W-LEAGUE: An American Experiment
Can a team of all Americans (well nearly!) challenge for the W League fantasy title? There’s only one way to find out….
So after a scoring 120 points in Round 2, Round 3 was the highest scoring so far with 141 points. However, with many high scoring teams, ‘American Dream’ were knocked down to 19th on the global leaderboard with an overall score of 375 points so far this season.
With Melbourne Victory away on AFC Women’s Club Championship duty, this week’s transfer saw defender Emily Menges make way for Perth Glory’s Morgan Andrews. Perth Glory were back in action against high flyers Sydney FC so the Round 3 team lined up as follows:
Goalkeeper = Aubrey Bledsoe (Sydney FC) ($40,000)
Defenders = Sofia Huerta (Sydney FC) ($60,000), Sam Staab (Western Sydney Wanderers) ($35,000), Julia Ashley (Adelaide United) ($35,000), Kaleigh Kurtz (Canberra United) ($35,000)
Midfielders = Morgan Andrews (Perth Glory) ($40,000), Celeste Boureille (Brisbane Roar) ($45,000), Olivia Price (Canberra United) ($17,500)
Strikers = Simone Charley (Canberra United) ($35,000), Kristen Hamilton (WSW) ($50,000), Rylee Baisden (Brisbane Roar) ($17,500)
Bench = Amber Brooks (Adelaide United) ($60,000), Haley Hanson (Melbourne Victory) ($40,000), Chelsie Dawber (Adelaide United) ($15,000), Trudy Burke (Sydney FC) ($15,000)
After it was evident that Rylee Baisden would be used from the start by Brisbane Roar, the striker was brought in to the starting XI. This changed the formation to a 4-3-3 with Haley Hanson dropping to the bench with Melbourne Victory not in W League action this weekend. Morgan Andrews returned to the starting lineup while Amber Brooks remained on the bench. This would be the last week hopefully where the starting XI included a non-American player with Olivia Price being forced to again start due to the lack of recognised American midfielders.
Round 3
Sofia Huerta was again named as my captain for a third week running, clocking up 15 points which were doubled. Kristen Hamilton netted 28 points after a hattrick with fellow forwards Simone Charley (16) and Rylee Baisden (12) also netting for double figure returns. Julia Ashley also netted double figures with 11 points. Celeste Bourielle and Olivia Price had solid games for Brisbane Roar and Canberra United respectively both scoring 9 points. Sam Staab scored 8 points while in goal Aubrey Bledsoe netted 7. Kaleigh Kurtz again failed to score big for the second week running, however the Canberra defender still recorded 6. Morgan Andrews was the lowest scoring of my team with 5 points.
On the bench, Amber Brooks would have scored more points than Kurtz, recording 8 while Hanson, Dawber and Burke did not play.
Round 4 Preview
With no Adelaide United game this week, Amber Brooks will be transferred out in favour of the return of Emily Menges. At $60,000, Brooks has not had the best start of the season from a points point of view with Menges at the cheaper price of $45,000 freeing up some much needed budget. This would then allow me to replace Chelsie Dawber, who is yet to feature this campaign for an American in later game weeks.
With no action for Adelaide, Julia Ashley will drop to the bench with Menges coming straight back into the starting lineup. Chelsie Dawber will remain on the bench for one more game week before being transferred out next week as long as there are no major injuries. Olivia Price will drop to the bench as all three recognised American midfielders are at clubs that will all play for the first game week this season. I will keep with a 4-3-3 formation with Huerta again retaining the captaincy.
To keep up-to-date with how American Dream are doing, follow @etiawneb on Twitter.