Welcome to Round 13 of Fantasy NWSL! As usual, we are here to answer all of your team selection questions through the magic of statistics. This week, we are going to flip the script on last week’s article about low-cost, must-have players and take a look at the premium players that are worth the price.
Round 13 Match Overview:
This is a somewhat unusual week, with Louisville and OL Reign both playing twice (in fact, Louisville plays the first two games of the week!) while each other team plays a single game. All international tournaments have concluded, though availability of European and South American players may still be limited.
Team Stats:
Portland maintains a large lead in goals scored while high-scoring Week 12 performances from Houston and North Carolina push the Dash and Courage into second and third place respectively. On the defensive side, San Diego’s shutout in Chicago catapulted the Wave to the top spot in goals allowed, with Portland and OL Reign close behind.
| Rank | TEAM | GF/GP | Rank | TEAM | GA/GP | |
| 1 | Portland | 2.38 | 1 | San Diego | 0.79 | |
| 2 | Houston | 1.85 | 2 | Portland | 0.85 | |
| 3 | North Carolina | 1.70 | 3 | OL Reign | 0.85 | |
| 4 | Chicago | 1.54 | 4 | Angel City FC | 1.17 | |
| 5 | San Diego | 1.43 | 5 | Houston | 1.23 | |
| 6 | OL Reign | 1.08 | 6 | Kansas City | 1.23 | |
| 7 | Kansas City | 1.08 | 7 | Washington | 1.29 | |
| 8 | Orlando | 1.08 | 8 | Chicago | 1.31 | |
| 9 | Racing Louisville FC | 1.08 | 9 | Racing Louisville FC | 1.54 | |
| 10 | Angel City FC | 1.00 | 10 | North Carolina | 1.90 | |
| 11 | Washington | 1.00 | 11 | NJ/NY | 2.00 | |
| 12 | NJ/NY | 0.82 | 12 | Orlando | 2.15 |
Individual Stats and Team of the Week:
Like last week, we’re taking a look at players that transcend matchups and will provide high value for the rest of the season. This week, however, the focus is on the premium-cost players: which of the $350k and $400k players are most worthy of a spot on your roster for the final two months of the season?
Defense: OL Reign has had the most consistently best defense for almost the entire season, and Sofia Huerta is the keystone of this back line. Even with several club games lost to international duty in the CONCACAF W Championship, she is still the season’s highest scoring defender in Fantasy NWSL, both by total points (132) and points/game (10.15). The best defender on the (arguably) best defense, with two games in Round 13? You can’t go wrong with Huerta.
Midfield: North Carolina has had a difficult season thus far, but the Courage do boast an improving offense that has scored 2.17 goals/game since the beginning of June. Debinha was racking up points before leaving for Copa América Femenina, and she and Diana Ordoñez have scored over 47% of the season’s goals for North Carolina. Debinha will add more defensive points, however, and is a good bet to score in the double digits each week through the end of the season.
We highlighted last week how Alex Morgan and Taylor Korniek are dominating goal-scoring in San Diego, but Emily van Egmond is still worth the price. In addition to benefiting from the scoring prowess of her two teammates, van Egmond will also benefit from the Wave’s dominant defense. She’s played 90 minutes in every game (the most of any midfielder in the league), and that much playing time for the league’s first place team should give van Egmond the highest floor of any Fantasy NWSL player.
Forwards: 45.8% of the $400k players in Fantasy NWSL are strikers, so this is the position where you need to be the most judicious with your money. Alex Morgan is leading the race for Golden Boot, but more importantly, she’s scored 55% of the goals for the league’s first place team. Have an alternate option available for the USWNT’s September friendlies, but don’t leave her off your roster.
The only player that has scored more fantasy points than Morgan this season is Portland’s Sophia Smith. She scores the most points per game (11.31) of any player and could see her goal-scoring upside increase even further with Olivia Moultrie’s call up to the U-20 national team. Portland is by far the most prolific goal-scoring team in the league (by over a half goal per game), and the Thorns’ Smith/Hugita partnership could rival Korniek/Morgan by the end of the season with games remaining against bottom three defenses Orlando, North Carolina, and Gotham.
Perhaps no team missed a national team call-up as much as Chicago missed Mallory Pugh. The Red Stars have relied on their strikers for 70% of their goal-scoring, and Pugh averages almost twice as many points per game as any other Chicago forward. She’s third in total goals after Morgan and Smith, and dominates the Red Stars’ offense more than any other single player in the league. Pugh has scored 25.22% of Chicago’s total goal and attacking fantasy points this season (by far the highest percentage), with only Morgan, Smith, and Savannah DeMelo also above 20% for their respective teams. It’s not a coincidence that all four of those players are “must-have” – get at least three of them on your team and you’ll be set for a great home stretch of the season!