-
Jeff Kassouf
Summer is nearly here, and the heat is starting to turn up in the National Women’s Soccer League MVP race. Welcome to the latest version of ESPN’s NWSL 2025 MVP Tracker.
Just like last year, we’re checking in on the race for the league’s coveted individual award after every five rounds of league play. We’re 10 games into the season as the NWSL returns from the international break, and our list is a mix of the usual suspects and unheralded stars.
The MVP race leaders remain out in front, but change could be on the horizon. Our first in-season tracker had a Kansas City Current player leading the league-wide race. And just like last year, our early favorite has sustained an injury that will significantly affect the award.
The sample size is also still slightly small, but we’re starting to see which players are carrying their teams. The back half of this list has changed considerably since our first MVP Tracker of the season.
Let’s get to it.
A rookie tied for third in the league in scoring? In this economy?!
More seriously: Tiernan might be the best story in the NWSL this season. She went from a non-roster invitee in preseason to one of the top scorers in the league in a race that includes multiple former NWSL Golden Boot winners and a World Cup winner.
Yes, Tiernan is a “goal poacher,” but her most recent goal against Racing Louisville showed a level of sophistication and technique to score from distance. U.S. women’s national team head coach Emma Hayes is watching, too: Tiernan got the call-up and earned significant minutes with the U23s for a pair of games against Germany.
Defensive midfielders don’t get a lot of love, but Coffey has managed to turn heads for club and country with her composed two-way play. She ranks fifth in the NWSL in chances created, even from a deep-lying position, and she is fifth in the league in ball recoveries, according to ESPN Global Soccer Research.
Coffey is the two-way, scrappy midfielder most coaches wish they had to anchor the spine of their squad.
10. Kayla Sharples | Defender | 27 | Kansas City Current
How many defenders can say they shut down Barbra Banda 1-v-1 multiple times consistently over a 90-minute game and helped their team earn a shutout? Sharples’ performance in Kansas City’s recent 1-0 victory over the Orlando Pride exemplified her importance to the Current, and how much her game has developed since her early years in Chicago and on multiple overseas loans.
1:08
Howell: Emily Sonnett is ‘underrated’ for Gotham and USWNT
Gotham FC’s Jaelin Howell talks about the impact of playing alongside USWNT veteran Emily Sonnett.
Sharples is the co-anchor of the league-leading Current, who have only conceded seven goals in 10 games (also a league best). She is part of what Kansas City was missing last year, when the Current also started the season on fire but were vulnerable defensively. Sharples is about to get tested even more with the recent news of a season-ending knee injury to Alana Cook, her partner in the center of defense.
The 2017 NWSL Golden Boot winner returned to her scoring ways with goals in each of the Spirit’s past two games, tying her for second in the league with six total. Washington continues to slog through injuries and will now deal with a coaching transition, but Hatch is a constant. She also ranks third in the league in expected goals, per ESPN Global Soccer Research.
Hayes said the data doesn’t like, and she’s right: Dickey leads the NWSL in post-shot expected goals minus goals against (PSxG-GA, a measurement of shot-stopping ability) by a wide margin over the next closest goalkeeper.
That has contributed to Seattle conceding only nine goals, second best in the NWSL. It’s a good thing, too: The Reign have only scored nine, so Dickey is doing her part to maintain the fine margins. She just earned her first USWNT call-up as a reward.
5.1 – Claudia Dickey’s 5.1 goals prevented is nearly double any other goalkeeper in the #NWSL this season (2nd – Mackenzie Arnold – 2.6). Truth. pic.twitter.com/TVztEwEZh4
— OptaJack⚽️ (@OptaJack) May 20, 2025
Dali is tied for the league lead with seven goal-creating actions, per FBRef. The France international is one part of San Diego’s double pivot alongside Savannah McCaskill, a duo that has controlled games in entertaining and effective fashion. The Wave are surprisingly second in the league right now.
Dali is one the most integral players to that success, and she’s among the best players in the NWSL right now.
Where would Gotham be without Esther? She just helped the team win the first Concacaf club title and book a ticket to upcoming inaugural FIFA global events (including the first Women’s Club World Cup in 2028). Those games don’t count toward the official MVP data for league play, but they are a continuation of what’s happening back home.
Esther is Gotham’s do-everything forward. She is tied for the league lead with seven goals, but she drops slightly from our last MVP ranking because she hasn’t scored in her past three league games.
5. Barbra Banda | Forward | 25 | Orlando Pride
Banda registered the fastest hat trick in league history last month when she scored three times against Utah. The catch is that it came against the Royals, who have been awful defensively, but it was a reminder of how exceptional Banda is — and it moved her into a tie for the league lead in goals. This season could still become a repeat of 2024, when Banda was in a two-player race for MVP and Golden Boot. With whom, you ask? Glad you asked …
4. Temwa Chawinga | Forward | 26 | Kansas City Current
Last year’s MVP is only off to a slow start if you hold her to her own record-breaking scoring standards — and even at that, Chawinga is tied for second in the league in scoring with six goals. Few, if any, players in the league change a game like Chawinga. She is back on another hot streak, too, with goals in Kansas City’s past three games.
3. Alyssa Thompson | Forward | 20 | Angel City
Guess who ranks second in the NWSL in chances created (key passes plus assists)? It’s Thompson, according to ESPN Research. Yes, Thompson is second on her team in goals scored behind Tiernan, but she creates more chances, and she has become one of the leading 1-v-1 artists in the NWSL. She’s the best active American forward in the NWSL right now.
Cascarino is loving life in San Diego. She leads the league in assists, and she is one of the most transformative technical players in the league. Magic happens when the ball comes to her feet. San Diego is a fun team to watch because of Cascarino, whose individual skill is world class.
1. Debinha | Forward/midfielder | 33 | Kansas City Current
Is this the curse of the ESPN NWSL MVP Tracker? Last year, Kansas City forward Bia Zaneratto debuted at No. 1 before sustaining a major injury. This year, Debinha was our early-season leader but now has an unspecified injury that will likely keep her out until at least the resumption of play in August.
Still, for now, she has only missed one game — and if she can get healthy, she may end up only missing four total — so she is remains atop our MVP Tracker.
Debinha looks like herself circa 2018: an all-world playmaker who leaves defenses guessing with every touch. She still ranks first in the NWSL in chances created, per ESPN Research.
Fighting for inclusion on the list: Gisele Thompson (Angel City), Marta (Orlando Pride), Taylor Flint (Racing Louisville), Lorena (Kansas City Current), Gift Monday (Washington Spirit), Savannah McCaskill (San Diego Wave), Olivia Moultrie (Portland Thorns)
