NWSL 2026 Season Preview- Part 1, The Spooners

As the last embers of a chaotic-even-by-NWSL-standards offseason fade, our 2026 season preview series rises from the ashes left behind by league commish Jessica Berman burning the last shreds of her dignity in the flames of open war with the NWSLPA.

Who's to say whether Berman's approval rating or that lede is in worse shape. I'm rusty too!

Anyhow, after an offseason that included NWSL agents appearing on Good Morning America, multiple devastated fanbases, far too many emoji teases, and something called "HIP," we have, somehow, made it to the last few weeks of the offseason. Which means its time for me to lay out the facts and tell you exactly how the 2026 season is about to go.....just don't track down last year's predictions. Seriously. Don't.

Unfortunately, I may not be as omniscient as usual because, in late January, Opta decided to stop providing their advanced stats to footballreferencedotcom. This means no more nicely compiled xG charts, no more advanced stats, and no more of the most annoying people you know telling you you're wrong, actually, about your favorite player because their fbref profile didn't have enough green bars. No longer will I have to see people completely misinterpreting advanced data to fit their agendas because they don't understand how to use it. Small victories, I suppose.

In all seriousness, this is a real crisis for people like me who care a lot about women's soccer and have relied on fbref's well laid-out datasets to support my analysis. And, for as annoying it is to me, it is legitimately devastating for people who actually work and make money from the soccer content they produce. Despite my whining about the chronic data misinterpreters, more information is GOOD, and less information is BAD. Whether Opta unceremoniously yanking the data from fbref was simply the data provider getting tired of providing free information, or is actually rooted in something a little more nefarious, the data is no longer there. Fortunately, our friends at American Soccer Analysis and wonderful data viz folks such as Catalina Bush allow us to retain some base form of access to Opta data. It's not perfect, but it is, nonetheless, very much appreciated.

We are changing it up from years past and doing the 2026 season preview series in reverse order from spoon to shield. With the additions of Boston and Denver to our ranks (welcome all!), the league now sits at a sturdy 16 teams, meaning that I can neatly split my previews into tiers of four. Let's get right into it, starting with......

#16 Boston Legacy

Key Additions: Everyone

Key Losses: N/A

It may feel like low hanging fruit to stick the former BOS Nation of "BOS Nation, no balls necessary" fame at the bottom in their inaugural season, but I feel comfortable saying that this is both the least talented and shallowest roster in the league entering 2026. Which is fine, it's year one of an expansion team! The roster is, at least, in better shape than say, the expansion Utah Royals (seriously, go back and look at the team Utah trotted out in March 2024), but there are still holes all over the place.

Boston's expansion build is front-loaded to say the least. The Legacy's marquee signing, Brazilian Amanda Gutierres, is coming off three straight years leading the Brazilian Serie A1 in scoring. Mali international Aissata Traore, signed from Fleury, is unlikely to have quite the impact Washington's Rosemonde Kouassi did arriving from the same French club two years prior, but is the type of low-risk international swing teams like Boston should be making in year 1. Ella Stevens will almost certainly get more run than she did for Gotham, Barbara Olivieri is an interesting add, and Nichelle Prince brings a nice does of NWSL veteran-ness to a team who badly needs it. There are some interesting pieces here that should fit together well if Boston can get the structure right.

Things get the slightest bit dire once you drop back a line. Boston's midfield is simply not NWSL-caliber at the moment. Assuming the Legacy line up in a 3-back variant (more on that in a minute), they will play with two holding midfielders, and I'll be damned if I know who those two are likely to be. As of the time of writing, Boston's central midfield consists of rookie Sophia Lowenberg, young Spaniard Alba Cano, former Spirit teen Chloe Ricketts, and first-ever-signing Annie Karich. Adding Dane Josefine Hasbö from Gotham in February was a nice get, but even though I like Hasbö fine (probably under-appreciated during her short stay at Gotham) that's the worst holding midfield group in the league for my money.

