May is here and that means it’s time for another NWSL Team of the Month!
April’s Team of the Month earned 500 points and cost $2,350,000.
This is a higher-scoring team than the TOTM for March, but is significantly easier on your budget – largely thanks to the inclusion of three rookies, as well as fewer forwards, who are often higher-priced. Gotham and Portland both had an extra match in April, but will have one fewer than all other teams in May when they travel to Nuevo Leon for the inaugural Concacaf W Champions Cup Finals.
The top scorer in each position group is from Gotham this month, as well as the top three scorers overall. Of the five highest scoring players in April, four represent Gotham – Kansas City’s Izzy Rodriguez being the exception.
Eight of the top eleven players in May overall were defenders; six were from Gotham.
Fun Facts:
- Marta is the only player to appear on both TOTMs so far!
- Esther made all three TOTRs during the relevant period
- Reale and Berger both appeared on two TOTRs in April
- Marta and Bernal have each appeared on two TOTRs overall – one in April and one in March
- Schupansky, Rodriguez, Sharples, and LaBonta each appeared on one TOTR so far this season, all of them in April
- Perry and Turner make the TOTM without having made any TOTRs this season
- Esther’s 65 points double to 130 with the Captain honors, accounting for 26% of the month’s total
For more on how we calculate the Team of the Round, click here!
April Team of the Month
Goalkeeper: Berger 42
Defenders: Reale 49, Rodriguez 42, Bernal 36, Sharples 36, Perry 34
Midfielders: Schupansky 40, Marta 30, LaBonta 29
Forwards: González 65, Turner 32
Teams Represented – 5
Kansas City Current – 3 players
NJ/NY Gotham FC – 4 players
Orlando Pride – 1 player
Portland Thorns – 2 players
Washington Spirit- 1 player
April Overall:
In April, we had 3 Rounds.
There were two TOTRs in a 4-3-3 and one 5-3-2.
11 of the league’s 14 teams had at least one player appear in a TOTR in April. Seattle, Utah, and Houston did not have any players appear in an April TOTR.
The two teams who had yet to be represented this season prior to Round 4 were Gotham and Angel City, who both had one player in the Round 4 TOTR.
Rounds 4 and 5 had the first repeat Captain of the season, with Esther leading both rounds and the Team of the Month. We have seen five different captains throughout the season so far week to week: Barbra Banda, Karlie Lema, Debinha, Esther González, and Hanna Lundkvist.
The highest single score Round was Esther in Round 5, where she earned 25 points. The highest single match score was also Esther, earning 23 points in Round 4.
Gotham is the only team that had at least one player on all three TOTRs in April.