Welcome to Round 8 of Fantasy NWSL! This week, we are here to answer all of your team selection questions through the magic of statistics.
Round 8 Match Overview
No double gameweeks or midweek games this week, but all 12 teams are in action with single matches this weekend. At the moment, all international players are assumed to be available, but keep an eye out for any announcements over the next couple of weeks.
Team Stats
Scoring league-wide has slowed down a little over the past couple of weeks. With seven goals in their last 2 matches, Portland has replaced Chicago as the highest scoring team. On the defensive side, OL Reign have a narrow lead in goals allowed, with Portland, Houston, and San Diego close behind:
| Rank | TEAM | GF/GP | Rank | TEAM | GA/GP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Portland | 1.88 | 1 | OL Reign | 0.75 | |
| 2 | Chicago | 1.50 | 2 | Portland | 0.88 | |
| 3 | North Carolina | 1.50 | 3 | Houston | 0.88 | |
| 4 | San Diego | 1.44 | 4 | San Diego | 0.89 | |
| 5 | Houston | 1.38 | 5 | Chicago | 1.00 | |
| 6 | Orlando | 1.13 | 6 | Angel City FC | 1.00 | |
| 7 | Racing Louisville FC | 1.100 | 7 | NJ/NY Gotham | 1.00 | |
| 8 | Washington | 0.89 | 8 | Washington | 1.11 | |
| 9 | Angel City FC | 0.88 | 9 | North Carolina | 1.33 | |
| 10 | NJ/NY Gotham | 0.83 | 10 | Kansas City | 1.38 | |
| 11 | OL Reign | 0.75 | 11 | Racing Louisville FC | 1.50 | |
| 12 | Kansas City | 0.75 | 12 | Orlando | 2.25 |
This means that Portland’s home game against Orlando should be a big opportunity for the Thorns’ offensive players. Chicago should have plenty of upside at Kansas City as well.
Individual Stats and Team of the Week
This week’s stat is Dollars per Fantasy Point, or $/FP. It’s calculated simply by dividing the cost of a player by the total number of points they have scored this season, so you can see how much each point scored by that player will cost. The lower the cost of each point, the higher the value of that player. It’s one of the best ways to compare players on a cumulative basis week-to-week. With that stat in mind, here is the Team of the Week for Round 8:
| Position | Name | Team | Cost | FP | $/FP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GK | DiDi Haračić | Angel City | $200,000 | 42 | $4,761.90 |
| GK | Phallon Tullis-Joyce | OL Reign | $150,000 | 54 | $2,777.78 |
| DF | Tatum Milazzo | Chicago | $150,000 | 69 | $2,173.91 |
| DF | Bianca St. Georges | Chicago | $200,000 | 39 | $5,128.21 |
| DF | Naomi Girma | San Diego | $125,000 | 71 | $1,760.56 |
| DF | Lauren Barnes | OL Reign | $300,000 | 61 | $4,918.03 |
| MF | Savannah McCaskill | Angel City | $300,000 | 69 | $4,347.83 |
| MF | Samantha Coffey | Portland | $75,000 | 50 | $1,500.0 |
| MF | Taylor Korniek | San Diego | $150,000 | 109 | $1,376.15 |
| MF | Savannah DeMelo | Louisville | $75,000 | 92 | $815.22 |
| FW | Sophia Smith | Portland | $400,000 | 105 | $3,809.52 |
| FW | Alex Morgan | San Diego | $400,000 | 109 | $3,669.72 |
| FW | Mallory Pugh | Chicago | $400,000 | 89 | $4,494.38 |
| Wild Card | Kristen McNabb | San Diego | $150,000 | 59 | $2,542.37 |
| Wild Card | Ava Cook | Chicago | $75,000 | 56 | $1,339.29 |
Goalkeeper: Angel City’s DiDi Haračić has a good matchup against OL Reign (0.75 goals scored/game) and offers one of the best values among starting keepers at only $200k.
Defense: The Red Stars duo of Tatum Milazzo and Bianca St. Georges are good bets to rack up the points this week against the relatively low-scoring Kansas City, with Milazzo playing almost every minute for a great price of $150k and St. Georges boasting one of the highest goal-scoring potentials of any defender in the league. Naomi Girma is the highest value defender thus far at just over $1.7k/FP, and Lauren Barnes has significant upside over the next few weeks with two of her cohorts on OL Reign’s back line called up for international duty.
Midfield: With the exception of Savannah DeMelo (below), Taylor Korniek has the lowest $/FP of any player in the NWSL this season and belongs in every lineup. Savannah McCaskill is in the midst of a career renaissance at Angel City and is likely to score even more points following the injury to Christen Press. Rookie Sam Coffey is the highest-value player on Portland in that good matchup against Orlando.
Forwards: Sophia Smith and Mallory Pugh are their teams’ primary goal-scoring options and penalty takers, and are both worth the premium price in plus matchups. In fact, give Smith the captain’s armband – she’s found the back of the net three times in the past two games and Orlando is giving up by far the most goals so far this year. Alex Morgan is running away with the Golden Boot and is rapidly becoming a required player in fantasy NWSL.
Bench: With both of San Diego’s primary goal-scorers soon to be called up to the USWNT, someone will need to score goals for the Wave and therefore it’s a great time to stash Kristen McNabb. Likewise, the incredibly high-value Ava Cook is likely to be the primary beneficiary when Mallory Pugh departs for the Concacaf championship. Phallon Tullis-Joyce is currently the highest value goalkeeper, and has a good matchup next week against North Carolina next week. We will see if the aforementioned Savannah DeMelo can keep up her hot start, but she has the lowest $/FP in the whole league and is the third-highest scoring midfielder – get her on your team now!
Article by Nick Manser