NWSL Best 11 for April, my ballot, and a few thoughts
The Spirit took over the NWSL Best 11 for April. Thoughts on that, and breaking down the GLS ballot.
After not placing any players on the NWSL Team of the Month for March, the Washington Spirit took over in April, with no less than five players getting the nod from media and broadcast voters this month.
Stars of the month ✨ Here is April’s Amazon Prime Best XI.
— NWSL (@nwslsoccer.com) May 5, 2026 at 12:01 PM
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Additionally, three more awards are given out on a monthly basis:
- Player of the Month: Ashley Sanchez (North Carolina)
- Coach of the Month: Adrián González (Washington)
- Rookie of the Month: Jordynn Dudley (Gotham FC)
Longtime Jason tolerators know that I liked to post my own ballot in the NWSL Take-Off, with a brief explanation of my thinking where I felt like people would be surprised, or if I had a point to make that felt worth hashing out. The Take-Off is gone, but this site is not!
As for my ballot, I don't think there are any crazy surprise picks, but I do think people haven't paid enough attention to Boston Legacy wingback Sammy Smith. The Legacy have largely struggled, and then when they've played well they haven't actually converted it into wins until that crazy comeback against the Denver Summit, but Smith is legit. She finished sixth in the entire league in Goals Added for April, playing in a role that G+ seems more difficult to accumulate, on a team that only won one game. Don't sleep.
Anyway, between the eyeball test and a lot of data, this is the ballot I wanted to turn in
- GK: Sandy MacIver (Washington)
- DF: Avery Patterson (Houston), Tara Rudd (Washington), Sam Hiatt (Portland), Sammy Smith (Boston)
- MF: Leicy Santos (Washington), Haley McCutcheon (Orlando), Rose Lavelle (Gotham FC)
- FW: Trinity Rodman (Washington), Barbra Banda (Orlando), Ashley Sanchez (North Carolina)
"Wanted" is in italics because I couldn't actually send this ballot in due to the league listing Sanchez as a midfielder for the month. Sanchez is playing as a left winger in a 4-2-3-1, and within the ballot structure, wingers are really consistently listed as forwards...but media members don't currently have a hand in assembling the voting form. It's not the first time this has happened (or second, or third), but there have been more egregious situations in the past.
In any case, my actual ballot listed Kiki van Zanten in Sanchez's place, as I couldn't bring myself to cut Santos, McCutcheon, or Lavelle.
Additionally, here's how I voted in the three categories that fall outside of Team of the Month:
- Player: Rose Lavelle (Gotham FC)
- Coach: Adrián González (Washington)
- Rookie: Jordynn Dudley (Gotham FC)
Lavelle was unstoppable in April, playing right at the peak of her powers. If Gotham can keep her healthy and this form continues, she'll be in the MVP race at the end of the season. That includes the eye test, and the data (best in the NWSL in Goals Added, top of the xG+xA table, fifth in key passes) backs it up. As a neutral I was delighted to see the Courage have found a good role for Sanchez to do her thing, and she was excellent, but among NWSL performers in April I'd say she was maybe between 7th-10th best.
Coach and Rookie were easy: González worked through a series of differing challenges and fatigue, changing the Spirit with purpose and intelligence both from game-to-game and within the games themselves. Dudley, for her part, made good use of the play of Lavelle and Jaedyn Shaw, fitting into Gotham's pressing scheme out of possession while being extremely dangerous going forward. Lia Godfrey was in the mix, but in the end it wasn't a hard call.
Finally, here's my Second 11 for April:
- GK: Mackenzie Arnold (Portland)
- DF: Ryan Williams (North Carolina), Jess Carter (Gotham FC), Malia Berkely (Houston), Carson Pickett (Denver)
- MF: Riley Jackson (North Carolina), Sam Meza (Seattle), Manaka Matsukubo (North Carolina)
- FW: Jordynn Dudley (Gotham FC), Kiki van Zanten (Houston), Rosemonde Kouassi (Washington)
And to take this all the way to the end, here are players from my shortlist that deserve a nod despite just missing out:
- DF: Leah Klenke (Houston), Esme Morgan (Washington)
- MF: Rebeca Bernal (Washington), Croix Bethune (Kansas City)
- FW: Esther González (Gotham FC), Claudia Martínez (Washington)
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