NWSL Best 11 for March, my ballot, and a few thoughts

There are no Washington Spirit players on the NWSL Best 11 for March, which is probably not a shock given that the month saw them produce three frustrating draws and one actual poor performance in defeat. I'm on the record as thinking they're going to be fine, but I wasn't shocked to see this month's award winners come from elsewhere.

Here are the Best 11 winners for March:

Additionally, three* more awards are given out on a monthly basis:

• Player of the Month: Sveindís Jónsdóttir (Angel City)
• Coach of the Month: Alexander Straus (Angel City)
• Rookie of the Month: Lia Godfrey (San Diego)

(*They ask for four, but the fourth is Goalkeeper of the Month, which is also how we vote for that position in the Best 11)

That's how the voting turned out, but one thing I liked to use the NWSL Take-Off (my old NWSL weekend deep thoughts column at Pro Soccer Wire) for was to post my own ballot. I don't have the time to do the Take-Off these days, but I do still want my ballot out there for posterity/to get yelled at in the comments, whatever works for you.

I abstain from voting for MLS weekly/monthly awards due to the sheer volume of games, but NWSL I can (for now) do more than simply look at goals and assists and be done with it. In most months there's significant overlap between the final results, but for March...not so much! A couple of the winners didn't even make my shortlist, and I think missing Ryan Williams and Taylor Flint is a particular shame, but so it goes. If they continue their good play, hopefully they'll get on the larger radar.

Between watching matches and checking through the data, this is what I came up with for March:

• GK: Abby Smith (Denver)
• DF: Ryan Williams (North Carolina), Esme Morgan (Washington), Maycee Bell (North Carolina), Gisele Thompson (Angel City)
• MF: Kenza Dali (San Diego), Taylor Flint (Louisville), Olivia Moultrie (Portland)
• FW: Emma Sears (Louisville), Barbra Banda (Orlando), Dudinha (San Diego)

Additionally, here are the three categories that fall outside of Team of the Month:

• Player: Barbra Banda (Orlando)
• Coach: Jonas Eidevall (San Diego)
• Rookie: Kat Rader (Houston)

Banda, frankly, was a slam-dunk for Player of the Month. Between her return from an adductor tendon injury that ended her 2025 prematurely, and her immediate return to productive form for a known higher-end team, I figured this was going to be hers in a walk. That's no disrespect to Jónsdóttir, who made my Second 11 as you'll see below, but to be clear she made it as the sixth-best forward in my eyes. Goals aren't everything.

As for my other votes, I'd like to particularly shout out Kenza Dali, who for my money has been in a dead heat with Olivia Moultrie to be the best midfielder in the league since the start of 2025. Moultrie was superb in March, but the closest anyone came to making me think twice about Banda for POTM was the French veteran.

Abby Smith is another serious standout, and I'm glad people noticed amid the other Denver Summit talk. She's been dynamite:

For Smith these peaks have come up from time to time, and occasionally for prolonged periods. The challenge has always been staying consistent. Smith has kept former France no.1 Pauline Peyraud-Magnin on the bench, and if she can keep playing like this, Denver will pick up more points than their performances would otherwise merit.

And, because I'm like this, here's my Second 11 for March:

• GK: Jane Campbell (Houston)
• DF: Avery Patterson (Houston), Emily Sams (Angel City), Kennedy Wesley (San Diego), Sydney Collins (Bay)
• MF: Gia Corley (San Diego), Ary Borges (Angel City), Kennedy Fuller (Angel City)
• FW: Trinity Rodman (Washington), Melissa Kössler (Denver), Sveindis Jónsdóttir (Angel City)

Rodman is probably a polarizing inclusion, but I think she was immensely dangerous in Washington's last two matches this month (including being basically the entire Spirit attack at Denver). If not for outstanding goalkeeping, she probably has a two goal/two assist kind of month and lands on the Best 11 even without my vote. Awards voting should require going below the surface, and I think she earned serious consideration.

Elsewhere, the toughest call I had in terms of my ballot was a three-way race for two center back spots, with Sams just missing the cut for the first team. I thought she was Angel City's best player in March. So, why vote Thompson for the first team? I'm a stickler for avoiding the "Oops! All playmakers!" Best 11 ballot, which means I pick two fullbacks and two center backs.

If really, truly pushed by a situation where there are three great center backs, I might fudge it by arguing that Sams has played some right back in asymmetrical systems in her career, but we didn't get to that point this month.