by Jay Carter, Arielle Dror, Kieran Doyle, and Arianna Cascone

Another year has come around and it’s time for everyone’s favorite discourse: end of season awards. We’re tired of all the lists that leave out the players who really deserve their dues, so we crunched the numbers and returned the top 11 players according to American Soccer Analysis’ Goals Added (g+). This is totally unbiased and not at all subject to some tweaking to ensure that the output made sense (yes, there are two primarily left backs on our backline – in Vlatko we trust).

To be eligible for our Best XI, a player had to have played at least half of the season (1056 minutes or 22 games*96 min*.5). This barely eliminates Megan Rapinoe, who notched 1011 minutes this season. One more half and she might’ve made this list.

Sophia Smith, Portland Thorns FC

1560 minutes, 17.3 90s, 6.39 g+ above average

Hahahahahahahahahahaha

This player is 22. Twenty-Two. Twenty. Two. And she just turned 22.

Sophia Smith’s 2022 is the fifth-best season for raw goals added in our database at 10.76. Her ridiculous 2022 is the only non-Lynn Williams, non-Sam Kerr season in the top five, but she’s reaching these historical MVP-level seasons before what would even be remotely considered her prime playing years. She did this in just over 17 90s (1560 minutes). It’s the best per96’ mark of anyone who played more than about two hours of soccer in a season (Lynn Williams’ incandescent 2018 is close). Alex Morgan is the second highest g+ striker in 2022. The 4.73 goal gap between Smith and Morgan would be the 11th-best g+ number for the whole season. The only attacking player that adds more goals to their team via defensive contributions is a Brazilian monster that’s further down this list. She’s a menace. If Sophia Smith did literally nothing but appear out of thin air, dribble the ball from point A to point B and then vanish into the ether, she would be sixth in g+ above average. Smith is the best attacker in the best offense in the league… at 22 years old.

*Additional maniacal laughter

Trinity Rodman, Washington Spirit

1655 minutes, 18.39 90s, 2.39 g+ above average

As if it wasn’t absurd enough that Sophia Smith is doing what she’s doing at 22, this is Trinity Rodman’s age-20 season. Her follow-up act to being basically the best player on a championship team at 19 years old (7.99 g+ was the highest on the team ahead of Ashley Sanchez’s 5.76) is an identical 0.41 goals added per 96’ in 2022. Her per96’ goals added output is Debinha…but she’s 20…let that sink in. And even though the goals added output is the same, her profile is changing in ways that suggest she’s improving in “good freaking luck to the rest of y’all” ways. Less goals added from dribbling, more from receiving, still a pile of shooting and passing goals added, less interrupting goals added, but WAY better with the fouling. I cannot stress how scary this should be to the rest of the league/world.

Mallory Pugh, Chicago Red Stars

1358 minutes, 15 90s, 3.16 g+ above average

Mallory Pugh being the elder statesperson of the front three is a testament to 1) her great work in following up her 2021 and 2) the incredible talent in the league. Pugh was a one-person offense for the Red Stars. She was involved in half of the team’s goals, racking up the second-highest goals added dribbling in the league and the fifth-highest goals added shooting. For reference, Vanessa DiBernardo is second on the Red Stars in shooting goals added and has less than half Pugh’s shooting goals added. Pugh’s dribbling goals added alone would be the fifth highest-rated Red Star in TOTAL goals added. She pulled all this off in 15 90s. Just a stellar season from a player who was expected to carry a big offensive burden and clearly succeeded.

Debinha, North Carolina Courage

1707 minutes, 18.97 90s, 3.82 g+ above average

In a sane world, 7.67 goals added in almost 19 90s is an MVP case. Debinha was that good and then some, coming within a couple of penalties goals of the golden boot and nearly single-handedly firing the Courage into the postseason. Debinha’s at 0.69 xG+xA per 96, good for fifth in the league, and she’s the engine of one of the league’s most prolific attacks (Portland scored two more goals than North Carolina, and no other team was within 10 goals of either team). Debinha has been one of the best players in the league for years now and this season is one of her best.

Rose Lavelle, OL Reign

1608 minutes, 17.87 90s, 3.18 g+ above average

What this anonymous Slack user said. We know watching Rose Lavelle is pretty magical, but her numbers back up a rather obvious eye test. Most prominently, Lavelle was one of the most prolific creators in Reign as far back as we have data: only Megan Rapinoe (2018) and Eugénie Le Sommer (2021) produced more combined expected goals and expected assists per 90’ in a single season. Lavelle’s unlucky injury history and time with the national team has precluded her from getting significant club minutes for most of her career, and while we saw glimpses of it in the backstretch of last season, this is the first year we had a full season of a Lavelle-powered midfield. It was a real blast.