How they want to play:

It wasn't the easiest to find a lot of Portuguese league game tape of Boston manager Filipa Patao's previous club Benfica, but I did manage to find a few of Benfica's Champions League matches, including the famous 4-4 against Barcelona in January 2024, a game you didn't have to ask me twice to re-watch. Patao's Benfica were very much a 3-4-2-1/3-4-3 hybrid side depending on the personnel –though she did roll out a 4-3-3 at times– but the structure was mostly consistent: A target striker, two floating hybrid tens underneath the striker who have the ability to play a little wider if needed, and wingbacks that fill the wide spaces. Patao's system, even in games where Benfica were overmatched in the Champions League, had an element of flow to it that distinguishes it from the classic Antonio Conte Italian 3-5-2, which functions much more as a defensive set up.

Now, it can be dangerous to assume managers coming from abroad are simply going to implement the system they utilized at their previous spot –Adrian Gonazalez/Jona Giraldez didn't try to replicate the Barcelona 4-3-3 upon arrival in Washington, for instance– but Boston's roster build indicates Patao might be looking to re-create her Benfica system in Boston (well, really in Foxborough or Rhode Island, I suppose). They have the classic nine in Gutierres, but it's the Olivieri and Stevens additions that appear to signal Patao's intent to go with the 3-4-2-1. Olivieri and Stevens are both the tweener-type wide 10s that should thrive in the hybrid role underneath the striker if that is indeed how Boston set up. They're both natural playmakers with ball skills, and should play well off the back of a big, technical 9 like Gutierres.

I already talked about my concerns in the central midfield –I can only hope Boston have some summer plans, or that one of the rooks/young'ns shows out immediately– but the current version of Boston's backline personnel group also screams "back 3" to me. Bianca St. Georges is probably best suited to playing as a wingback as she is neither a particularly effective winger or fullback, youngster Amanda Allen is certainly capable of getting minutes at wingback if asked and played at FB at times in Orlando, and the CB trio of Nicki Hernandez, Lais Araujo, and Kaka are all theoretically capable of playing the wide CB role needed in a 3-back because of their technical ability, though I do worry about the recovery speed against the NWSL's attacking verve. While there isn't really a natural left sided player in the bunch, either Prince or St. Georges could play there. It makes sense from a roster build perspective assuming Patao DOES go with the back three, which is always a good sign. You want your front office and manager on the same page, particularly when you're building a roster from scratch.

Player I'll be watching: Ella Stevens

Stevens is one of the league's foremost hipster favorites; a silky inside forward who is good for two or three of the best skill-check mixtape moments of each season. She started 2025 off as a mainstay in Gotham's lineup before before picking up a knee injury and spending most of the season on the injury report.

While even an injured Gotham side had plenty of competition for attacking spots, Stevens should be one of the first names on Patao's team sheet going into 2026. As discussed earlier, Stevens –who was 10th in the NWSL in xAG/90 among all players who played at least 700 minutes at 0.19– should thrive in a role playing off the back of a striker if indeed Patao elects to go with a 3-4-2-1. Stevens will look to incorporate a little more ball progression and goal threat into her game if she can lock down a primary role, I'm interested to see how she can take advantage of a bigger role and, hopefully, better health.

Projected Starting 11:

3-4-2-1

Casey Murphy

Bianca St. Georges-Lais Araujo-Nicki Hernandez-Kaka-Nichelle Prince

Josefine Hasbö-Alba Caño

Ella Stevens-Barbara Olivieri

Amanda Gutierres

#15 Chicago Stars

Key Additions: Briana Pinto (CM), Ryan Gareis (W), Katie Lund (GK), Michelle Alozie (W/FB), Elise Evans (CB), Tessa Dellarose (D/MF), Aaliyah Farmer (CB/DM)

Key Losses: Ludmila (F/W)

Chicago didn't have the worst offseason per say –I like most of the pieces they added, even if they didn't make a big swing– but it's hard to look at this roster and have much faith in an overachieving season barring Mal Swanson bursting onto the scene like the KoolAid (wo)man midseason. Chicago got undeniably good value for Ludmila, capitalizing on San Diego's panic-strewn offseason to get close to $1M for their 31 year old Brazilian forward who was signed for free less than two years prior, but the seeming lack of intent to replace her –new manger Martin Sjogren indicated that the Stars will rely on their current roster to replace Ludmila's output– means that Chicago go into 2026 with no proven goal scorers.

