seen a dip in goal-scoring prowess post-Olympics, but it wasn’t enough to pull her down in the fantasy standings, finishing third overall with 287 points behind just Chawinga and Rodman.
Want to see the season-long Fantasy NWSL Best XI?
It’s on it’s way! We’ll add a link as soon as the season-long Fantasy NWSL Best XI has been published.
Do you have any suggestions for fantasy awards to add to the fantasy trophy cabinet? Let us know in the comments!