NWSL Goals Added Best XI

NWSL g+ Best XI

By Kieran Doyle-Davis

A hectic decision day has come and gone and the NWSL playoffs are soon upon us, as such it’s probably a good time to look at the Best XI by g+ in NWSL in 2023.

Best XI graphic made with lineup-builder.co.uk

GK - Katie Lund

2023 was a down year for NWSL GKs in terms of goals prevented compared to their expected goals, with 2022 Racing Louisville standout Katie Lund preventing “only” 13% of her xG from turning into actual goals. Still, 4.43 goals prevented has her leading the league, and thus she is our pick.

LB - Carson Pickett

Pickett led all fullbacks of any denomination in net g+ in 2023, a more detailed explanation of that calculation (and full stat tables) can be found in this article by Mike Imburgio, but suffice to say, she’s great. Shoutout net g+ for saving us from picking two Red Stars fullbacks who just accrue interrupting value.

CB - Sam Staab 

Staab is the real star among the defensive picks statistically. She is 4th by total net g+ (3.12 net g+ for the season) in the entire league and is more than double the next closest defender (1.57), and that’s not just by farming interrupting value, 75% of it is on the attacking side of the ball. There’s probably a healthy designated set piece taker boost in there but you’ve gotta be good at them to take them. 

CB - Alana Cook

The second CB slot is somewhat less illustrious, falling to Alana Cook. Cook ranks 2nd by net g+ amongst center backs, behind Staab, but almost 50% of her value is in g- (that is, the absence of dangerous things happening in her zones of responsibility) which should have significant team strength effects. Maybe she’s the shutdown corner, scaring attackers out of her zone, maybe not. Either way, she’s in.

RB - Sofia Huerta 

Saved by net g+ again, Sofia Huerta is our best XI right back. Plenty of other fullbacks racked up more pure g+ this season, mostly by tackling and clearing, but Huerta shines in other ways. She has the second best g+ boost (that is, how well players do receiving her passes compared to how well they are expected to do) in the entire league at 1.02. That’s a lot of extra value! Add in a strong team strength afflicted g- and Huerta is our pick.

DM- Sam Coffey

A sleeper MVP pick by Sam Coffey towers over the rest of the DM pool by every conceivable metric. G+, g+ boost, g-, interrupting, all of it. She wins the ball, she passes it forward. Seems valuable in say, a World Cup? Easy pick in this position. 

CM - Crystal Dunn

Midfielder Crystal Dunn hive, come and get me. I, the FB Dunn truther, have been owned by this season. Seventh in g+ among all players, the best midfielder by g+ and net g+, Dunn has been electric and central to everything good at Portland this season. Six goals, four assists, her FBRef scout report is just a green rectangle. Well deserved best XI place. Small shoutout to her Portland teammate and youngster Olivia Moultrie who comes in 3rd in the CM places at just 18 years old, just behind…

CM - Savannah DeMelo

DeMelo is just a hair behind Crystal Dunn in all these metrics, with just a worse overall team around her. DeMelo is 11th by g+ and 2nd among midfielders in net g+. Notably, she just allows more g- (0.01 to Dunn’s 0.21) and creates somewhat less (1.32 offensive g+ to Dunn’s 1.74). Still, unreal season for the center of everything good for the Big Purp.

W - Kerolin

An absolute bonafide MVP contender, Kerolin led all wingers in g+ in 2023 and was 2nd in the league behind only one player. Almost all of her g+ comes from some frankly obscene slalom dribbles making defenders look like the gates on an alpine ski track. 10 goals, three assists. This was another easy one.

W- Morgan Weaver

The Thorns attacker sneaks in just ahead of Trinity Rodman by g+ after her second consecutive seven goal season with just a whole lot more g+ boost. You might say, well Weaver gets to play with Sophia Smith, that’s not fair. But g+ boost controls for the strength of her teammates receiving the actions, so try again. Weaver is a shot monster who does a whole lot of moving the ball forward with her off ball movement and her dribbling. Top season.

ST - Sophia Smith

It was always going to be her. Smith has broken g+ scatter plots every second she has been in the league. Not only did she lead the league in total g+, net g+, every flavor of g+ to ever exist in 2023, she did so while playing between 700 and 1000 minutes less than her MVP competitors. On a per 96 minute basis, Smith was creating double the value above average of those around her. Just obscene. She’s going to need a bigger trophy case.