Any hope the Stars have of shedding their basement-dwelling reputation in 2026 will be firmly on the shoulders of Jameese Joseph who had an impressive end to 2025; Colombian international Ivonne Chacon, who arrived at the end of the summer for $500K and hardly played; and 18 year old Micayla Johnson. Chicago also re-signed Portuguese Nadia Gomes attacker, who is simply not very good, and added Ryan Gareis and Michelle Alozie from Houston, which feels like a "let's throw some players at the wall and see what sticks" more than an actual attacking plan.

Chicago's midfield got a nice boost with the add of Briana Pinto from North Carolina, who should pair nicely with Julia Grosso, who quietly had a really nice back half of 2025. The six remains a question mark. Bea Franklin will get time there, as will Maitane Lopez. Neither were particularly useful in 2025: Maitane is known as a ball-playing six who struggles in space defensively, but didn't do all that much ball-playing last season. Franklin is theoretically a destroyer type six who isn't very good in possession, but she wasn't all that effective defensively in 2025. It's not the worst midfield in the world, but it's still comfortably a lower end group.

How they want to play:

We saw a few 4-4-2 variations from the Stars in the back half of 2025, including a little bit of a diamond/box hybrid but I'm not sure if 2025 is much of an indicator of what we'll see in 2026. Gun to my head, I'd imagine we do see something similar. Chicago still doesn't have much in the way of a wide threat until Mal Swanson returns, which makes it very possible we'll see a carry-over of the diamond with Joseph and Chaconne up top, before a possible switch to a 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 when Swanson returns.

Regardless, it's hard to see a world where this isn't a similar version of what we saw last year....mostly because the personnel isn't much different. If I squint, you could tell me that a Maitane/Pinto/Grosso midfield with Sam Staab marshaling things behind them could have the makings of a half-decent 4-3-3 in possession, but the Stars are going to have to get a lot more of Chacon than I expect them to. The perennial problem with Chicago is that they set up to counterattack year over year because of the lack of talent, but haven't had the defensive structure – barring the absurdly statistically lucky 2024 season under Lorne Donaldson– to hold out long enough to Laura Harvey their way to points.

Chicago's season will hinge on a few what-ifs:

• Can Jameese Joseph carry the entire offense on her back Atlas-style until Swanson returns?

• Can young defenders Elise Evans, Aaliyah Farmer, and Tessa Dellarose (if she plays in backline) adapt to the NWSL?

• Can manager Martin Sjogren develop a structure and identify that allows the Stars to over-perform their talent base relative to the rest of the league without having to rely on a 2024 level of xG luck?

Player I'll be watching: Joseph, by a mile. Joseph, both by the eye test and the underlyings, is primed for a breakout with a slightly higher usage rate now that Ludmila is out of the picture. Joseph created a frankly absurd 26.3% (!!!!) of her shots for herself in 2025, which, while also speaking to Chicago's utter lack of creation in midfield, also means that she was both taking a lot of bad, low xG shots (as evidenced by her abhorrent npxG/shot rate) and doing a lot of good stuff on the ball. Chicago, with respect to The East Stand fave Ryan Gareis, didn't do much of anything to address their creation issues and will need Joseph to fill the Ludmila-sized hole in their front line barring what I would consider an unexpected high goal contribution season from Chacon. The good news is that Joseph's 2025 metrics were pretty similar to Ludmila's, with the key difference being the Brazilian's excellent finishing season, which is often not a sticky stat. Joseph does need to work on some stuff, namely her propensity for potshots from unfavorable positions when she doesn't trust her teammates to get her the ball back (which, fair), but I really enjoyed most of what I saw from her during Chicago's run of form and would bet on a leap in 2026.....if the rest of the roster doesn't totally tank her ability to produce.

Projected starting 11:

4-1-2-1-2

Alyssa Naeher

Michelle Alozie-Elise Evans-Sam Staab-Taylor Malham

Maitane Lopez-Bea Franklin-Briana Pinto-Julia Grosso

Jameese Joseph-Ivonne Chacon

#14 Seattle Reign

Key additions: ?????????????????, Brittany Ratcliffe (FW)

Key losses: Lynn Biyendolo (FW, Maternity Leave), Ji So-Yun (AM), Lauren Barnes (CB, retirement)

I am BEFUDDLED by this Seattle offseason. Vexed, one might say. Confused. Bewildered. Find a word in the thesaurus that means "what the fuck is their front office doing," and it probably applies to how I feel about Seattle.