Taylor Kornieck, San Diego Wave

1475 minutes, 16.38 90s, 2.30 g+ above average

We get it, she’s tall. Kornieck was a great example of a good player in the wrong context (read: all players in Orlando). The former third-overall pick blossomed out of being an about-league-average winger by goals added in 2021 and into the highest goals added accruing center midfielder in the 2022 NWSL regular season. A lot of that is her swashbuckling box arrivals being much harder to deal with when she arrives with pace from midfield, as opposed to being planted in the box as an attacker. If we were to look at raw receiving goals added, ignoring the positional averages, Kornieck would be the 12th highest receiver in the league. Which to be clear, for a midfielder, is crazy. Every single player ahead of Kornieck is a winger or striker of some denomination (or Debinha). Add in a healthy dose of around-the-box creative passing, and it’s no shock Kornieck made her way into this year’s goals added best XI.

Hailie Mace, Kansas City Current

1652 minutes, 18.36 90s, 1.84 g+ above average

Hailie Mace was great on both sides of the ball for a Kansas City Current team that has shattered expectations in their second season of existence. Her four goals are the most of all defenders this year, and she also contributed two assists on the season. Of defenders who have logged at least 1500 minutes in the regular season, Mace recorded the most shots (1.69), shots on target (0.64), goals (0.23), and expected goals (0.12) per 96’. She’s only behind our other Best XI fullback, North Carolina’s Carson Pickett, in xG+xA per 96’ (0.30). Mace was also responsible for 10.3% of Kansas City’s touches in the regular season, which was the highest mark on the team. That makes sense: the Current wants Mace on the ball because she makes things happen for them.

Sam Staab, Washington Spirit

Iron Woman (2203 minutes, 24.5 90s), 2.35 g+ above average

Sam Staab played every minute of every game for a team with high expectations that never quite delivered on the miracle of last season. But Sam Staab played really, really well. 2.35 goals added above average is an absurd number for a centerback. The list of central defenders with seasons above 2.35 goals added is exactly one name long and she’s our other Best XI CB this year. Her passing goals added, in particular, is the highest of all centerbacks since 2016, highlighting her outstanding ability to both play out of the back and hit long balls towards the Spirit’s dynamic front line. Washington’s defense was living on a bit of opponent shooting luck (32 goals allowed from just over 35 xGA) but if there’s any non-luck in there, please tip your hat to one Samantha Staab!

Abby Erceg, North Carolina Courage

1858 minutes, 20.64 90s, 1.13 g+ above average

Fun fact: This is Abby Erceg’s worst season for goals added since 2017. It is also the 10th-best season by ANY CB in our database. Erceg has four of those top 10 seasons. North Carolina’s captain is just remarkably consistent (and really really freaking good…still). We’re gonna leave it at that.

Carson Pickett, North Carolina Courage

1863 minutes, 20.7 90s, 2.47 g+ above average

When she came over in the trade from Orlando, we thought Carson Pickett might be good in North Carolina’s system, because it leverages the fullbacks to create chances for some dynamic forwards. Never mind the system caveat: Carson Pickett is capital-V, capital-G, Very Good. Period. The highest goals added defender in the league this year, Pickett has made her presence felt as a willing runner up and down the North Carolina left side, often combining with fellow G+ Best XI teammate Debinha. She leads the league in assists and xA (eight assists on 7.89xA) and is in the top 15 of xG+xA. She is also first among all players with an incredible 12.4% of her team’s touches. She is an accurate passer, a dangerous set-piece taker and a plus defender when called upon.

Katie Lund, Racing Louisville FC

Iron Woman (2163 minutes, 24.0 90s), 8.48 g+ above average

It is a true travesty that Katie Lund has had little to no recognition in end of season lists circulating this year. Sure, Racing Louisville bled goals all season, but Lund’s performance made the team look far better than it was. In fact, Lund conceded seven fewer goals than expected this season (35 goals on 41.88 xG), double the next best keeper this season (Portland’s Bella Bixby). Both her shot-stopping performance and her keeper goals added ranks her as one of the best single-season keeper performances in league history. In a league with so many iconic keepers, Lund ranks right up there with AD Franch, Aubrey Bledsoe, and Kailen Sheriden’s best seasons. So, we think it’s time to start talking about Lund with the respect she deserves. Down with the Katie Lund erasure! If the league would add her as a late-breaking nominee for Keeper of the Year, we would not complain.