If you, like me, reached an unhealthy level of emotional investment in the World Cup, you may have forgotten a little bit about FNWSL during the break. Let’s start with a short reset:
- Sophia Smith and Lynn Williams were the two absolute must-have forwards. Both are on pace to break Smith’s FNWSL scoring record from last year, and Williams costs only $200k. We may see a small drop-off in production from both due to their minutes at the World Cup, but the early exit of the US likely gave all USWNT players some additional rest time.
- The Portland Thorns offense was elite. In addition to Smith, Sam Coffey, Morgan Weaver, and Crystal Dunn were all racking up the fantasy points at MF/FW for Portland, and fantasy managers could easily justify having two, three, or even all four of them in their weekly starting XI.
- Midfield was the most challenging position to fill. Other than Coffey and Dunn, North Carolina’s Narumi Miura was really the only midfielder returning consistently high fantasy value each week. There were definitely some standout rounds from other midfielders (Jaelin Howell and Paige Metayer come to mind), but MF points in fantasy have been highly variable. Savannah DeMelo has continued her very high level of performance in her sophomore season, but some fantasy managers were not able to justify her $400k cost.
- There was very little variance in top-level GK fantasy performance. Only thirteen fantasy points currently separate Orlando’s Anna Moorhouse in first place from OL Reign’s Phallon Tullis-Joyce in 7th. Therefore, you can generally pick whichever two GKs fit your budget, and select a starter each week based on the matchup.
- Most of the premium defenders were justifying their high cost. Natalia Kuikka, Carson Pickett, Hailie Mace, and basically any DF on OL Reign were great options for your back line. However, since the World Cup break began, a few others have really jumped up in the DF rankings – we will discuss that later.