The Reign were 2025's playoff impostor; the equally evil step-child of Chicago's 2024 season. Let's look at some underlying metrics shall we?

• Seattle finished 3rd from bottom in xG generated, just 1.32 xG more than bottom dwelling xG side Houston.

• Seattle finished fourth from bottom in expected points at 29.64, which means that if you played the season 1000 times, Seattle would have finished 10th in the league roughly 50% of the time. For the eagle eyed among us, that is over nine points below their actual 2025 points tally of 39.

• Seattle had BY FAR the biggest xG over-performance (GD-xGD) of any NWSL team, at +10.74. The three teams directly below them in the xG differential standings were the shield winning Current (+7.07) , second place Washington (+5.54), and title winning Gotham (+4.37).

devil magic

I don't particularly care about the ChatGPT stuff, Harvey is an NWSL legend, and seems like a generally delightful human....but I wouldn't have been rushing to extend her deal based on those numbers. Nevertheless, extend her Seattle's FO did, and extend her they did without giving her anything else to work with. The Reign do have a nice young core, led by the electric Maddie Dahlien (my vote for 2025 rookie of the year), CB Jordyn Bugg, 2025 breakout and human pitbull Sam Meza, and More-Effective-Melanie-Barcenas, Emeri Adames (sorry, couldn't resist). Mia Fishel, in theory, should provide a nice boost if she is able to a) stay healthy and b) adapt to the NWSL. The problem is that Harvey doesn't really show any inclination of changing her style to one that will get the most out of her young attackers. Getting more out of Adames would require give her consistent starts, which, well, Harvey kinda did in 2025? Is 11 of 26 games good?

(Relatedly, I am currently booking "Brittany Ratcliffe plays more minutes than Emeri Adames" bets for anyone interested)

I firmly believe Dahlien would be an all-NWSL winger if Seattle wanted to attack the opposing team's goal. Fishel is a traditional hold-up nine who could be useful if Seattle wanted to keep the ball at all, but might struggle to produce in the Reign's more counterattacking system

I would have liked if Seattle had brought in someone to take the load off 39 year old Jess Fishlock, or a real ten, or a Lauren Barnes replacement. But they did not. It's the same team. At least Claudia Dickey is a capital A Awesome shot stopper.

How they want to play: This one isn't a particularly hard one. Seattle will sit, kick, and tackle. Dahlien and Fishel will need to produce up front, because Seattle don't generate many opportunities outside of transition: no team in the league attempted fewer shots than the Reign in 2025, and Seattle finished dead last in ASA's G+ metric. Barring a dramatic stylistic change of the likes the league has never seen from Harvey, the Reign will be the same team they have been for years, though Sofia Huerta is back and should provide a bit of an attacking jolt from the right side.

And I will just have to deal with Seattle finishing 6th in the NWSL in 2026 with a -10 xG differential and another +10 xG over-performance (I'm not mad, I promise I'm not mad).

Player I'll be watching: Dahlien. For Reign fans who are trying to punch me through their computer screens through the first few paragraphs of this preview....WAIT. Dahlien was one of my favorite players in the league in 2025, straight up. Very few players were dealt a harder hand than the Seattle's rookie, who Harvey trusted enough to move from fullback, to wingback, to winger game to game. Dahlien's metrics aren't great, mostly because she suffered from a case of "plays for Laura Harvey-itis." I had a game I'd play while watching Seattle play in 2025 called "how many Maddie Dahlien's crosses go to nobody" because of how many times the poor kid would be the furthest player forward on her own team.

Dahlien struggled with finishing early in 2025, but improved over the course of the season and ended up with seven goal contributions despite playing a large percentage of her minutes at fullback. I hope that Harvey gives her license to roam in 2026, and if she does, the former Tar Heel youngster has a real shot at cracking the 2027 WC roster.

Projected Starting 11:

4-3-3

Claudia Dickey

Sofia Huerta-Jordyn Bugg-Phoebe McClernon-Madison Curry

Sam Meza-Jess Fishlock-Sally Menti

Maddie Dalhlien-Mia Fishel-Jordyn Huitema

#13 Houston Dash

Key additions: Kat Rader (FW), Leah Klenke (CB), Kate Faase (ST), Linda Ullmark (AM), Makenzy Robbe (W)

Key losses: Ryan Gareis (W), Michelle Alozie (W/FB)

13th admittedly feels quite harsh for the Dash, a team I really liked watching play towards the end of 2025. How you view the Houston's 2026 prospects will probably depend on how much you trust one of the league's better rookie classes on paper to contribute right off the bat, and how much you think Houston's late summer additions of Clarissa Larisey, Lisa Boattin, and Malia Berkeley to level up going into 2026.

Houston were a legitimately fun team to watch when they were right in 2025. Manager Fabrice Gautrat probably doesn't get enough credit for the structure he added to the Dash in his first year in Houston. The Dash had really eased themselves into played a really nicely structured 4-2-3-1 coming out of the summer international break, and, until rookie midfielder Maggie Graham hurt her shoulder in mid-September, had picked up 12 of 18 points over the six game stretch from early August to the time of the injury. Houston were my favorite team to watch over that six game stretch, and their hot streak peaked with a thoroughly dominant 3-0 win against San Diego in early September. However, Graham's injury really disrupted what had turned into a well-structured midfield trio. Gautrat was forced to pivot to Sarah Puntigam next to Dani Colaprico in central midfield, and the Dash floundered a bit in October and were ultimately unable to make a real playoff push.

The concern I still have with Houston is "wither the goals?" Houston finished last in the league in xG in 2025 and second from last in shots attempted. Houston's problem was all too often an inability to create chances from good build up sequences. This is where folks who might have a higher projection of the 2026 Dash might deviate slightly from where I have them ranked. If you think Kate Faase and/or Kat Rader can continue their elite college production into the pros, or that Larisey can continue to improve on a half decent end to 2026, or EVEN that Messiah Bright can finally start doing, well, anything at all, Houston have a really good chance at making a playoff run or better. I just kinda have to see it first, especially given Houston's defensive was comfortably a bottom third unit in 2025 and likely cannot support an offense that continues to lack production.

(I also wish the Dash had gone out and procured a non-Colaprico or Puntigam six, but alas)

How they want to play:

After some early season rotation between a 3-4-3 and 4-3-3, Gautrat settled into a nice 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 hybrid with Colaprico, Graham, and Delanie Sheehan in the middle and Yaz Ryan and Kiki Van Zanten getting the license to roam inside from the wings. Houston's best sequences came from the Dash dropping Ryan and Van Zanten into the gaps between the opposing FBs and holding midfielders. Ryan and Van Zanten were both pretty high level creators relative to Houston's general attacking toothlessness, a lot of their best work coming from the pair drawing defenders into deep and getting on the half turn.

I imagine Gautrat would like to replicate what we saw over that late summer span over the course of a full season. Italian Lisa Boattin and the always excellent Avery Patterson are both natural attacking FBs with plenty of technical ability, meaning that the Dash can throw out a lineup where eight of the 11 players on the field are technically sound. Add the classic 70th minute Evelina Duljan "who the hell knows what's going to happen" experience and Houston just has a lot of players who can do what I very scientifically call "cool stuff."

Player I'll be watching: I'm going to cheat a little here and give it to the combo of Faase and Rader. Houston's duo of Tobacco-Road-rivals-turned-rookie-teammates combined for 102 goal contributions over 151 combined ACC college games. Pretty good! Both fall in the category of players with elite production in college who, if they can translate that production immediately to the pros–which it seems the Dash are banking on– could be legitimately franchise altering for Houston.

Projected starting 11:

Jane Campbell

Avery Patterson-Malia Berkley-Paige Nielsen-Lisa Boattin

Dani Colaprico-Maggie Graham-Delanie Sheehan

Yazmeen Ryan-Clarissa Larissey-Kiki Van Zanten

NEXT WEEK: The Playoff Edgers (!!)